Page 643 - Introduction to Business

CHAPTER 18 The Digital Enterprise 617

Information Technology Infrastructure for the Digital Enterprise

LEARNING OBJECTIVE 2
Describe the role that the new information technology infrastructure plays in the digital enterprise.
Internetworking is the linking of separate networks into an interconnected net- internetworking The linking of separate
work, where each network retains its own identity. The Internet is an international networks into an interconnected
network, where each network retains
network of networks containing hundreds of thousands of private and public net-
its own identity
works in more than 150 countries. The Internet is an example of internetworking,
Internet An international network of
and it is the world’s largest and most widely used network, with an estimated 500 networks containing hundreds of
million users and growing. The use of the Internet jumped twelve-fold between thousands of private and public
networks in more than 150 countries
1996 and 2000, while TV viewing barely went up at all. 2
The Internet was created by the U.S. Department of Defense to link scientists
and university professors around the world. To connect to the Internet, individuals
need the services of an Internet service provider. An Internet service provider (ISP) internet service provider (ISP) A
is a business organization with a permanent connection to the Internet that sells business organization with a permanent
connection to the Internet that sells
temporary connections to subscribers. The Internet can also be accessed through
temporary connections to subscribers
online service companies such as America Online (AOL) and Microsoft Network
(MSN). The Internet is extremely flexible. Networks can be added or removed with
ease, and if a network in the Internet fails, the rest of the Internet can continue to
operate without any problems. Using special technology and communications
standards, any two computers linked to the Internet can communicate with each
other, even using regular telephone lines, regardless of where the computers are
located—next door or around the world. Business organizations and individuals
can use the Internet to exchange text messages, graphical displays, sound, and
video. In short, the Internet provides the primary information technology platform
for the digital enterprise.
The Internet capability called the World Wide Web is one of the reasons the
Internet has become so popular in such a short period of time. The World Wide Web World Wide Web (WWW or www) A
(WWW or www) is a system with universally accepted standards for displaying, for- system with universally accepted
standards for displaying, formatting,
matting, storing, and retrieving information in a networked environment. In the
storing, and retrieving information in a
World Wide Web, information is stored and displayed on electronic pages, called networked environment
webpages, that may contain text, graphics, sound, animations, and video. Web- webpage An electronic page where
pages can be accessed by any type of computer and can be linked to other web- information is stored and displayed on
the World Wide Web, and that may
pages, independently of where the other webpages are located. In order to access
contain text, graphics, sound,
the linked webpages, one simply has to click on a highlighted word or button on the animations, and video
viewed webpage. The collection of all the World Wide Web pages maintained by an
individual or business organization is called a website. The design and manage- website The collection of all the World
ment of websites has generated multiple job and business opportunities. A Wide Web pages maintained by an
individual or business organization
webmaster is the person in charge of a firm’s website.
webmaster The person in charge of a
Connectivity in the Internet is achieved by the Transmission Control
firm’s website
Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). The TCP/IP was developed by the U.S. Depart-
ment of Defense in 1972 as a reference model for any two computers to communi-
cate, even if the computers had different hardware and software platforms. To
access a website, the user has to specify a uniform resource locator (URL), which uniform resource locator (URL) The
represents the address of a resource on the Internet. For example, the URL for Texas address of a resource on the Internet
A&M University is http://www.tamu.edu. The first four characters, http, are an
abbreviation for hypertext transport protocol, which is a communications stan- hypertext transfer protocol (http) A
dard used to transfer webpages on the World Wide Web. The characters communications standard used to
transfer webpages on the World Wide
www.tamu.edu represent the domain name, which identifies the Web server stor-
Web
ing the webpages of Texas A&M University. A search engine is a tool for locating
search engine A tool for locating
websites on the Internet. Search engines contain software that looks for webpages websites on the Internet

Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part.