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Chapter 2

Here are potential answers to the case study questions: 1. Akamai needs to geographically disperse its servers to deliver content faster by locating servers close to end users. This reduces transmission times compared to sending all content from a single centralized location. 2. For software delivery, Akamai's service could provide benefits like faster downloads and the ability to handle major release traffic surges. Alternatives include using your own content delivery network or third party download services. 3. Advertisers using Akamai could deliver ads and rich media more quickly, improving user experience and ad viewing rates. Products with large or complex digital assets like videos would benefit most. 4. Major firms avoid P2P for content delivery

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ohoudhasan08
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7 views

Chapter 2

Here are potential answers to the case study questions: 1. Akamai needs to geographically disperse its servers to deliver content faster by locating servers close to end users. This reduces transmission times compared to sending all content from a single centralized location. 2. For software delivery, Akamai's service could provide benefits like faster downloads and the ability to handle major release traffic surges. Alternatives include using your own content delivery network or third party download services. 3. Advertisers using Akamai could deliver ads and rich media more quickly, improving user experience and ad viewing rates. Products with large or complex digital assets like videos would benefit most. 4. Major firms avoid P2P for content delivery

Uploaded by

ohoudhasan08
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Chapter -2

The Internet and World Wide Web:


E-commerce Infrastructure
The Internet: Technology Background

 Internet: A interconnected network of


thousands of networks and millions of
computers, linking businesses, educational
institutions, government agencies and
individuals
 World Wide Web (Web): One of the Internet’s
most popular services, providing access to
over 6 billion Web pages
The Evolution of the Internet
1961-2003
 History of Internet can be segmented into 3
phases:
 Innovation Phase – fundamental building
blocks conceptualized and realized
 Institutional Phase – providing funding and
legitimization for Internet
 Commercialization Phase – private
corporations take over and expand Internet
backbone and services
The Internet: Key Technology Concepts

 Federal Networking Council definition of


Internet highlights three important concepts
that are basis for understanding the Internet:
 Packet switching
 TCP/IP communications protocol
 Client/server computing
Packet Switching
 A method of slicing digital messages into packets,
sending the packets along different communication
paths as they become available, and then
reassembling the packets once they arrive at their
destination
 Uses routers: special purpose computers that
interconnect the computer networks that make up the
Internet and route packets to their ultimate
destination
 Routers use computer programs called routing
algorithms to ensure packets take the best available
path toward their destination
TCP/IP (Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol)
 Protocol: a set of rules for formatting, ordering,
compressing and error-checking messages
 TCP: Establishes the connections among sending and
receiving Web computers, handles thee assembly of
packets at the point of transmission, and their reassembly
at the receiving end
 IP: Provides the Internet’s addressing scheme
 TCP/IP is divided into 4 separate layers:
 Network Interface Layer
 Internet Layer
 Transport Layer
 Application Layer
Domain Names and URLs
 Domain name: IP address expressed in
natural language
 Domain name system (DNS): allows numeric
IP addresses to be expressed in natural
language
 Example: cnet.com = 216.200.247.134
 Uniform resource locator (URL): addresses
used by Web browsers to identify location of
content on the Web
Client/Server Computing
 Model of computing in which very powerful
personal computers (clients) are connected in
a network with one or more server computers
that perform common functions for the clients,
such as storing files, software applications,
etc.
Cloud Computing

 Firms and individuals obtain computing power


and software over Internet
 Example: Google Apps
 Fastest growing form of computing
 Radically reduces costs of:
 Building and operating Web sites
 Infrastructure, IT support
 Hardware, software

Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Slide 3-9
Insight on Business: Peer-to-
Peer Computing Goes to Work
 Peer-to-peer computing an outgrowth of client/server
computing model
 Allows client computers to share resources without
intervention of a central server
 Most often used for sharing music and other file over
the Internet, in violation of copyright laws
 However, some new legitimate uses such as Groove
Workspace, a P2P platform developed by Groove
Networks
Other Internet Protocols and Utility Programs
 HTTP: Protocol used to transfer Web pages
 SMTP, POP and IMAP: Protocols used to send and receive e-mail
 FTP: Protocol that permits users to transfer files from server to client
and vice versa
 SSL: Protocol that provides secure communications between client
and server
 Telnet: Program that enables a client to emulate a mainframe
computer terminal
 Finger: Utility program that lets you check who is logged on, for how
long and user name
 Ping: Utility program that allows you to check connection between
client and server
 Tracert: Utility program that allows you to follow pat of a message
sent from a client to a remote computer
Intranets and Extranets
 Intranet: TCP/IP network located within a
single organization for purposes of
communication and information processing
 Extranet: Formed when firms permit outsiders
to access their internal TCP/IP networks
Hypertext
 A way of formatting pages with embedded
links that connect documents to one another,
and that also link pages to other objects such
as sound, video or animation files
 Uses Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and
URLs to locate resources on the Web
Markup Languages
 Generalized Markup Languages (GMLs) include:
 Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) –
an early GML
 Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) – a GML that is
relatively easy to use; provides fixed set of markup
“tags” used to format a Web page
 eXtensible Markup Language (XML) – new markup
language specification developed by W3C that is
designed to describe data and information; tags used
are defined by user
The Internet and Web: Features
 Internet and Web features on which the foundations
of e-commerce are built include:
 E-mail
 Instant messaging
 Search engines
 Intelligent agents (bots)
 Chat
 Music, video and other standard files
 Streaming media
 Cookies
E-mail
 Most used application of the Internet
 Uses a series of protocols to enable messages
containing text, images, sound, video clips, etc to be
transferred from one Internet user to another
 Also allows attachments (files attached to the e-mail
message)
 Can be an effective marketing tool
 Spam: unsolicited e-mail. A worsening problem
Instant Messaging
 Fastest growing form of online human
communication
 Displays words type on a computer almost
instantly, and recipients can then respond
immediately in the same way
 Different proprietary systems offered by AOL,
MSN, Yahoo
Search Engines
 Identifies Web pages that appear to match
keywords (queries) entered by a user, and
provides list of best matches based on one or
more of a variety of techniques
 No longer simply search engines, but also
shopping tools and advertising vehicles
(search engine marketing)
Intelligent Agents (Bots)
 Software programs that gather and/or filter
information on a specific topic and then
provide a list of results
 Types include search bot, shopping bot, Web
monitoring bot, news bot, chatterbot
Other Internet and Web Features
Relevant to E-commerce
 Chat: Enables users to communicate via computer in
real time (simultaneously); used in e-commerce to
help develop community
 Music, video, and other standard files: routinely used
for marketing and advertising purposes
 Streaming media: enables music, video and other
large files to be sent to users in chunks so that when
received and played, file comes through
uninterrupted
 Cookies: small text file stored on user’s computer
with information about the user that can be accessed
by Web site the next time user returns to the site
Case Study: A k a m a i T e c h n o l o g i e s :
AttemptingtoKeepSupplyAhead
o f D e m a n d: Page 172

Case Study Questions


1.Why does Akamai need to geographically disperse its servers to deliver its customers’ Web
content?
2. If you wanted to deliver software content over the Internet, would you sign up for Akamai’s
service? What alternatives exist?
3.What advantages does an advertiser derive from using Akamai’s service? What kinds of
products might benefit from this kind of service?
4. Why don’t major business firms distribute their videos using P2P networks like BitTorrent?
5.Do you think Internet users should be charged based on the amount of bandwidth they
consume, or on a tiered plan where users would pay in rough proportion to their usage?

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