Information Technology provides background knowledge about major information technology components: hardware and software, networks, and data. Today almost all kinds of organizations are increasingly dependent on information technologies for achieving their strategic and operational objectives. Over the past decade, enterprise systems have been broader to provide secure, electronic connection with vendors and buyers, and the Internet has become a mainstream channel for communications and business transactions.
As a regular 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 few years. The extremely fast technological change makes it difficult to correctly guess the IT innovations that will be “winners” tomorrow-and significant mispredictions about technologies have been general in the past. However, it seems safe to predict that computer and communication devices will continue to touch almost every aspect of our lives.
Microcomputer technology was available as early as the 1970s, and the introduction of the first IBM PC in 1981 was the beginning of desktop computing. Today, desktop and portable computers, tablets produced by manufacturers around the world have become commodity products with excessive processing power that is equivalent to an organization’s entire computing center of the 1960s. The typical computer, laptop or tablets 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. The features like; portability and wireless capabilities, lightweight laptop, notebook and tablet computers are being more important and 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 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 premises. In mid-2007, Apple Computer began selling a new smartphone (iPhone) with touch screen navigation and scrolling, and simplified calling from an address book, email and text messaging, visual voice mail, video playing, and Web browsing via Wifi connectivity. Since then, other IT manufacturers have been developing many other thinner devices like; smartphones with similar features, and Apple has introduced a lightweight notebook computer (the iPad) with a similar interface.
