Telecommunications, Networks, and the Internet
Telecommunicationsis the electronic transmission of signals for communications, which enables organizations to carry out their processes and tasks through effective computer networks.
Telecommunications can take place through wired, wireless, and satellite transmissions.31 The Associated Press was one of the first users of telecommunications in the 1920s, sending news over 103,000 miles of wire in the United States and almost 10,000 miles of cable across the ocean. Today, telecommunications is used by organizations of all sizes and individuals around the world. With telecommunications, people can work at home or while traveling. This approach to work, often called telecommuting, allows a telecommuter living in England to send his or her work to the United States, China, or any location with telecommunications capabilities.
Networksconnect computers and equipment in a building, around the country, or around the world to enable electronic communication. Wireless transmission allows aircraft drones, such as Boeing’s Scan Eagle, to fly using a remote control system to monitor commercial buildings or enemy positions.32 The drones are smaller and less- expensive versions of the Predator and Global Hawk drones that the U.S. military used in the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts. According to a Navy Rear Admiral, “There are all sorts of levels of stealthiness.
Operators have been deploying it in an undetectable fashion; at a certain low altitude, you can’t hear or see it. Interconnected networks, all freely exchanging information. Research firms, colleges, universities, high schools, hospitals, and businesses are just a few examples of organizations using the Internet. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, for example, allows doctors to use its Internet site to provide better patient care and reduce costs.33 The doctors pay a monthly service fee to use the hospital’s Internet site. Increasingly, businesses and people are using the Internet to run and deliver important applications, such as accessing vast databases, performing sophisticated business analysis, and getting a variety of reports. This concept, called cloud computing, allows people to get the information they need from the Internet (the cloud) instead of from desktop or corporate computers.34 According to the CIO of Avon Products, “Today, wherever you are, you can connect to all the information you need.” Some applications are available to everyone (public cloud computing), while other applications are only available to corporate employees and managers (private cloud computing). Doctors use cloud computing and other types of Web sites to provide better patient care and reduce costs.
People use the Internet to research information, buy and sell products and services, make travel arrangements, conduct banking, download music and videos, read books, and listen to radio programs, among other activities.35 Bank of America allows people to check their bank balances and pay their bills on the Internet using Apple’s iPhone and other handheld devices.36 Internet sites like MySpace (www.myspace.com) and Facebook (www.facebook.com) have become popular places to connect with friends and colleagues.
People can also send short messages of up to 140 characters using Twitter (www.twitter.com) over the Internet.37 Some people, however, fear that this increased usage can lead to problems, including criminals hacking into the Internet and gaining access to sensitive personal information.
Large computers, personal computers, and today’s cell phones, such as Apple’s iPhone, can access the Internet.38 This not only speeds communications, but also allows people to conduct business electronically. Internet users can create Web logs (blogs) to store and share their thoughts and ideas with others around the world. Using podcasting, you can download audio programs or music from the Internet to play on computers or music players. One of the authors of this book uses podcasts to obtain information on information systems and technology.
The World Wide Web (WWW), or the Web, is a network of links on the Internet to documents containing text, graphics, video, and sound. Information about the documents and access to them are controlled and provided by tens of thousands of special computers called Web servers. The Web is one of many services available over the Internet and provides access to millions of documents. New Internet technologies and increased Internet communications and collaboration are collectively called Web 2.0.
The technology used to create the Internet is also being applied within companies and organizations to create intranets, which allow people in an organization to exchange information and work on projects. Intranet is an internal network based on Web technologies that allows people within an organization to exchange information and work on projects.
ING DIRECT Canada (www.ingdirect.ca/en), for example, used its intranet to get ideas from its employees. According to one corporate executive, “Many of the ideas we’ve been able to implement are from front-line staff who talk to our customers every day and know what they want.” 39 Companies often use intranets to connect its employees around the globe. An extranetis a network based on Web technologies that allows selected outsiders, such as business partners and customers, to access authorized resources of a company’s intranet. Many people use extranets every day without realizing it—to track shipped goods, order products from their suppliers, or access customer assistance from other companies. Penske Truck Leasing, for example, uses an extranet (www.MyFleetAtPenske.com) for Penske leasing companies and its customers.40 The extranet site allows customers to schedule maintenance, find Penske fuel stops, receive emergency roadside assistance, participate in driver training programs, and more. If you log on to the FedEx site (www.fedex.com) to check the status of a package, for example, you are using an extranet.
When you log on to the FedEx site (www.fedex.com) to check the status of a package, you are using an extranet. (Source: www.fedex.com.)
People are the most important element in most computer-based information systems. They make the difference between success and failure for most organizations. Information systems personnel include all the people who manage, run, program, and maintain the system, including the CIO, who manages the IS department.41 Users are people who work with information systems to get results. Users include financial executives, marketing representatives, manufacturing operators, and many others. Certain computer users are also IS personnel.
Proceduresinclude the strategies, policies, methods, and rules for using the CBIS, including the operation, maintenance, and security of the computer. For example, some procedures describe when each program should be run. Others describe who can access facts in the database or what to do if a disaster, such as a fire, earthquake, or hurricane, renders the CBIS unusable. Good procedures can help companies take advantage of new opportunities and avoid potential disasters. Poorly developed and inadequately implemented procedures, however, can cause people to waste their time on useless rules or result in inadequate responses to disasters, such as hurricanes or tornadoes.
Now that we have looked at computer-based information systems in general, we will briefly examine the most common types used in business today. These IS types are covered in greater detail in Part.
EXERCISES TO TEXT 5.
1. Write out from the text the phrases that contain words activity, net, to connect.
2. Write out the words from the GLOSSARY into 3 columns:
| NOUN PHRASE | COMPOUND NOUNS | ABBRIVIATION |
3. Write out nouns with suffixes -ing, -tion, -er/-or from the GLOSSARY.