FREE online courses on Information Technology - Chapter 9 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ARCHITECTURES - What is hardware and software architecture

 

Architecture is the place where all the technical topics we discussed so far come together. An organization' architecture includes:

 

¨       Computers, often of different sizes from different manufactures.

¨       Operating systems, frequently more than one.

¨       Languages for developing applications.

¨       Database management programs

¨       Packaged applications software.

¨       Networks ranging from those within a department to an international, private networks to the internet.

 

Beyond the technology, architecture also includes considerations of the way the organization processes information, particularly at the location processing takes place. We might ask the following questions to characterize a firm's architecture:

 

¨       Where is processing done? What computer among a group of computers processes information?

¨       Where are data stored for access by users?

¨       Where are data updated?

¨       What is the user interface? Where do the interface programs run?

¨       What capacities for data analysis does the user have? Is there local intelligence?

¨       What networks are in use including Intranets?

¨       What is the firm's presence on the Internet?

 

Just as there are many types of buildings, there are different types of information systems architectures.

 

¨       Volume of processing. The volume of information processed may determine the kind of architecture needed.

¨       Database. The amount data storage available on each class of computer is increasing, but in general more data still can be stored on larger computers.

¨       Interface. What kind of user can the architecture support?

¨       Discretion. How much processing and ad hoc analysis can the user do on his or her own?