Infrastructure

Chapter 5 · Strategic Information Systems

Lecture draft

From the content sections and aligned assignments.

Chapter learning objectives

  1. Map the infrastructure dependencies of an organizational service.
  2. Compare cloud service models and the responsibilities retained by customers.
  3. Evaluate mobile, AI, and edge workloads in terms of capacity, control, cost, and continuity.
  4. Explain infrastructure governance, total cost, provider dependence, and recovery needs.

Infrastructure

Chapter 5 · Infrastructure

Read: Infrastructure

Goals for this part

  • Explain Infrastructure Evolution and Drivers.
  • Explain Core Infrastructure Components.
  • Explain Networks, Internet, and Integration Services.

Infrastructure Evolution and Drivers

IT infrastructure is the shared set of computing, storage, communications, software, and support capabilities used by an organization. Applications deliver particular business functions; infrastructure supplies capabilities that many applications depend on. The distinction is useful even when a provider bundles them into one subscription.

Infrastructure Evolution and Drivers

Infrastructure has developed through combinations of centralized computing, personal computers, client-server arrangements, networked enterprise services, and cloud delivery. These arrangements coexist. An organization may keep a specialized local device while using hosted collaboration and a centralized database. “Newer” does not automatically mean better for every workload.

Infrastructure Evolution and Drivers

Changes in processing capability, storage cost, connectivity, standards, and business demand influence infrastructure choices. The management question is what level of performance, availability, flexibility, and control the work requires. A small retailer needs enough capacity for its busiest period, but capacity that exceeds any plausible need can consume resources without improving the customer experience.

Core Infrastructure Components

Hardware provides physical processing, memory, storage, and input or output. Software includes operating systems and the applications or services that direct that hardware. Data management supports the organization, retrieval, and protection of records. Networks connect devices and services. People and operating procedures keep the arrangement usable over time.

Core Infrastructure Components

A performance problem can originate in any dependency. A fast checkout device may still wait for a slow inventory database. Additional database capacity may not help when a store loses connectivity. Managers should therefore trace the service rather than treating equipment specifications as a complete explanation.

Core Infrastructure Components: comparison

Component Checkout dependency Question for management
Device and operating system Capture the transaction. Is it supported and usable for the task?
Database and storage Read prices and record purchases. Are records available, consistent, and recoverable?
Network Exchange messages with other services. What happens during an interruption?
Identity service Establish staff permissions. Can authorized staff work and exceptions be controlled?

Core Infrastructure Components

The table is a dependency map. It helps distinguish the capability being purchased from the business service that relies on it.

Networks, Internet, and Integration Services

A network allows devices and services to exchange data. The Internet is an interconnected network infrastructure; the web is one set of services using that infrastructure. A private organizational network and an Internet-based service can support parts of the same process.

Networks, Internet, and Integration Services

An application programming interface (API) defines a way for software to request or exchange information with another service. An API connection still needs agreed identifiers, meanings, permissions, and error handling. A successful technical response does not establish that the inventory information is current enough for the business decision.

Networks, Internet, and Integration Services

Wireless devices and sensors extend these connections into physical work. An inventory sensor can supply observations, but managers still need to understand what it measures, how often it reports, and how errors are detected. Connectivity creates dependencies as well as capabilities.

Networks, Internet, and Integration Services

A checkout design should define whether work can continue during an interruption and how records will be reconciled afterward.

Networks, Internet, and Integration Services

Bandwidth is a network's data-transfer capacity; latency is the delay experienced in communication or response. High bandwidth does not eliminate every delay. The Internet of Things (IoT) connects physical objects, sensors, or equipment with information services. A data center houses computing and supporting infrastructure, whether operated by the organization or a provider.

Networks, Internet, and Integration Services

These concepts describe different parts of the dependency chain: a checkout can have adequate bandwidth but still wait for a remote service to respond.

Quick check

Name the concept that completes this statement.

________ is the shared set of computing, storage, communications, software, and support capabilities used by an organization.

Quick check

Name the concept that completes this statement.

________ provides physical processing, memory, storage, and input or output.

Your turn

Use the chapter case: A Small Organization Chooses Its Infrastructure.

Compare two feasible infrastructure arrangements, including a cloud option. Specify retained responsibilities and operating assumptions.

Prepare a brief explanation with a stated assumption and an outcome measure.

Recap

Treat infrastructure as a connected service foundation. Evaluate capacity, dependencies, support, and recovery in relation to the business work rather than choosing components in isolation.

Cloud

Chapter 5 · Infrastructure

Read: Cloud

Goals for this part

  • Explain Mobile Platforms and BYOD.
  • Explain Virtualization and Cloud Computing.
  • Explain AI Workloads and Cloud Capacity.
  • Explain Edge, Green, and Emerging Computing.

Mobile Platforms and BYOD

A mobile platform combines devices, operating software, applications, and connectivity that support work away from a fixed workstation. Bring your own device (BYOD) allows personally owned devices to perform organizational work.

Mobile Platforms and BYOD

It can improve convenience, but it also introduces questions about support, access, separation of personal and work information, and what happens when a device is lost or an employee leaves.

Mobile Platforms and BYOD

For the nonprofit, volunteers may use different phones to read schedules. A process requiring one particular device could exclude otherwise suitable volunteers. A design that allows every device unrestricted access to sensitive records creates a different problem.

Mobile Platforms and BYOD

The organization needs a clear relationship between the task and the access provided. Reading a public event schedule requires different controls from changing participant records. Managers should define the information needed for each role and provide a supported way to perform that role, rather than treating personal ownership as either complete permission or an automatic prohibition.

Virtualization and Cloud Computing

Virtualization allows computing resources to be presented as logical environments rather than requiring each workload to own a separate physical machine. Cloud computing delivers shared computing capabilities as services with characteristics such as on-demand access, pooled resources, and measured use. A remotely hosted application is not explained fully by its location; its service model and responsibilities also matter.

Virtualization and Cloud Computing: comparison

Service model Capability obtained Example customer responsibility
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) Computing, storage, and networking resources Manage the operating environment and application.
Platform as a service (PaaS) A managed environment for deploying applications Manage the application and its data.
Software as a service (SaaS) A provider-operated application Manage users, use, configuration, and information.

Virtualization and Cloud Computing

The table summarizes the service-model distinction in Mell and Grance (2011). Specific responsibilities vary by service and agreement. AWS's shared-responsibility explanation also emphasizes that customers retain responsibilities when using cloud services. A subscription does not transfer every decision about access, records, or recovery to the provider.

Virtualization and Cloud Computing

Scalability concerns the ability to support a larger workload; elasticity concerns adjusting resources as demand changes. Neither guarantees a lower bill. Usage-based charging makes workload patterns, idle resources, and transfer or support costs relevant to the business case.

AI Workloads and Cloud Capacity

Artificial intelligence creates infrastructure choices because processing, storage, communications, and operating support must match the task. Training develops model parameters from data; inference uses a trained model to produce outputs. Their resource demands can differ, and the organization may purchase inference through a service without training a model itself.

AI Workloads and Cloud Capacity

The nonprofit might use a hosted model to draft volunteer communications. Management needs to consider the number and length of requests, response time, information sent to the provider, human review, service interruptions, and changes in model behavior. A high benchmark result does not answer these operating questions.

AI Workloads and Cloud Capacity

A useful comparison evaluates a defined workload under realistic conditions. For example, the nonprofit can compare the time and review effort required to prepare approved messages using a hosted service and its current process. Owning infrastructure may increase direct control while requiring more expertise and maintenance.

AI Workloads and Cloud Capacity

The choice should follow the task and constraints, not a model ranking detached from them.

Edge, Green, and Emerging Computing

Edge computing performs some processing close to the devices or activities that generate data. It can support work that needs quick local responses or must continue when a remote connection is unavailable. The resulting arrangement still needs updates, monitoring, and a plan for synchronizing records with other systems.

Edge, Green, and Emerging Computing

Green computing examines environmental resource use across the technology's life cycle. Efficient equipment, appropriate capacity, longer useful life, and reduced unnecessary processing can each matter. Moving a workload to another provider changes where resources are used; it does not by itself demonstrate that their total environmental effect has fallen.

Edge, Green, and Emerging Computing

For an event check-in service, local processing might keep admission working during a connection failure, with records reconciled afterward. Managers would compare that benefit with the effort of managing local devices and resolving conflicting updates.

Edge, Green, and Emerging Computing

Emerging hardware should be assessed through the same questions: what work improves, which resources are consumed, and which new dependencies or operating duties arise?

Quick check

Name the concept that completes this statement.

A ________ combines devices, operating software, applications, and connectivity that support work away from a fixed workstation.

Quick check

Name the concept that completes this statement.

________ allows personally owned devices to perform organizational work.

Your turn

Use the chapter case: A Small Organization Chooses Its Infrastructure.

Compare two feasible infrastructure arrangements, including a cloud option. Specify retained responsibilities and operating assumptions.

Prepare a brief explanation with a stated assumption and an outcome measure.

Recap

Compare service models and operating responsibilities for a defined workload. Cloud, mobile, AI, and edge choices create different combinations of cost, control, continuity, and management work.

Operations

Chapter 5 · Infrastructure

Read: Operations

Goals for this part

  • Explain Open Source and Web Software.
  • Explain Platform Change and Outsourcing.
  • Explain Governance and Infrastructure Investment.

Open Source and Web Software

Open-source software is distributed under licenses that permit specified forms of inspection, use, modification, and redistribution. It is not one business model or a promise of free support. Organizations need to understand the license, maintenance arrangements, skills required, and dependencies included in the service.

Open Source and Web Software

Web software commonly separates a user-facing interface from services that perform processing or manage records. That separation allows different clients to use shared capabilities, but it also creates interfaces that must remain compatible. A change in one component can affect users of another.

Open Source and Web Software

For the nonprofit, a volunteer-maintained website may have no license fee but still require updates, backup checks, and someone who understands the configuration. A paid service may bundle some operating work while leaving content, accounts, and data responsibilities with the customer.

Open Source and Web Software

Comparing options should include the work needed to keep them supported, rather than equating purchase price with total cost.

Platform Change and Outsourcing

Outsourcing assigns work to an external provider. It can provide expertise or operating capacity, but the organization still needs to specify the service, monitor results, and manage its dependencies. A provider can perform a task without owning the business objective that task supports.

Platform Change and Outsourcing

A platform change includes data migration, integration changes, employee learning, and possible interruption. Vendor lock-in describes dependence that makes changing providers costly or disruptive. Dependence may arise from data formats, customized workflows, specialized skills, or integrations, not only from a contract clause.

Platform Change and Outsourcing: comparison

Operating decision Immediate attraction Continuing management question
Subscribe to a managed service Less routine technical work Which responsibilities remain internal?
Customize a platform Better fit to a local process Can the customization be supported after updates?
Change providers A different price or capability Can records and work move with acceptable disruption?

Platform Change and Outsourcing

An exit plan makes these questions concrete. The nonprofit should know how to obtain usable records and continue essential work if the service ends. {doc}Sourcing <../14_business_cases/1403_sourcing> develops vendor evaluation further.

Governance and Infrastructure Investment

Infrastructure governance establishes who sets priorities, approves changes, owns risks, and checks whether shared services meet organizational needs. Because many applications depend on the same foundation, a change that benefits one team can create costs or risks for others.

Governance and Infrastructure Investment

Total cost of ownership includes acquisition or subscription, implementation, operation, support, training, and retirement or transition. A cheaper server can be a poor choice if it requires unavailable expertise. A more expensive service can also be poor value if its capacity or features do not address a real need.

Governance and Infrastructure Investment

A management review should connect spending to service requirements: expected workload, acceptable response time, continuity needs, information sensitivity, and support capacity. It should also check the evidence after deployment. Counting purchased resources does not establish that users receive a dependable service.

Governance and Infrastructure Investment

For the nonprofit, a reasonable governance arrangement names a service owner, reviews access and recurring costs, tests restoration of essential records, and records decisions about important changes. The detail should match the service's consequences and complexity, rather than copying a large enterprise's paperwork without its purpose.

Governance and Infrastructure Investment

Reliability concerns dependable operation over the relevant conditions and period. Disaster recovery concerns restoring technology and information after a serious disruption. Redundant equipment can support reliability, while tested backups and restoration procedures support recovery. Neither alone proves that the business can continue every activity: the organization also needs people, access, and workable procedures.

Governance and Infrastructure Investment

Chapter 8 develops these distinctions in the context of cybersecurity and resilience.

Quick check

Name the concept that completes this statement.

________ is distributed under licenses that permit specified forms of inspection, use, modification, and redistribution.

Quick check

Name the concept that completes this statement.

________ assigns work to an external provider.

Your turn

Use the chapter case: A Small Organization Chooses Its Infrastructure.

Define a small organization’s service needs, workload, continuity needs, information sensitivity, and available support skills.

Prepare a brief explanation with a stated assumption and an outcome measure.

Recap

Plan for the whole operating life of a service. Evaluate licenses, support, provider dependence, and ongoing ownership alongside the initial technical capability.

Reading and assignments