UNIT III

Information Technology
Information Technology
Information Technologies are systems of hardware and/or software that capture, process, exchange, store
and/or present information using electrical, magnetic and/or electromagnetic energy.
Introduction
✔ Management information system (MIS) refers to a large infrastructure used by a business or
corporation, whereas information technology (IT) is one component of that infrastructure that is used for
collecting and transmitting data.

✔ A management information system helps a business make decisions and coordinate and analyze
information. Information Technology supports and facilitates the employment of that system.

✔ In terms of business decision-making, an information system (IS) is a set of data, computing devices,
and management methods that support routine company operations. A management information
system (MIS) is a specific subset of IS.

✔ A management information system, as used by a company or institution, might be a computerized

system consisting of hardware and software that serves as the backbone of information for the
company. Specifically, the computerized database may house all the company's financial information
and organize it in such a way that it can be accessed to generate reports on operations at different
levels of the company.

✔ information technology (IT) is the technology that involves the development, maintenance and use of
computer systems, software, and networks for the processing and distribution of data.
What counts as information? What counts as information?
IT Example: Cellular Telephony
IT Example: Wireless Internet
IT in Society (PEOPLE) IT in Society (Business)

Personal Communication Internal Communication

Computer network
Conversations (phone, cell)
Corporate website
Messaging (E-mail, SMS)
Video teleconferencing
Video Call
Messaging (SMS, email)
Entertainment
Web surfing
Electronic Commerce
Downloading video and audio files
Call Centers
Interactive gaming
Electronic transactions
Day-to-Day living Online sales
Buying airline ticket
Ordering books
Business operations
Electronic banking/ stock market
Factory operation systems
Databases
Telecommunication and Networks
Telecommunication
The electronic transmission of information over distances, called telecommunications, has
become nearly inseparable from computers: Computers and telecommunications create
value together. Components of a Telecommunications Network Telecommunications are the
means of electronic transmission of information over distances. Telecommunication is the
exchange of signs, signals, messages, words, writings, images and sounds or information
of any nature by wire, radio, optical or other electromagnetic systems.
Computer network
A collection of computing devices connected in order to communicate and share resources
Connections between computing devices can be physical using wires or cables or wireless
using radio waves or infrared signals.
The computers on a network may be linked through cables, telephone lines, radio waves,
satellites, or infrared light beams.
 Networking
Computer networks have opened up an entire frontier in the world
of computing called the client/server model.
Different types of Networks

Depending upon the geographical area covered by a network, it is

classified as:

– Local Area Network (LAN)

– Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

– Wide Area Network (WAN)

– Personal Area Network (PAN)

Types of Networks
 Local Area Network (LAN)
✔ A LAN is a network that is used for communicating among computer devices, usually within an
office building or home.

✔ LAN’s enable the sharing of resources such as files or hardware devices that may be needed
by multiple users.

✔ Is limited in size, typically spanning a few hundred meters, and no more than a mile

✔ Is fast, with speeds from 10 Mbps to 10 Gbps

✔ Requires little wiring, typically a single cable connecting to each device

✔ Has lower cost compared to MAN’s or WAN’s

✔ LAN’s can be either wired or wireless. Twisted pair, coax or fibre optic cable can be used in wired LAN’s.
Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
✔ A metropolitan area network (MAN) is a large computer network that usually spans a city or a
large campus.

✔ A MAN is optimized for a larger geographical area than a LAN, ranging from several blocks of
buildings to entire cities.

✔ A MAN might be owned and operated by a single organization, but it usually will be used by many
individuals and organizations.

✔ A MAN often acts as a high speed network to allow sharing of regional resources.

✔ A MAN typically covers an area of between 5 and 50 km diameter.

✔ Examples of MAN: Telephone company network that provides a high speed DSL to customers and
Wide Area Network (WAN)
✔ WAN covers a large geographic area such as country, continent or even whole of the world.

✔ A WAN is two or more LANs connected together. The LANs can be many miles apart.

✔ To cover great distances, WANs may transmit data over leased high-speed phone lines or wireless
links such as satellites.

✔ Multiple LANs can be connected together using devices such as bridges, routers, or gateways,
which enable them to share data.

✔ The world's most popular WAN is the Internet.

 Personal Area Network (PAN)
✔ A PAN is a network that is used for communicating among computers and computer
devices (including telephones) in close proximity of around a few meters within a room

✔ It can be used for communicating between the devices themselves, or for connecting to a
larger network such as the internet.

✔ PAN’s can be wired or wireless.

✔ A personal area network (PAN) is a computer network used for communication among
computer devices, including telephones and personal digital assistants, in proximity to an
individual's body.

✔ The devices may or may not belong to the person in question. The reach of a PAN is
typically a few meters.
 TOPOLOGY
“The interconnection pattern of nodes on a network.” A telecommunications network
consists of a group of interconnected nodes or switching centers. There are a number
of different ways, interconnect switches in a telecommunication network.

If every pair of computers on a network had a dedicated communication link, passing

messages would be direct and straightforward. (e.g., the “hotline” between the White
House and Kremlin).

Unfortunately, with hundreds, thousands or millions of computers on a network, they

cannot all have direct links to each other.
 BUS TOPOLOGY

✔ Nodes are connected to a single communication line that carries messages in

both directions.
✔ This type of network was widely used in the 1980’s .
✔ In this configuration every computer (node) shares the networks total bus
capacities.
✔ In this configuration adding more computers will reduce the access speed on
the network.
✔ Each computer communicates to other computers on the network
independently this is referred to as PEER-TO-PEER networking.
 How a Bus Peer to Peer Network Works

✔ All computers on a network have a distinct address just like your house does
a message would be send from one computer with the address of another
computer attached to the message.

✔ The message is broadcasted to all the computers on the network until the
addressed PC accepts the message

PROBLEMS:
One of the main problems with this type of network is that it is not very fault
tolerant, a break or defect in the bus would affect the whole network.
 RING TOPOLOGY

✔ In Ring topology each node is connected to the two nearest nodes so the entire
network forms a circle.

✔ Data only travels in one direction on a Ring network.

 How it Works

✔ As it is better to have computers take turns using the connecting Data cable, Ring
topologies incorporated a system called Token passing.
✔ In this topology, to transmit on the wire your computer must have control of the
token or wait for the token to be free.
✔ Larger Token Ring networks use multiple tokens.

PROBLEMS:
The drawback to this type of topology is that a single malfunctioning workstation can
disable the whole network.
SOLUTIONS:
To make sure all the information is sent the receiving PC sends the token back to the
sending PC after it has received all the data.
 Star Topology

✔ In a Star topology every node is connected through a central device such as a

Hub, Switch or Router.
✔ Compared to a Ring or Bus topology a Star topology requires that more thought
be put into its setup.

HUB
 The Good and Bad of a Star Network

✔ The upside of a star network is that if any one cable fails then only the node
connected on that cable would be affected.

✔ Another positive point to this type of network is that it is very simple to join two
star networks together by connecting their central devices to each other.

✔ As each computer is connected to a central device (Hub) the location of the Hub
must be made as central as possible, so as to reduce cable lengths.

✔ The drawback to this type of topology is if a central device was to fail then all
computers connected to that device would not be able to see the network .
Mesh topology is a type of network topology in which each node is connected to
every other node fully through a dedicated link in the network.

Tree topology is a type of network topology in which the nodes are organized in
the design of a tree. Tree topology consists of the root node from which the
branching cable starts and the branching cable connects the root node with all
other nodes in a hierarchical manner. Tree topology is less expensive than mesh
topology.
 ITES
ITES is defined as outsourcing of processes that can be enabled with IT and covers
diverse areas like Finance, HR, Administration, health care and telecommunication
etc.

“ Out sourcing in the broadest sense of a term ITES is model growing leaps and bound
globally and transparently assuring max money-value.”

The growth of IT enabled Services (ITES) has opened windows for job opportunities,
service offerings and foreign investments in India.

Nasscom says that India is well positioned to derive benefits from the ITES market and
become a key hub for these services.
 Nasscom has identified the spectrum
✔ Customer Interaction services including call centers, back office operations/revenue
accounting, data entry, data conversion including finance and accounting and HR services,
Transcription/Translation services.

✔ Content development/animation/engineering and design.

✔ Other services including remote education, data search, market research, network
consultancy and management as IT enabled services.
Customer Interaction Services
Contact center that are service facilities with adequate telecom infrastructure, trained
consultants, access to requisite databases, Internet and other online information
infrastructure to provide information support to customers round the clock, year round.

Customer Related Support :- Customer related support in areas such as marketing, selling,
information dispensing, advice, technical, etc. is provided.
 ITES include the following
✔ Back office operations
✔ Call Centers
✔ Content Development / Animation
✔ Data Processing
✔ Engineering and Design
✔ Geographic Information System Services
✔ Human Resource Services
✔ Insurance Claim Processing
✔ Legal Databases
✔ Medical Transcription
✔ Payroll
✔ Remote Maintenance
✔ Revenue Accounting
✔ Support Centers
✔ Web site services
 Challenges in ITES business
✔ Qualified manpower
✔ Quality manpower
✔ Trained manpower
✔ Man power retention- biggest challenge

ITES Resource Challenge

✔ Mind set about the industry
✔ Mind set about the work culture
✔ Mind set about the career prospects

ITES Challenge
✔ Voice based outbound caliber required soft skills
✔ Required volumes to cater college focus on soft skills/ personality development
✔ Growing IT flavor among students
 ITES Career Opportunity
✔ No barriers of any technical (subject) skills
✔ No barrier of any prior experience
✔ Job immediately on completion of degree
✔ General soft skills is only the requisite
✔ General advantage of being in ITES job including smart start up pay packs
 GIS
“Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are fundamental tools for learning geography. They
provide a means of enquiring into geography through mapping. Using GIS therefore encourages
pupils to think geographically.”

Almost everything happens somewhere and in most cases, knowing where some things happen
is critically important.

Examples:
• Position of country boundaries
• Location of hospitals
• Management of forest stands
• Allocation of funds for sea defenses

Geographical Information Systems are a special class of information systems that keep track not
only of events, activities, and things, but also of where these events, activities, and things happen
or exist.
 GIS
✔ “GIS is much more than a container of maps in digital form”.

✔ “A GIS is a computerized tool for solving geographic problems”

✔ “GIS is a collection of computer hardware, software, and geographic data for capturing,
managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information.”

✔ Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are a special class of information systems that keep
track not only of events, activities, and things, but also of where these events, activities, and
things happen or exist.
 Is GIS about software only?
Information systems help us to manage what we know, by making easy to
organise and store, access and retrieve, manipulate and synthesize, and apply
knowledge to the solution of problems.

– Hardware
– Software
– Network
– Data
– Procedures
– And people!
 Geographical Information
Geographical Information is different from other kinds of information and therefore
requires special methods to be analyzed. Here are some of the characteristics that
make geographical information special:

• Multidimensional – at least two coordinates must be specified to define a

location
• Voluminous – a geographic database can easily reach a terabyte in size
• Analyses require data integration
• Data updates are expensive and time consuming
• Map displays require fast data retrieval
 Types of GIS
There are a number of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) (or GIS
software) available today. They range from high-powered analytical
software to visual web applications, and each of those are used for a
different purpose.

Three groups of GIS:

• Web-based GIS: ONS and London Profiler

• Geobrowser: Google Earth

• Desktop GIS: ArcGIS

Desktop GIS (ArcGIS)
✔ A GIS, or GIS software, allows you to interactively work with spatial data. A desktop GIS is a
mapping software that needs to be installed onto and runs on a personal computer.
✔ ArcGIS is used for a vast range of activities, covering both commercial and educational uses.

Geobrowser
✔ A Geobrowser is better explained with reference to an internet browser, i.e. Internet Explorer. In
short, a Geobrowser can be understood as an Internet Explorer for geographic information.

✔ Google Earth is the most popular Geobrowser available.

Web-based GIS
✔ Web-based GIS, or WebGIS, are online GIS applications which in most cases are excellent data
visualisation tools.

✔ There are many WebGIS available, but two of them are very common: the Office of National
Statistics (ONS) Neighbourhood mapping tool and the London Profiler.
 Software: ArcGIS
✔ In the case your school does not have a copy of ArcGIS, you will need to obtain an evaluation
copy of ArcGIS (60 day trial only) in order to do the exercises in Sessions 5, 6 and 7.
✔ We advise you to order the evaluation copy BEFORE you start the course, as it may take some
time before the software gets to you.
http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/arcview/eval/evaluate.html

You will then click on the Request a

Trial button as pointed in the image on
the right. This will take you to a page
containing an electronic form which
needs to be completed and sent
online.

Alternatively, you can go straight into the following link:

http://www.esri.com/apps/products/offers/av93dvd/index.cfm
 Software: Google Earth
Google Earth must be installed in your computer in order to do the exercises in Session 4. Google
Earth is freely available. To download Google Earth go to:

In order to start the download, click

on the Agree and Download button,
as shown in the picture on the right
in red.

In this same page, you will also find

links to tutorials and movies
demonstrating Google Earth
capabilities. These are highlighted in
green in the picture on the right.