Chapter 2: E-Commerce infrastructure

BRAC Business School

BBA Program Spring 2014 MSC 441: Introduction to E-commerce

Lecture by: Md. Jabir Al Mursalin

Ref. Text: Electronic Commerce 2010: A Managerial Perspective

The Internet and World Wide Web

Internet:

Interconnected network of thousands of networks and millions of computers

Links businesses, educational institutions, government agencies, and individuals World Wide Web: One of the Internets most popular services Provides access to billions, possibly trillions, of Web pages

MSC441: Introduction to Electronic Commerce Lecture by: Md. Jabir Al Mursalin BRAC Business School

E-Commerce

Key technology concepts of Internet

Three important concepts for internet : Internet protocol suit Packet switching Client/server computing

MSC441: Introduction to Electronic Commerce Lecture by: Md. Jabir Al Mursalin BRAC Business School

E-Commerce

The internet protocol suit: TCP/IP

Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCP/IP

MSC441: Introduction to Electronic Commerce Lecture by: Md. Jabir Al Mursalin BRAC Business School

E-Commerce

Packet Switching Concept

Slices digital messages into packets. Sends packets along different communication paths as they become available. Reassembles packets once they arrive at destination.

MSC441: Introduction to Electronic Commerce Lecture by: Md. Jabir Al Mursalin BRAC Business School

E-Commerce

The client-server architecture

Powerful personal computers (clients) connected in network with one or more servers that perform common functions for the clients.

MSC441: Introduction to Electronic Commerce Lecture by: Md. Jabir Al Mursalin BRAC Business School

E-Commerce

Routing internet messages

MSC441: Introduction to Electronic Commerce Lecture by: Md. Jabir Al Mursalin BRAC Business School

E-Commerce

Domain, DNS and URL:

IP Address: A numerical label assigned to each device on the internet Domain name: IP address expressed in natural language Domain name system (DNS): Naming system for computer, services or any resources connected to internet

Uniform resource locator (URL): Address used by Web browser to identify location of content on the Web E.g. http://www.azimuth-interactive.com/flash_test

MSC441: Introduction to Electronic Commerce Lecture by: Md. Jabir Al Mursalin BRAC Business School

E-Commerce

Application protocols and utilities

Application protocols HTTP

E-mail: SMTP, POP3, IMAP

FTP Utility programs SSL Ping Tracert Pathping

MSC441: Introduction to Electronic Commerce Lecture by: Md. Jabir Al Mursalin BRAC Business School

E-Commerce

The internet network architecture

Backbone:
High-bandwidth fiber-optic cable networks Private networks owned by a variety of NSPs Bandwidth: 155 Mbps 2.5 Gbps Built-in redundancy

IXPs:
Hubs where backbones intersect with regional and local networks, and backbone owners connect with one another

CANs:
LANs operating within a single organization that leases Internet access directly from regional or national carrier
MSC441: Introduction to Electronic Commerce Lecture by: Md. Jabir Al Mursalin BRAC Business School

E-Commerce

The language of Internet:

Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML):

Text formatted with embedded links. Links connect documents to one another, and to other objects such as sound, video, or animation files.

Extensible Markup Language:

A meta-language that allows one to design a markup language, used to allow for the easy interchange of documents on the World Wide Web.

MSC441: Introduction to Electronic Commerce Lecture by: Md. Jabir Al Mursalin BRAC Business School

E-Commerce

Web server and Web clients:

Web server
Helps to deliver web content that can be accessed through Internet. Specialized servers: Database servers, ad servers, etc.

Web server software:

Enables a computer to deliver Web pages to clients on a network that request this service by sending an HTTP request Apache and Microsoft IIS Basic capabilities: Security services, FTP, search engine, data capture

Web client:
Any computing device attached to the Internet that is capable of making HTTP requests and displaying HTML pages
Web Browsers are used by web clients to display Web pages.

MSC441: Introduction to Electronic Commerce Lecture by: Md. Jabir Al Mursalin BRAC Business School

E-Commerce

Web server and Web clients:

HTTP Request, SMTP Request, FTP Request

ISP Internet Firewall

(i) (ii) (iii) (iv)

Web Server:
E-mail Server Content Server FTP Server Application Server

HTML Response

MSC441: Introduction to Electronic Commerce Lecture by: Md. Jabir Al Mursalin BRAC Business School

E-Commerce

Other internet protocols and utilities

Internet and Web features on which the foundations of e-commerce are built include:
E-mail Instant messaging Search engines Intelligent agents (bots) Online forums and chat Streaming media Cookies

MSC441: Introduction to Electronic Commerce Lecture by: Md. Jabir Al Mursalin BRAC Business School

E-Commerce

Conclusion

Explain key technology concepts of internet. Define Domain name, DNS and URL.

Define Web server, Web client and Web browser.

People tend to think of the web as a way to get information or perhaps as a place to carry out ecommerce. But really, the web is about accessing applications. - Marc Anderssen

MSC441: Introduction to Electronic Commerce Lecture by: Md. Jabir Al Mursalin BRAC Business School

E-Commerce