3 EBUSINESS INFRASTRUCTURE ACTIVITY INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE COMPONENTS Write

3. E-BUSINESS INFRASTRUCTURE

ACTIVITY – INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE COMPONENTS Write down all the different types of hardware and software involved from when a user types in a web address such as www. google. com to the web site being loaded Why do business managers need to know about the jargon and technology?

ACTIVITY 3. 1 INFRASTRUCTURE RISK ASSESSMENT Make a list of the potential problems for customers of an online retailer You should consider problems faced by users of e-business applications who are both internal and external to the organization Base your answer on problems you have experienced on a web site that can be related to network, hardware and software failures or problems with data quality

TYPICAL PROBLEMS Web site communications too slow Web site not available Bugs on site through pages being unavailable or information typed in forms not being executed Ordered products not delivered on time E-mails not replied to Customers’ privacy or trust is broken through security problems such as credit cards being stolen or addresses sold to other companies

E-COMMERCE INFRASTRUCTURE. . ACHIEVE THIS- WHAT DO YOU NEED?

E-COMMERCE INFRASTRUCTURE …

E-COMMERCE INFRASTRUCTURE …

Figure 3. 1 This model should not be viewed just from layered perspective A five-layer model of e-business infrastructure

Physical and network infrastructure components of the Internet (Levels IV and III in Figure 3. 1) Figure 3. 2

Figure 3. 3 Example hosting provider Rackspace (www. rackspace. com)

Figure 3. 4 Timeline of major developments in the use of the web

Figure 3. 5 The Netcraft index of number of servers Source: Netcraft web Server Survey. http: //news. netcraft. com/archives/web_server_survey. html. Netcraft

INTRANET AND EXTRANET APPLICATIONS What applications can an Intranet support? What applications can an extranet support?

Figure 3. 6 Firewall positions within the e-business infrastructure of the B 2 B company

ACTIVITY – A COMMON PROBLEM WITH INTRANETS AND EXTRANETS A B 2 B Company has found that after an initial surge of interest in its intranet and extranet, usage has declined dramatically. The e-business manager wants to achieve these aims: Increase usage Produce more dynamic content Encouraging more clients to order (extranet) What would you suggest?

WEB TECHNOLOGY Browser Server Interactive between a browser and a server P. 125, Fig. 3. 7 Box. 3. 2 pp. 126 -127 Web Server Log

Figure 3. 8 Transaction log file example

Browsershots (www. browsershots. org) – a service for testing crossbrowser compatibility Figure 3. 9

INTERNET APPLICATIONS Atomisation concept Widget Blogs Feeds IPTV Peer-to-peer Social networks Tagging VOIP How are the tools relevant to ecommerce?

Figure 3. 11 Personalized feed home page from i. Google (www. igoogle. com)

Figure 3. 12 Joost service

URLS AND DOMAIN NAMES Web addresses are structured in a standard way as follows: http: //www. domain-name. extension/filename. html What do the following extensions or global top level domains stand for? . com . co. uk, . uk. com . org or. org. uk . gov . edu, . ac. uk . int . net . biz . info

BOX 3. 3. IDENTIFY URL COMPONENTS: HTTP: //VIDEO. GOOGLE. CO. UK: 80/VI DEOPLAY? DOCID=7246927612831078230&HL=EN#00 H 0 2 M 30 S Protocol Host or hostname Subdomain Domain name Top-level domain or TLD Second-level domain (SLD) The port The path URL parameter Anchor or fragment

HOW DOES DNS SERVICE WORK?

HTML AND XML HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) A standard format used to define the text and layout of web pages. HTML files usually have the extension. HTML or. HTM XML or e. Xtensible Markup Language A standard for transferring structured data, unlike HTML which is purely presentational

Figure 3. 13 The TCP/IP protocol

SEMANTIC WEB Interrelated content with defined meaning, enabling better exchange of information between computers and between peoples and computers Example-Mini Case Study 3. 3. pp. 149 -151

Figure 3. 15 Architecture of semantic web system used at Electricite de France

INTERNET GOVERNANCE Net Neutrality Principle What it is Should it be upheld? What two forces are threatening net neutrality? What’s your opinion on this matter?

INTERNET GOVERNANCE Internet Corp. for assigning names and numbershttp: //www. icann. org What is the equivalency in Canada? http: //www. cira. ca/home-en/? lang=en Internet Society-www. isoc. org Internet Engineering Force—www. ietf. org WWW Consortium-www. w 3. org

Figure 3. 18 Differing use of applications at levels of management within companies

Figure 3. 19 Elements of e-business infrastructure that require management

WEB SERVICES, SAAS, AND SOA Web Services—applications are provided though internet but not necessarily on the same machine or the same network Saa. S—applications are licensed to customers for use as a service on demand What are the challenges for Saa. S?

WEB SERVICES, SAAS, AND SOA What is SOA? A collection of services that communicate with each other as part of a distributed system The motive is to develop applications that are independent of hardware, OS, language, etc. Case Study 3. 2, pp. 174 -175

Figure 3. 20 Google apps (www. google. com/apps)

Figure 3. 21 Salesforce. com (www. salesforce. com)

M-COMMERCE Popular mobile applications Short Message Services (SMS) applications Wi-Fi mobile access Bluetooth wireless applications Technology Convergence Access device convergence Delivery channel convergence Supplier convergence

M-COMMERCE Strategies For portal and media sites, they may adopt embrace early or wait and see For B 2 C e-commerce sites, they market, sell, and building the brand

Learning outcomes Outline the hardware and software technologies used to build an e-business infrastructure within an organization and with its partners Outline the hardware and software requirements necessary to enable employee access to the Internet and hosting of e-commerce services. Management issues What are the practical risks to the organization of failure to manage ecommerce infrastructure adequately? How should staff access to the Internet be managed? How should we evaluate the relevance of web services and open source software?

Table 3. 1 Key management issues of e-business infrastructure

Table 3. 1 Key management issues of e-business infrastructure (Continued)