Chapter 10

The Corporate Information Architecture

Chapter 10 describes the traditional mainframe-based centralized architecture and then it contrasts it with client/server architecture. The chapter also discusses the role of the information warehouse in an organization (as part of the architecture) and the issue of outsourcing.

[ Update | Exercises | IT@Work ]

Update

Where’s the fat?

One of the greatest challenges in client/server computing is determining how create just the right balance of fat—processing capability—between and among clients and servers. One strategy, fat servers and thin clients, tends to burden networks with the extra demand of transporting code as well as data. The opposite strategy, thin servers and fat clients, creates a maintenance nightmare for IS support staff as they try to keep up with changes across herds of plump clients.

In recent months, a new kind of client, the "network computer" or "NC," has been getting quite a bit of press. David Jackson discusses the debut of Sun and Oracle’s first NCs in his Time Magazine article, New Kids On The Block. Intel and Microsoft are not sitting idly by the wayside in what some see as the first serious challenge to the desktop dominance their "Wintel" PCs. In Money Magazine, Michael Brush describes how Battle lines are drawn in effort to develop stripped-down network computer. Finally, Fortune columnist Stewart Alsop takes a more sanguine stance on the issue in These guys want to take away our PCs.

More than anything, all the recent debate over the Network Computer has focused Corporate America’s attention on the real cost of desktop computing. Check out the ITM Chapter 11 update for closely related discussion.

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Exercises

Surf the Internet to find information on the status of mainframe computing. Find the arguments of those who believe that the mainframe is dying, and of those who oppose the idea (e.g., IBM).
Visit the Web site of Business Objectives, Oracle, and other client/server vendors. Identify the recent trends in hardware and software.
Clarify the role of "middleware" in client/server computing by finding relevant information on the Internet. Check with some vendors.
Outsourcing of IT is a major corporate strategy that has been the subject of debate. Surf the Internet to find material about the advantages and disadvantages of Internet outsourcing. Visit the sites of some major outsource companies such as EDS and IBM.

IT@Work

HFC

IDC Research

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