History of Business Computing

History of Computing

The electronic computers we use today began in
the 1940s as electronic devices designed to
perform long, tedious, detailed calculations

They extended the electronic calculators of their
day in the ability to store a program

Von Neuman stored program computer

Contains data store for program instructions

Contains a separate CPU/processor to process the
instructions

Ability to be re-used for different computations
 History of Computing

Computers of today reflect the electronic
capabilities of the 1940s

Recognize the an electronic switch is open (0) or
closed (1), thus the ability to do binary arithmetic
(0/1)

The stored program architecture creates the flexibility
and adaptability that has allowed to machines to
progress to the point they are today
 History of Computing

Early computer applications (1940s) were
primarily for the military

Needed to calculate the trajectory of missiles late in
WWII

Government funding (military funding) allowed
academic institutions to build and perform research
on the construction of electronic computers (ENIAC
at the University of Pennsylvania)
 Data to Knowledge Transition
Data Information Knowledge


Data is transformed into information which is transformed
into knowledge

Data – raw, unformatted, unstructured

Information – data which has been structured and has
meaning

Knowledge – information which in a subjective, situational
context has value. Organized to be useful and meaningful for
a business problem.

The goal of IT is to provide knowledge for the business,
specifically knowledge which can be acted upon (actionable)
for competitive advantage
 History of Computing

IBM supplied input/output devices to the early
computer development efforts

IBM began building business computes in the
1950s

The IBM 360 in the 1960's was considered a
major breakthrough in large business computers
known as mainframe computers

Mainframe computers were extremely expensive
to purchase and operate
 History of Computing

Business use – Transaction Processing Systems
(TPS)

Accounting transactions

Accounts receivables – accounts payable

Chart of accounts

Income statements/ balance sheets

Software continued to improve

MRP

ERP
 History of Computing

The Internet begins as the ARPANET – a
government funded research project on
connecting computers via a communication
medium

The Web browser and Web server is added to the
Internet in the early 1990s

Laws are passed in the 1990s which make
commerce on the Internet possible

E-commerce
 History of Computing

The development of the transistor at Bell Labs in
the early 1940s ultimately led to the shrinking of
the computer and the development of the
minicomputer in the late 1960s and 1970s

The development of the microprocessor by Ted
Hoff in 1971 was significant. The first
microprocessor was 1/8" by 1/16" and was as
powerful as the 30 ton ENIAC
 History of Computing

In the 1980s, businesses begin to experiment with
making use of the large volumes of data collected
through Data Warehousing
 History of Computing

The introduction of the microprocessor allowed
the development of microcomputer 'home
computers'

IBM developed the IBM Personal Computer (PC)
in 1981 and opened the architecture allowing
third parties to develop components

Improvements in software and hardware for the
PC fueled its proliferation
 History of Computing

A server is a powerful, sophisticated computer
for running applications such as email servers,
web servers, enterprise wide accounting
applications, and other mission-critical
applications

The bladeserver is a small, flat computer that fits
in a rack with other bladeserver, significantly
reducing the amount of space needed to store and
maintain servers
 IT Doesn't Matter

Article written by Nicholas Carr circa 2002

Made a case that technology growth, when
viewed from an economic perspective, can be
represented by a buildout curve
 IT Doesn't Matter

Carr argued that early in the development and buildout of a
technology, it is scarce and use of the resource is a competitive
advantage

Once the technology is widely adopted, it is a common technology
and not a competitive advantage
 IT Doesn't Matter

Carr argued that IT is no longer a competitive
advantage

Carr's argument was based on the example of the
PC – it is now widely adopted and not a
competitive advantage
 IT Does Matter

The basic flaw in Carr's argument is that the
growth and development of PC hardware is
somehow representative of IT technology in
general

Carr's argument is too broad and naïve

IT is composed of many technologies

Hardware + Software

Software is notably complex and malleable; many
modern innovations have been driven by software
development