SONA

Sa telecommunications naman, inatasan ko ang Telecommunications Commission na kumilos na tungkol sa mga sumbong na dropped calls at mga nawawalang load sa cellphone. We need to amend the Commonwealth-era Public Service Law. And we need to do it now.”

This area helps every Filipino financially since the issue speaks about lost subscriber’s load. Though not all Filipinos own a phone, it is important to get a fair service of what you are paying.

“Kung noong nakaraan, lumakas ang electronics, today we are creating wealth by developing the BPO and tourism sectors as additional engines of growth. Electronics and other manufactured exports rise and fall in accordance with the state of the world economy. But BPO remains resilient. With earnings of $6 billion and employment of 600,000, the BPO phenomenon speaks eloquently of our competitiveness and productivity. “

This area improves our lives by providing employment to many Filipinos and contributing to our country’s income which in turn, will be used to fund some infrastructures needed to improve our daily lives.

“Let us have a Department of ICT.”

This area brings hope especially to us since having an ICT department brings more jobs and answers problems regarding information and communication.

_________________

-=♥yhang♥=-

internet connectivity

Type of connection:

Broadband Internet access, often shortened to just broadband, is a high data rate Internet access—typically contrasted with dial-up access using a 56k modem.
Dial-up modems are limited to a bitrate of less than 56 kbit/s (kilobits per second) and require the full use of a telephone line—whereas broadband technologies supply more than double this rate and generally without disrupting telephone use.
Although various minimum bandwidths have been used in definitions of broadband, ranging up from 64 kbit/s up to 2.0 Mbit/s, the 2006 OECD report is typical by defining broadband as having download data transfer rates equal to or faster than 256 kbit/s, while the United States (US) Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as of 2009, defines "Basic Broadband" as data transmission speeds exceeding 768 kilobits per second (Kbps), or 768,000 bits per second, in at least one direction: downstream (from the Internet to the user’s computer) or upstream (from the user’s computer to the Internet). The trend is to raise the threshold of the broadband definition as the marketplace rolls out faster services.
Data rates are defined in terms of maximum download because several common consumer broadband technologies such as ADSL are "asymmetric"—supporting much slower maximum upload data rate than download.
Broadband is often called "high-speed" Internet, because it usually has a high rate of data transmission. In general, any connection to the customer of 256 kbit/s (0.256 Mbit/s) or greater is more concisely considered broadband Internet. The International Telecommunication Union Standardization Sector (ITU-T) recommendation I.113 has defined broadband as a transmission capacity that is faster than primary rate ISDN, at 1.5 to 2 Mbit/s. The FCC definition of broadband is 768 kbit/s (0.8 Mbit/s). The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has defined broadband as 256 kbit/s in at least one direction and this bit rate is the most common baseline that is marketed as "broadband" around the world. There is no specific bitrate defined by the industry, however, and "broadband" can mean lower-bitrate transmission methods. Some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) use this to their advantage in marketing lower-bitrate connections as broadband.

In practice, the advertised bandwidth is not always reliably available to the customer; ISPs often allow a greater number of subscribers than their backbone connection or neighborhood access network can handle, under the assumption that most users will not be using their full connection capacity very frequently. This aggregation strategy works more often than not, so users can typically burst to their full bandwidth most of the time; however, peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing systems, often requiring extended durations of high bandwidth, stress these assumptions, and can cause major problems for ISPs who have excessively overbooked their capacity. For more on this topic, see traffic shaping. As takeup for these introductory products increases, telcos are starting to offer higher bit rate services. For existing connections, this most of the time simply involves reconfiguring the existing equipment at each end of the connection.
As the bandwidth delivered to end users increases, the market expects that video on demand services streamed over the Internet will become more popular, though at the present time such services generally require specialized networks. The data rates on most broadband services still do not suffice to provide good quality video, as MPEG-2 video requires about 6 Mbit/s for good results. Adequate video for some purposes becomes possible at lower data rates, with rates of 768 kbit/s and 384 kbit/s used for some video conferencing applications, and rates as low as 100 kbit/s used for videophones using H.264/MPEG-4 AVC. The MPEG-4 format delivers high-quality video at 2 Mbit/s, at the low end of cable modem and ADSL performance.
In telecommunications and signal processing, baseband is an adjective that describes signals and systems whose range of frequencies is measured from zero to a maximum bandwidth or highest signal frequency; it is sometimes used as a noun for a band of frequencies starting at zero. It can often be considered as synonym to lowpass, and antonym to passband, bandpass or radio frequency (RF) signal.
A signal at baseband is often used to modulate a higher frequency carrier wave in order that it may be transmitted via radio. Modulation results in shifting the signal up to much higher frequencies (radio frequencies, or RF) than it originally spanned. A key consequence of the usual double-sideband amplitude modulation (AM) is that, usually, the range of frequencies the signal spans (its spectral bandwidth) is doubled. Thus, the RF bandwidth of a signal (measured from the lowest frequency as opposed to 0 Hz) is usually twice its baseband bandwidth. Steps may be taken to reduce this effect, such as single-sideband modulation; the highest frequency of such signals greatly exceeds the baseband bandwidth.
Some signals can be treated as baseband or not, depending on the situation. For example, a switched analog connection in the telephone network has energy below 300 Hz and above 3400 Hz removed by bandpass filtering; since the signal has no energy very close to zero frequency, it may not be considered a baseband signal, but in the telephone systems frequency-division multiplexing hierarchy, it is usually treated as a baseband signal, by comparison with the modulated signals used for long-distance transmission. The 300 Hz lower band edge in this case is treated as "near zero", being a small fraction of the upper band edge.

Baseband vs. Broadband

Data signals can be sent over a network cable in one of two ways: broadband or baseband. One good example of broadband signaling would be how you view different channels through your cable box and a signal coaxial cable carrying multiple signals in cable television.

Whereas, baseband signaling only sends a single signal over the cable. This type of signaling is typically used in Ethernet networks, with the exception of 10Broad3 standard (rarely used). Baseband uses very simple transceiver devices that send and receive signals on a cable. The simplicity behind baseband signaling is that only three states need to be distinquished: one, zero and idle. Broadband transceivers are much more complex because they must be able to distinquish those same states, but on multiple channels within the same cable. Because of its simplicity, baseband signaling is used on most Ethernet networks.

Type of topology:
Network topology is the physical interconnections of the elements (links, nodes, etc.) of a computer network. A local area network (LAN) is one example of a network that exhibits both a physical topology and a logical topology. Any given node in the LAN has one or more links to one or more other nodes in the network and the mapping of these links and nodes in a graph results in a geometrical shape that may be used to describe the physical topology of the network. Likewise, the mapping of the data flows between the nodes in the network determines the logical topology of the network. The physical and logical topologies may or may not be identical in any particular network.
Any particular network topology is determined only by the graphical mapping of the configuration of physical and/or logical connections between nodes. The study of network topology uses graph theory. Distances between nodes, physical interconnections, transmission rates, and/or signal types may differ in two networks and yet their topologies may be identical.

There are also three basic categories of network topologies:
• physical topologies
• signal topologies
• logical topologies

The terms signal topology and logical topology are often used interchangeably, though there is a subtle difference between the two.

Physical topologies
The mapping of the nodes of a network and the physical connections between them – i.e., the layout of wiring, cables, the locations of nodes, and the interconnections between the nodes and the cabling or wiring system.

Classification of physical topologies

Point-to-point

The simplest topology is a permanent link between two endpoints (the line in the illustration above). Switched point-to-point topologies are the basic model of conventional telephony. The value of a permanent point-to-point network is the value of guaranteed, or nearly so, communications between the two endpoints. The value of an on-demand point-to-point connection is proportional to the number of potential pairs of subscribers, and has been expressed as Metcalfe's Law.

Permanent (dedicated)

Easiest to understand, of the variations of point-to-point topology, is a point-to-point communications channel that appears, to the user, to be permanently associated with the two endpoints. Children's "tin-can telephone" is one example, with a microphone to a single public address speaker is another. These are examples of physical dedicated channels.
Within many switched telecommunications systems, it is possible to establish a permanent circuit. One example might be a telephone in the lobby of a public building, which is programmed to ring only the number of a telephone dispatcher. "Nailing down" a switched connection saves the cost of running a physical circuit between the two points. The resources in such a connection can be released when no longer needed, for example, a television circuit from a parade route back to the studio.

Switched:

Using circuit-switching or packet-switching technologies, a point-to-point circuit can be set up dynamically, and dropped when no longer needed. This is the basic mode of conventional telephony.

Bus network topology

In local area networks where bus technology is used, each machine is connected to a single cable. Each computer or server is connected to the single bus cable through some kind of connector. A terminator is required at each end of the bus cable to prevent the signal from bouncing back and forth on the bus cable. A signal from the source travels in both directions to all machines connected on the bus cable until it finds the MAC address or IP address on the network that is the intended recipient. If the machine address does not match the intended address for the data, the machine ignores the data. Alternatively, if the data does match the machine address, the data is accepted. Since the bus topology consists of only one wire, it is rather inexpensive to implement when compared to other topologies. However, the low cost of implementing the technology is offset by the high cost of managing the network. Additionally, since only one cable is utilized, it can be the single point of failure. If the network cable breaks, the entire network will be down, since there is only one cable. Since there is one cable, the transfer speeds between the computers on the network is faster.

Linear bus

The type of network topology in which all of the nodes of the network are connected to a common transmission medium which has exactly two endpoints (this is the 'bus', which is also commonly referred to as the backbone, or trunk) – all data that is transmitted between nodes in the network is transmitted over this common transmission medium and is able to be received by all nodes in the network virtually simultaneously (disregarding propagation delays).
Note: The two endpoints of the common transmission medium are normally terminated with a device called a terminator that exhibits the characteristic impedance of the transmission medium and which dissipates or absorbs the energy that remains in the signal to prevent the signal from being reflected or propagated back onto the transmission medium in the opposite direction, which would cause interference with and degradation of the signals on the transmission medium (See Electrical termination).
Distributed bus
The type of network topology in which all of the nodes of the network are connected to a common transmission medium which has more than two endpoints that are created by adding branches to the main section of the transmission medium – the physical distributed bus topology functions in exactly the same fashion as the physical linear bus topology (i.e., all nodes share a common transmission medium).

Notes:
1.) All of the endpoints of the common transmission medium are normally terminated with a device called a 'terminator' (see the note under linear bus).
2.) The physical linear bus topology is sometimes considered to be a special case of the physical distributed bus topology – i.e., a distributed bus with no branching segments.
3.) The physical distributed bus topology is sometimes incorrectly referred to as a physical tree topology – however, although the physical distributed bus topology resembles the physical tree topology, it differs from the physical tree topology in that there is no central node to which any other nodes are connected, since this hierarchical functionality is replaced by the common bus.

Star network topology

In local area networks where the star topology is used, each machine is connected to a central hub. In contrast to the bus topology, the star topology allows each machine on the network to have a point to point connection to the central hub. All of the traffic which transverses the network passes through the central hub. The hub acts as a signal booster or repeater which in turn allows the signal to travel greater distances. As a result of each machine connecting directly to the hub, the star topology is considered the easiest topology to design and implement. An advantage of the star topology is the simplicity of adding other machines. The primary disadvantage of the star topology is the hub is a single point of failure. If the hub were to fail the entire network would fail as a result of the hub being connected to every machine on the network.

Notes:
1.) A point-to-point link (described above) is sometimes categorized as a special instance of the physical star topology – therefore, the simplest type of network that is based upon the physical star topology would consist of one node with a single point-to-point link to a second node, the choice of which node is the 'hub' and which node is the 'spoke' being arbitrary.
2.) After the special case of the point-to-point link, as in note 1.) above, the next simplest type of network that is based upon the physical star topology would consist of one central node – the 'hub' – with two separate point-to-point links to two peripheral nodes – the 'spokes'.
3.) Although most networks that are based upon the physical star topology are commonly implemented using a special device such as a hub or switch as the central node (i.e., the 'hub' of the star), it is also possible to implement a network that is based upon the physical star topology using a computer or even a simple common connection point as the 'hub' or central node – however, since many illustrations of the physical star network topology depict the central node as one of these special devices, some confusion is possible, since this practice may lead to the misconception that a physical star network requires the central node to be one of these special devices, which is not true because a simple network consisting of three computers connected as in note 2.) above also has the topology of the physical star.
4.) Star networks may also be described as either broadcast multi-access or nonbroadcast multi-access (NBMA), depending on whether the technology of the network either automatically propagates a signal at the hub to all spokes, or only addresses individual spokes with each communication.

Extended star

A type of network topology in which a network that is based upon the physical star topology has one or more repeaters between the central node (the 'hub' of the star) and the peripheral or 'spoke' nodes, the repeaters being used to extend the maximum transmission distance of the point-to-point links between the central node and the peripheral nodes beyond that which is supported by the transmitter power of the central node or beyond that which is supported by the standard upon which the physical layer of the physical star network is based.

Note: If the repeaters in a network that is based upon the physical extended star topology are replaced with hubs or switches, then a hybrid network topology is created that is referred to as a physical hierarchical star topology, although some texts make no distinction between the two topologies.

Distributed Star

A type of network topology that is composed of individual networks that are based upon the physical star topology connected together in a linear fashion – i.e., 'daisy-chained' – with no central or top level connection point (e.g., two or more 'stacked' hubs, along with their associated star connected nodes or 'spokes').

Ring network topology

In local area networks where the ring topology is used, each computer is connected to the network in a closed loop or ring. Each machine or computer has a unique address that is used for identification purposes. The signal passes through each machine or computer connected to the ring in one direction. Ring topologies typically utilize a token passing scheme, used to control access to the network. By utilizing this scheme, only one machine can transmit on the network at a time. The machines or computers connected to the ring act as signal boosters or repeaters which strengthen the signals that transverse the network. The primary disadvantage of ring topology is the failure of one machine will cause the entire network to fail.

Mesh

The value of fully meshed networks is proportional to the exponent of the number of subscribers, assuming that communicating groups of any two endpoints, up to and including all the endpoints, is approximated by Reed's Law.

Fully connected mesh topology

The type of network topology in which each of the nodes of the network is connected to each of the other nodes in the network with a point-to-point link – this makes it possible for data to be simultaneously transmitted from any single node to all of the other nodes.
Note: The physical fully connected mesh topology is generally too costly and complex for practical networks, although the topology is used when there are only a small number of nodes to be interconnected.

Partially connected mesh topology

The type of network topology in which some of the nodes of the network are connected to more than one other node in the network with a point-to-point link – this makes it possible to take advantage of some of the redundancy that is provided by a physical fully connected mesh topology without the expense and complexity required for a connection between every node in the network.

Tree network topology

Also known as a hierarchical network. The type of network topology in which a central 'root' node (the top level of the hierarchy) is connected to one or more other nodes that are one level lower in the hierarchy (i.e., the second level) with a point-to-point link between each of the second level nodes and the top level central 'root' node, while each of the second level nodes that are connected to the top level central 'root' node will also have one or more other nodes that are one level lower in the hierarchy (i.e., the third level) connected to it, also with a point-to-point link, the top level central 'root' node being the only node that has no other node above it in the hierarchy (The hierarchy of the tree is symmetrical.) Each node in the network having a specific fixed number, of nodes connected to it at the next lower level in the hierarchy, the number, being referred to as the 'branching factor' of the hierarchical tree.


The list above shows what are the appropriate type of connection needed in our school and what kind of topology is best. As to what kind of mediums are better, i suggest we use low cost cables like coax or STP and UTP. Fiber optics are good but considering the financial status of our school, the three types above are more suited.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_topology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseband

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadband

_________________

-=♥yhang♥=-

barriers in their IS/IT implementation

Implementing or introducing a new system can be done in two ways:

• Direct Implementation

• Parallel Running

With this method of implementation the users stop using the manual system and start using the computer system from a given date.

The advantage of this method is that it is less costly in effort and time than any other method of implementation. The disadvantage of this method is that if problems occur the users do not have any alternative apart from returning to a manual system which may prove difficult if it has been discontinued.

With parallel running, the new system is introduced alongside the existing system. With parallel running both systems (manual and computer, or old computer and new computer system) will be in operation at the same time. This has the advantage that the results from the new system can be compared with those of the old system.

However, it has the major disadvantage that each job is done twice and therefore it means a lot of extra work for the users.

Information Technology (IT) employed today has many inherent problems that many expensive solutions have never been able to solve:

• Information technology is managed as technology, rather than as capital preventing integration with the business

• Information technology employs large monolithic information systems that are laid over the business, instead of information processing solutions that are utilized by the business

• Information Technology defines different architectures to define and align the business, systems, hardware and networks, and data and information, rather than integrating each with the business

• Different categories of information capital are mixed in many systems using different entity names and definitions producing information complexity and preventing proper information capital management

• Since the business is not organized, information systems manage information related to structures laid over the business and do not capture, process, or report actual business data or report actual business management information

• Information Technology is difficult to manage because it mixes business, facility, and management capital that require diverse management and operating capabilities

• It is difficult to manage return on IT investments since the investments are lumped together and do not produce direct measured business improvements

• Information Technology has grown into a large expensive empire that involves much unnecessary processing, extensive overheads, and unsolvable problems

These problems can never be solved with 20th century management that tries to improve the enterprise by laying new or improved structures over the business.

The only way to eliminate the Information Technology problems is by organizing the business with to enable 21st century business management. Information technology must be integrated in the business as capital defined as specific solutions utilized to produce specific business results. Business management enables the following measures to eliminate the unsolvable Information Technology problem:

• The actual business is organized as specific capital solutions, including IT solutions, utilized in performance to produce specific business results

• Information system solutions are defined and integrated with the business process as modules to produce a specific result or a chain of results

• Information systems focus on managing actual business data in result value and quality, performance cost and effectiveness, capital worth, and return on capital investments that is not processed today

• Information Technology is defined and organized as capital, with other capital of the same category, for proper capital management by those with the professional capability

• Information capital is defined and managed as business data, human knowledge, facility records, and management intelligence to produce information solutions needed by the business

• Enterprise information is integrated by capital solution utilized, result produced, supplier, customer, time period, business transaction, etc in an enterprise Business Information Base for one set of complete and accurate business information

• Information systems and processing devoted to managing arbitrary structures laid over the business and special systems to address problems in data reconciliation, information integration and extraction, and management reporting are discontinued, if not directly needed by the business

• New information system implementation integrates business and information processing with other capital solutions to produce specific output results needed by the business

• The business is organized for a new generation of 21st century business management systems and business-information process modules, to process the actual business result by result, and provide one set of consistently-defined management information

Managing information technology as capital utilized by the actual business eliminates the unsolvable IT problems in business alignment, information complexity, data reconciliation, unknown costs and value, unknown capital worth and returns, CIO and IT management capabilities, data integration and control, and on and on.

Since the business is not organized, different management structures must by laid over the business to manage the enterprise. Information systems are another set of overlaid structures that process and report the system structure, plus data captured by overlaid organization, business process, account, administrative, cost, quality, performance, and other structures. Each enterprise structure defines the enterprise with a different set of data entities, producing the information and business complexity problems. Information systems do not directly manage the business to capture actual business data and report one consistent set of complete and accurate business management information.

Enterprise information systems include material control, production control and manufacturing resource planning systems, supply chain and customer relationship management systems, cost and quality management, operational management information, and other systems that support revenue result management. Capital result management systems include human resource management, financial management, general ledger, accounts payable and receivable, asset management, IT architecture management, inventory, purchasing, strategic planning, executive information, and other administration systems. Investment result management systems include investment analysis and planning, project management, portfolio management, shareholder management, etc. Each system is laid over the business, rather that being utilized as a solution by the business to produce the managed revenue, capital, or investment results.

Each of the systems defines the enterprise with different data entities creating a large information cross-referencing and integration problem. Systems manage such enterprise entities as department, center, station, responsibility, unit, function, process, object, activity, etc, instead of specific business results. The enterprise is left with a large problem to sort out the information, integrate like information, and relate information to the business. The problem is addressed to some degree by implementing an enterprise application architecture from a single vendor. Most enterprises still must make additional investments in information integration and data reconciliation systems for performance management, management and executive reporting, and strategic enterprise management. Even with all this such actual business data as result value and quality, performance costs and effectiveness, capital worth and utilization, investment utilization and return, etc cannot be captured and processed.

Business process re-engineering tended to create a gap between business processing and information processing. Instead of integrating the processing, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems were laid over the business process. The selling point was that best practices incorporated in the ERP system would automatically solve the problem. But this proved difficult to do in practice, since best practices need to integrate all the solutions utilized in the complete business.

Since the business is not managed, it is difficult for the enterprise to identify how to gain specific benefit from information systems. Most enterprise information systems are sold by vendors who promise many benefits. Few enterprises really understand how to gain from the system. Enterprise system implementation is a large undertaking. Invariably, system implementation is restricted to putting the system into operation as a monolithic structure laid over the existing business. Even if the objective of system acquisition was business improvement, the objective usually gets redefined to “implement the system”. The enterprise is left on its own to make changes to gain benefits from the system.

Most implementation consultants employ a methodology that allows them to implement systems with staff that do not need to understand the enterprise business. The emphasis is on “doing what the customer wants” and satisfying “user requirements”, which is difficult to argue against. The administrative department is defined as the user, rather than revenue result users, who use the system to produce results or face the customer. Usually, the main requirement of the administrative department is “no change”. These users often benefit from existing methods, and cannot visualize advanced ways to utilize systems to benefit other users. To minimize problems and delays in implementation, methodologies convert existing practices and utilities convert existing data. Utilization to achieve benefit is “up to the users” meaning revenue result users. Training covers system operation rather than using the system for business benefit.

Information systems are managed by Information Technology that does not take responsibility for business benefit

Many enterprises view system business performance as a responsibility of Information Technology. But, IT will take responsibility only for the internal operational performance of the system as it is set up. Problems exist because neither IT, nor anyone else, was ever made responsible for the business benefit provided by the system. Enterprises often try to solve the lack-of-business-benefit problem with new more-complicated systems, rather than solving the IT and business problems and improving the utilization of existing systems.

Most information system implementations are cost projects that provide marginal benefit

Most enterprise system implementations are “cost projects”. Implementation itself provides little benefit to the real users and limited return on the investment. Enterprise performance problems are converted to the new system, in effect casting the problems in concrete, making change much more difficult, and escalating the cost of future performance improvement. IT investments are lumped, rather than defining and implementing the specific business, human, facility, and management solutions that must be utilized by the business to provide the return. The business that utilizes IT is not defined to enable measurement of the value added to the business by IT investments.

Information systems, hardware, and strategy are managed as technology rather than capital to be utilized for benefit

These problems are topped off by the problems of managing information as technology rather than as capital. This keeps information processing and business data separate from the business organization and processing. Data, knowledge, records, and intelligence are not managed by the proper human capability, and are not integrated to deliver solutions to be utilized by the business. IT facilities are operated separate from other facility equipment capital such as telephone networks, and the enterprise equipment infrastructure. IT strategies are planned and managed separate from other enterprise strategies creating future alignment problems.

The Information Technology Solution

Manage information technology as business, facility, and management capital

Investment in enterprise systems and technology must be to enable significant result and performance improvement and not be an end in itself. Information system utilization is a result management responsibility to utilize the system to achieve business result value-added. Information system performance is the responsibility of specific capital management to provide the IT infrastructure and deliver accurate data, knowledge, records, and intelligence solutions to support achieving results at an acceptable cost. The analysis, processing, and data parts of IT are business capital and is managed with other business capital. The enterprise service architecture, hardware, software, and networks are facilities that must be managed with other facility capital. IT strategies are integrated with other capital development and management strategies to produce strategic results as management strategy capital. Other information capital must be managed as human knowledge, facility records, and management intelligence.

The solution to information system investment is through a managed business to understand and plan significant result and performance improvements using the system as the enabling technology. Result value-added provides the justification and payback for enterprise systems. The results the enterprise must achieve utilizing the system are described and the future result value is planned. Performance problems are analyzed to make beneficial business changes that maximize the value-quality of results produced, improve the functionality of the system, and create an integrated Business Information Base. Application systems are not addressed as isolated capital investments, but as components of business process solutions. The application is first integrated into each business process utilized to produce business output results. The improved business process is then integrated with other needed solutions and implemented to produce higher value-quality results, result by result. Business management consultants use the 21st Century Management Consulting Model and 21st century management conventions, definitions, and standards to help the enterprise integrate and implement the full set of solutions needed to produce high value-quality results across the scope of a system.

http://www.mywhatever.com/cifwriter/content/22/4481.html

http://www.konsult.leeds.ac.uk/public/level1/sec10/index.htm

_________________

-=♥yhang♥=-

green campus computing

1. http://www.campuscomputing.net/page/kenneth-c-green-director

KENNETH C. GREEN is the founding director of The Campus Computing Project, the largest continuing study of the role of information technology in American colleges and universities. The project is widely cited by both campus officials and corporate executives as a definitive source for data, information, and insight about information technology planning and policy issues affecting American higher education.

Green is the author/co-author or editor of a dozen books and published research reports and more than 80 articles and commentaries that have appeared in academic journals and professional publications. He is often quoted on higher education, information technology, and labor market issues in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Education, and other print and broadcast media.

An invited speaker at some two dozen academic conferences and professional meetings each year, Green was also the co-executive producer and on-air host of the award-winning Ready2Net programs, a series of satellite broadcasts and Webcasts, sponsored by the California State University-Monterey Bay and focused on the challenges and opportunities that information technology presents to American higher education.

In October 2002, Green received the first EDUCAUSE Award for Leadership in Public Policy and Practice. The award cites his work in creating The Campus Computing Project and recognizes his "prominence in the arena of national and international technology agendas, and the linking of higher education to those agendas."

2.http://ssi.ucsd.edu/esiportal/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=228&Itemid=101

UC San Diego Campus Computing Goes Green- January 28, 2009

The Chronicle of Higher Education

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

By Josh Keller

Relocate a college's server computers next to a solar-power generator. Replace AC power with DC power. Cool the servers only where they get the hottest. Put the servers in the ocean and power them with waves.

Those were a few of the ideas discussed last week at a conference, "Greening the Internet Economy," that was designed to address the problem of the soaring financial and environmental costs of information technology. The event, held by the University of California at San Diego, offered a sampling of a new generation of technologies that promise to help colleges make their IT departments both more efficient and more sustainable.

Many of the participants emphasized the importance of systems that could more intelligently measure energy use on the campus. In recent years, colleges have been hurt by the rising costs of powering and cooling their data centers, in part because those costs are difficult to measure and poorly understood (The Chronicle, January 9).

At San Diego, researchers have started work on hardware to help colleges and other organizations understand how to make their servers more efficient. The device, called the GreenLight Instrument, will deploy sensors and software to measure the energy use, humidity, and other variables in various parts of a Sun Modular Data Center, a popular, self-contained complex of servers.

The goal is to encourage engineers to try different computing strategies to reduce electricity consumption, said Thomas A. DeFanti, principal investigator on the project and a senior research strategist at the university's California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology.

"Right now there isn't enough information for somebody to make a definitive decision: Where do I save my money? Do I eliminate disks in my computers, or do I stop them? Do I use more RAM or less RAM?" said Mr. DeFanti. "Nobody has detailed information on this."

3. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1228261991.html

Hawaii Pacific University issued the following news release: Hawai'i Pacific University will kick off its Green Campus Project 6-10 p.m., March 9, on upper Fort Street Mall. HPU's Proud to Be Pinoy Club will pioneer the project with its recycling program. The event will be followed at 8 p.m. by a Movie on the Mall - "An Inconvenient Truth" - presented by HPU in collaboration with the Honolulu Culture and Arts District, Fort Street Business Improvement District, and Paradise Cinema.

The Green Campus Project event will start with entertainment from 6-8 p.m., a preface for the club's initiative to provide and maintain HI-5 recycling bins in campus buildings.

Schools are deploying green-technology techniques to help conserve energy and otherwise preserve natural resources. Such strategies run the gamut from automated thermostats and “smart” lighting to virtual servers and computer-part recycling. In some cases, those efforts do more than just shrink a school’s environmental footprint—they can also generate financial benefits that can last years.

In our school, I suggest that the administrators should conduct a meeting as to what action they should take in order to implement green campus computing. After discussing the plan with the faculty, it will be disseminated on the students through constant reminders and posters that would remind the students on what they should do in order to help implement the said action.

_________________

-=♥yhang♥=-

risks associated with business and IS/IT

In a broad sense, the term Information Systems (IS) refers to the interaction between people, processes, and technology. This interaction can occur within or across organizational boundaries. An information system is not only the technology an organization uses, but also the way in which the organization’s people interact with the technology and the way in which the technology works with the organization’s business processes. Information systems are distinct from information technology in that an information system has an information technology component that interacts with the people and processes components.

The Information System consists of five parts which include: people, procedures, software, hardware, and data. There are various types of information systems, for example: transaction processing systems, office systems, decision support systems, knowledge management systems, database management systems, and office information systems. Critical to most information systems are information technologies, which are typically designed to enable humans to perform tasks for which the human brain is not well suited, such as: handling large amounts of information, performing complex calculations, and controlling many simultaneous processes.

The process industry has always had to deal with changes to plant and equipment. More recently people and organisational changes have become critical (e.g. staffing levels, supervision, control room arrangements, shift patterns). Identifying and managing the potential risks has been a challenge.

As a consequence of the competitive operating environment, enterprises need to implement change to develop and maintain their competitive advantage. This requires changing the behavior of people in organizations by changing attitudes about what can and should happen at work. The need for change could originate from multiple business interventions- Strategic changes (changes in corporate/ functional direction), Organizational changes (structures / roles & responsibilities / performance assessment and compensation mechanisms), Process Changes (redefined and redesigned processes) or IT Interventions (change in work methods / tools / techniques)

Charting and managing the road map for change transformation is the single most important element of the process. While change is fairly common, it is very difficult to implement successfully. Success hinges on being able to convince groups and individuals to change the way they work, possible only if people are ready to think differently about their jobs.

Any change needs to be managed. Process changes or changes consequent to the implementation of an IT solution are no exception. In case changes are not managed effectively, the success of the change implementation gets at risk.

Change management is the process of motivating and equipping people to a level of competency that facilitates their migration along the path of change.

Our consultants touch upon the crucial elements that are expected to be affected by the process change – organization and people requirements. We help manage change through a three step process:

• Assessment of change readiness and identification of risks

• Definition of the change management road map

• Facilitation of the execution of the change management plan through appropriate change communication, change sensitization and the definition of governance structures and revised roles

The other aspect that needs to be managed is risk. Our consultants bring to the table extensive hands on experience in managing PLM implementations and that experience enables them to identify up-front factors that could potentially cause risk to projects. Using industry standard program management techniques, our consultants identify risks and monitor their probability of occurrence and potential impact. They plan for mitigation of risks and execute those plans to ensure that risks do not get realized. They put in place back up plans and plans for scenarios that assume that risks do get realized. Systematic risk management ensures project success and predictability on project metrics.

A business (also called a firm, or enterprise) is a legally recognized organization designed to provide goods and/or services to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, most being privately owned and formed to earn profit that will increase the wealth of its owners and grow the business itself. The owners and operators of a business have as one of their main objectives the receipt or generation of a financial return in exchange for work and acceptance of risk. Notable exceptions include cooperative enterprises and state-owned enterprises. Socialist systems involve either government agencies, public ownership, state-ownership or direct worker ownership of enterprises and assets that would be run as businesses in a capitalist economy. The distinction between these institutions and a business is that socialist institutions often have alternative or additional goals aside from maximizing or turning a profit.

Business/IT alignment is a desired state in which a business organization is able to use information technology (IT) effectively to achieve business objectives - typically improved financial performance or marketplace competitiveness. Some definitions focus more on outcomes (the ability of IT to produce business value) than means (the harmony between IT and business decision-makers within the organizations); for example,

alignment is the capacity to demonstrate a positive relationship between information technologies and the accepted financial measures of performance.

This alignment is in contrast to what is often experienced in organizations: IT and business professionals unable to bridge the gap between themselves because of differences in objectives, culture, and incentives and a mutual ignorance for the other group's body of knowledge. This rift generally results in expensive IT systems that do not provide adequate return on investment. For this reason, the search for Business / IT Alignment is closely associated with attempts to improve the business value of IT investments.

It is not unusual for business and IT professionals within an organization to experience conflict and in-fighting as lack of mutual understanding and the failure to produce desired results leads to blaming and mistrust. The search for B/I alignment often includes efforts to establish trust between these two groups and a mechanism for consensus decision-making.

Information Technology Management is concerned with exploring and understanding Information Technology as a corporate resource that determines both the strategic and operational capabilities of the firm in designing and developing products and services for maximum customer satisfaction, corporate productivity, profitability and competitiveness.

IT Management is a different subject from Management Information Systems. Management Information Systems refer to information management methods tied to the automation or support of human decision making. IT Management, as stated in the above definition, refers to the IT related management activities in organizations. MIS as it is refered to is focus mainly on the business aspect with a strong input into the technology phase of the business/organisation.

http://plm.geometricglobal.com/PLM+Services+Portfolio/Business+Process+Consulting/Organizational+Change+Management+and+Program+Risk+Management/index.aspx

_________________

-=♥yhang♥=-