1 MIToverviewLesson1-AIS102

RECENT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
TRENDS
As a personal user of various computer and communication devices, you are probably already aware of
some of the innovations in computer systems and networks that have been introduced by IT vendors over
the past decade. This fast-paced technological change makes it difficult to accurately predict the IT
products and services that will be “winners” tomorrow—and significant mispredictions about
technologies have been common in the past (see the box “Mispredictions by IT Industry Leaders”).
However, it seems safe to predict that computer and communication devices will continue to touch almost
every aspect of our lives.
Let us briefly consider some of the technology developments that have already led to pervasive
computing in the first decades of this twenty-first century.
Computer Hardware: Faster, Cheaper, Mobile

Computer-on-a-chip (microcomputer) technology was available as early as the 1970s, and the
introduction of the first IBM Personal Computer (PC) in 1981 was the beginning of desktop computing.
Today, desktop and portable computers produced by manufacturers around the world have become
commodity products with processing power that is equivalent to an organization’s entire computing center
of the 1960s. The typical computer for individuals to use today has graphical icons, point-and-click and/or
touch screen navigation, and preloaded software to access the Internet—all at a cheaper price than what
the same features would have cost 12 months earlier, with better computer virus protection. Because of
their portability and wireless capabilities, lightweight laptop and notebook computers are replacing larger
desktop machines in offices today. They can be carried into meetings, taken on business trips, and used
at home to remotely connect to office systems.
Smaller, handheld devices have also continued to improve

in functionality and have become indispensable tools to access e-mail and other applications inside and
outside of the office, on the factory floor, as well as in hospital corridors. In mid-2007, Apple Computer
began selling a new smartphone (iPhone) with touch screen navigation and scrolling, and simplified
calling from an address book, e-mail and text messaging, visual voice mail, video playing, and Web
browsing via Wi-Fi connectivity. Since then, other IT vendors have been developing smartphones with
similar features, and Apple has introduced a lightweight notebook computer (the iPad) with a similar
interface.
Computer Software: Integrated,
Downloadable, Social
By the early 1990s, Microsoft Corporation’s Windows software had become the standard operating
system for the vast majority of microcomputers being used as desktop and portable computer “clients.” By
the end of the 1990s,Microsoft’s Office suite (i.e., word processing, spreadsheet, database, slideshow
presentation, and e-mail software sold in a single bundle) as well as its Web browser (Internet Explorer)
had become the de facto software in use in U.S.organizations and multinational companies. The
presence of software standards made it easier for their employees to work and communicate with other
employees and business partners, even when working from multiple office locations.
Today, many large companies and now midsized and smaller organizations have also made capital
investments in enterprise systems: software packages with integrated modules that can easily share
data across dispersed work teams, business divisions, and national boundaries in “real time.” Enterprise
systems have now been widely adopted by manufacturing and service firms of all types and sizes in
the United States and around the globe. Software applications that can access a customer’s database
can now be used more easily by suppliers to replenish materials for that customer, and customers can
check on the status of their orders via the Internet.
Downloadable applications of bit-size software programs for smartphones and larger programs for other
portable devices have now also become pervasive. Two years after the iPhone was first introduced,
Apple’s App Store had 85,000 applications that millions of iPhone owners had downloaded. In fact, the
ongoing success of the iPhone by Apple is to some degree due to the fact that more software apps are
available for this Apple product than for any of its competitors. Today’s mobile devices have therefore
catalysts for a whole new software industry market (see the box “The New App Economy”).
Another remarkable software trend has been the growth of so-called Web 2.0 or social media
applications, such as profile sharing software (e.g., Facebook,LinkedIn), cogenerated information tools
(e.g., Wikis,blogs), and information messaging tools (e.g., Twitter).Although initially these software
applications were hosted on Web sites designed for public communities, today these same tools may be
used by a company’s marketing and public relations groups for branding and other marketing activities
(Culnan et al., 2010). Similar tools are also being used on internal networks (intranets) for connecting
company employees across time, distance, and divisional affiliation (Majchrzak et al., 2009). At IBM, for
example, social networking tools are being used to bridge newer and more senior employees across the
globe (see the box “Social Networking within IBM”).
Computer Networks: High Bandwidth,
Wireless, Cloudy
The introduction of a Web browser in the mid-1990s that used an Internet communications standard
(TCP/IP) to link companies and individuals to the Internet has been described as a “killer application” due
to its widespread global impact. Demands for high-speed Internet access have spurred investments by
government and the private sector to install fiber-optic (high-bandwidth) lines. Today, many
households in developed countries pay a monthly fee for cable, satellite, or a telephone utility for
integrated data, voice, and perhaps television services in their homes. New investments by Western
countries in high-bandwidth lines to their own rural areas as well as to emerging nations in Africa
are also being announced as this textbook goes to press.
Satellite and cellular technologies now link remote workers to central support centers, travelers to travel
services, and delivery personnel to transportation schedulers. Wireless technologies have also enabled
some emerging countries to bypass expensive investments in hardwired telecommunications lines to
more remote areas.
Investments in wireless connectivity to better support mobile workers inside an organization’s walls have
also recently increased. For example, physicians and nurses with mobile computer and communications
devices have increased their productivity and service quality by communicating more easily with clinicians
on other hospital floors or at other worksites as well as by accessing electronic patient records and test
results at the patient’s bedside.
Another growing trend has been the usage of the Internet to obtain remote “hosting” or other IT
capabilities from “the cloud” (Bala and Henderson, 2010). In Softwareas-a-Service (SaaS) models, third-
party service providers deploy, manage, and remotely host software applications on a rental or lease
agreement. This is an especially attractive option for small organizations, but industry pioneers (such
as salesforce.com) also provide 24*7 access to distributed organizations and remote workers for Fortune
1000 companies. Other vendors offer computer infrastructure services (IaaS) via the Internet, such as
computer server processing and data storage, which enable organizations to more effectively
handle peak processing loads.

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RECENT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Computer Hardware: Faster, Cheaper, Mobile

Smaller, handheld devices have also continued to improve

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