1. E-business Infrastructure
CHAPTER 03
E-business Infrastructure

2. Learning objectives
Outline the hardware and software technologies used to build an e-business infrastructure within an organisation and with its partners
Outline the hardware and software requirements necessary to enable employee access to the Internet and hosting of e-commerce services.

3. Issues for managers
What are the practical risks to the organization of failure to adequately manage e-commerce infrastructure?
How should staff access to the Internet be managed?

4. Why the jargon?
Why do business managers need to know about the jargon and technology?

5. Activity 3.1 Infrastructure issues
Make a list of the potential problems for users of e-business services developed by The B2C Company.
You should consider problems faced by users of e-business applications who are both internal and external to the organization.
Base your answer on problems you have experienced on a web site that can be related to network, hardware and software failures or problems with data quality.

6. Typical problems Web site communications too slow.
Web site not available.
Bugs on site through pages being unavailable or information typed in forms not being executed.
Ordered products not delivered on time.
s not replied to.
Customers’ privacy or trust is broken through security problems such as credit cards being stolen or addresses sold to other companies.

7. Activity – Internet infrastructure components
Write down all the different types of hardware and software involved from when a user types in a web address such as to the web site being loaded

8. A five-layer model of e-business infrastructure

9. INTERNET

10. Internet infrastructure components
Physical and network infrastructure components of the Internet

11. Information exchange between a web browser and web server
Figure 3.7 Information exchange between a web browser and web server

12. History of the Internet
Figure 3.3 Internet timeline

13. Intranets and extranets
An intranet is a private network within a single
company using Internet standards to enable employees to share information using and web publishing.
An extranet is formed by extending an intranet beyond a company to customers, suppliers and collaborators.

14. Intranet applications
Intranets are used extensively for supporting sell-side e-commerce from within the marketing function. Advantages:
– Reduced product lifecycles
– Reduced costs through higher productivity and savings on hard copy
– Better customer service
– Distribution of information through remote offices nationally and globally

15. Main intranet benefits
Improved information sharing
• Enhanced communications and information sharing
• Increased consistency of information
• Increased accuracy of information
• Reduced or eliminated processing
• Easier organisational publishing

16. Extranet applications
A middleware is used to facilitate communications between business applications including data transfer and control.
The middleware technology to allow communications across extranets is now also referred to as enterprise application integration (EAI).

17. Firewalls •

18. World Wide Web
WWW is 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/XMLencoded text.
Web browsers 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

19. The relationship between intranets, extranets and the Internet