1. E-Business Infrastructure PRESENTED BY IKA NOVITA DEWI, MCS

2. Definition E-business infrastructure: The architecture of hardware, software, content and data used to deliver e-business services to employees, customers and partners infrastructure can also be considered to include the methods for publishing data and documents accessed through e-business applications A key decision with managing this infrastructure is which elements are located within the company and which are managed externally as third-party managed applications, data servers and networks

3. E-business infrastructure components

4. Internet technology The Internet refers to the physical network that links computers across the globe. It consists of the infrastructure of network servers and communication links between them that are used to hold and transport information between the client computers and web servers Client/server : The client/server architecture consists of client computers, such as PCs, sharing resources such as a database stored on a more powerful server computer.

5. Internet service provider (ISP) A provider providing home or business users with a connection to access the Internet. They can also host web-based applications. Backbones High-speed communications links used to enable Internet communications across a country and internationally. Physical and network infrastructure components of the Internet

6. Hosting of web sites and e-business services Hosting provider : A service provider that manages the server used to host an organization web site and its connection to the Internet backbones. For example: Rackspace describe itself as ‘Europe’s fastest growing hosting company

7. Intranets Applications Intranets are used extensively for supporting sell-side e-commerce from within the marketing function A marketing intranet has the following advantages: ◦ Reduced product lifecycles – as information on product development and marketing ◦campaigns is rationalized we can get products to market faster ◦ Reduced costs through higher productivity, and savings on hard copy ◦ Better customer service – responsive and personalized support with staff accessing customers over the web ◦ Distribution of information through remote offices nationally or globally

8. o Staff phone directories o Staff procedures or quality manuals o Information for agents such as product specifications, current list and discounted prices, competitor information, factory schedules, and stocking levels, all of which normally have to be updated frequently and can be costly o Staff bulletin or newsletter o Training courses Intranets are also used for internal marketing communications since they can include the following types of information:

9. o Employee incentive scheme o Text messaging o Holiday booking o Resource booking o News screen o Integrated external resources Some less common intranet applications which involve internal communications:

10. Extranet applications Any network connected to another network for the purpose of sharing information and data An extranet is created when two businesses connect their respective intranets for business communication and transactions Business benefits of an extranet: o Information sharing in secure environment o Cost reduction o Order processing and distribution o Customer service

11. Encouraging use of intranets and extranets The information made available to third parties over the Internet and extranet is partitioned by another firewall using what is referred to as the ‘demilitarized zone’ (DMZ). Corporate data on the intranet are then mounted on other servers inside the company

12. Web technology World Wide Web (WWW)  The most common technique for publishing information on the Internet. It is accessed through web browsers which display web pages of embedded graphics and HTML/XML-encoded text The combination of web browsers and HTML that has proved so successful in establishing widespread business use of the Internet. o easy to use o Interactivity o provide a graphical environment supporting multimedia o standardization of tools and growth in demand o Flexibility in the style of designs and tailoring

13. Web browsers and servers Web browsers Browsers such as Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Internet Explorer provide an easy method of accessing and viewing information stored as web documents on different servers Web servers Store and present the web pages accessed by web browsers. Web application server A collection of software processes which is accessed by a standard programming interface (API) of a web application framework to serve dynamic website functionality in response to requests received from browsers. They are designed to manage multiple requests from multiple users and will provide load-balancing to support high volumes of usage.

14. Transaction log files : A web- server file that records all page requests Information exchange between a web browser and a web server Web analytics system : Information on visitor volumes, sources and pages visited are analysed through web analytics systems

15. Internet-access software applications Applications of different Internet tools:

18. Networking standards TCP/IP : The Transmission Control Protocol is a transport layer protocol that moves data between applications. The Internet Protocol is a network layer protocol that moves data between host computers HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) : is a standard which defines the way information is transmitted across the Internet between web browsers and web servers Uniform resource locators (URLs) : A web address used to locate a web page on a web server

19. Web presentation and data exchange standards HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) : A standard web-page presentation format used to define the text and layout of web pages. HTML files usually have the extension.HTML or.HTM XML or eXtensible Markup Language : Standard for transferring structured data, unlike HTML which is purely presentational

20. Assignment Make a list of the potential technology problems faced by customers of an online retailer. You should consider problems faced by users of e-business applications which are either internal or external to the organization.