1. Chapter 13
Computer Hardware

2. Learning Objectives
Identify the major types and uses of microcomputer, midrange, and mainframe computer systems.
Outline the major technologies and uses of computer peripherals for input, output, and storage.

3. Learning Objectives (continued)
Identify the components and functions of a computer system.
Identify the computer system and peripherals you would acquire or recommend for a business of your choice.

4. Computer Systems: End User and Enterprise Computing
Section I
Computer Systems: End User and Enterprise Computing

5. Types of Computer Systems
All computers are systems of input, processing, output, storage, and control components.
Three basic categories
Mainframe
Midrange computers
Microcomputers

6. Types of Computer Systems (continued)
Mainframe
Enterprise systems
Superservers
Transaction processors
Supercomputers

7. Types of Computer Systems (continued)
Midrange
Network servers
Minicomputers
Web servers
Multi-user systems

8. Types of Computer Systems (continued)
Microcomputers
Personal computers
Network computers
Technical workstations
PDAs
Information appliances

9. Microcomputer Systems
The most important category of computers
Desktop
Laptop
Workstation computers
Network servers

10. Microcomputer Systems (continued)
Selection criteria
Solid performance at a reasonable price
Operating system ready
Connectivity

11. Microcomputer Systems (continued)
Network computers
Designed primarily for use with the Internet and corporate intranets
For specialized or limited computing applications
Lower cost of purchase, upgrades, maintenance, and support

12. Microcomputer Systems (continued)
Network computers (continued)
Other benefits
Ease of software distribution and licensing
Computing platform standardization
Reduced end user requirements
Improved manageability

13. Microcomputer Systems (continued)
Information appliances
PDAs
Set-top boxes and video-game consoles
Wireless PDAs
Cellular and PCS phones

14. Microcomputer Systems (continued)
Computer terminals
Dumb terminals
Intelligent terminals
Network terminals
Transaction terminals

15. Midrange Computer Systems
Multi-user systems that can manage networks of PCs and terminals
Less costly to buy, operate, and maintain than mainframes
Popular as network servers
Minicomputers

16. Mainframe Computer Systems
Large, fast, powerful
Handle high transaction processing volumes or complex computational problems
Superservers for large client/server networks and high-volume Internet websites
Popular for data mining and warehousing

17. Mainframe Computer Systems (continued)
Supercomputers
Extremely powerful systems specifically designed for scientific, engineering, and business applications requiring extremely high speeds for massive numeric computations
Use parallel processing architectures
Process at speeds measured in gigaflops and teraflops

18. The Computer System Concept
Computers are organized according to the following system functions:
Input
Keyboards
Touch screens
Pens
Electronic mice
Optical scanners
Convert data into electronic form

19. The Computer System Concept (continued)
Processing
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
Two subunits
Arithmetic-Logic Unit (ALU)
Control Unit

20. The Computer System Concept (continued)
Output
Video display units
Printers
Audio response units
Convert electronic information into human-intelligible form

21. The Computer System Concept (continued)
Storage
Store data and software instructions
May also include cache memory
Primary storage unit (hard drive)
Secondary storage
Magnetic disks
Optical disk drives

22. The Computer System Concept (continued)
Control
The registers and other circuits of the control unit interpret software instructions and transmit directions to the other components of the computer system

23. The Computer System Concept (continued)
Computer processing speeds
Milliseconds (thousandths of a second)
Microseconds (millionths of a second)
Nanoseconds (billionths of a second)
Picoseconds (trillionths of a second)

24. The Computer System Concept (continued)
Clock speeds
Megahertz (MHz)
Millions of cycles per second
Gigahertz (GHz)
Billions of cycles per second

25. Computer Peripherals: Input, Output, and Storage Technologies
Section II
Computer Peripherals: Input, Output, and Storage Technologies

26. Peripherals
Generic name given to all input, output, and secondary storage devices
Depend on direct connections or telecommunications links to the CPU
All peripherals are online devices

27. Input Technologies Natural user interface
Enter data and commands directly into a computer
Electronic mice and touch pads
Optical scanning, handwriting recognition, voice recognition

28. Pointing Devices Used for entering data and text
Work with your operating system’s graphical user interface (GUI)

29. Pointing Devices (continued)
Electronic mouse
Trackball
Pointing stick
Touch pad
Touch screen

30. Pen-Based Computing Used in many hand-held computers and PDAs
Digitizer pen
Graphics tablet

31. Speech Recognition Systems
Digitize, analyze, and classify your speech and its sound patterns
Allow operators to perform data entry without using their hands to key in data or instructions
Speaker-independent
Voice-messaging computers

32. Optical Scanning
Read text or graphics and convert them into digital input
Employ photoelectric devices to scan the characters being read

33. Optical Scanning (continued)
Optical character recognition (OCR)
Reads OCR characters & codes
Merchandise tags
Product labels
Sort mail, score tests
Hand-held optical scanning wands
Reads bar coding
Universal Product Code (UPC)

34. Other Input Technologies
Magnetic stripe technology
Credit cards
Smart cards
Embedded microprocessor chip
Debit, credit, and other cards

35. Other Input Technologies (continued)
Digital cameras
Still cameras
Digital camcorders

36. Other Input Technologies (continued)
Magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) technology
Used by banks to sort and post checks and deposit slips
14 characters of a standardized design
Reader-sorters

37. Output Technologies
Video
Print
Storage

38. Video Output Video monitors Cathode ray tube (CRT)
Liquid crystal displays (LCDs)

39. Printed Output Inkjet Spray ink onto the page one line at a time Laser
Use an electrostatic process similar to a copier

40. Storage Trade-Offs

41. Storage Trade-Offs (continued)
Computer storage fundamentals
Information is stored through the presence or absence of electronic or magnetic signals
Binary representation
1 = ON
0 = OFF

42. Storage Trade-Offs (continued)
Computer storage fundamentals (continued)
Bit
The smallest element of data
May have a value of either one or zero
Byte
Basic grouping of bits
Typically, a byte consists of 8 bits and represents one character of data

43. Storage Trade-Offs (continued)
Computer storage fundamentals (continued)
Storage capacities
Kilobytes (KB)
1,000 bytes
Megabytes (MB)
1 million bytes

44. Storage Trade-Offs (continued)
Computer storage fundamentals (continued)
Gigabytes (GB)
1 billion bytes
Terabytes (TB)
1 trillion bytes
Petabyte (PB)
1 quadrillion bytes

45. Storage Trade-Offs (continued)
Direct and sequential access
Terms direct access and random access describe the same concept
An element of data or instructions can be directly stored and retrieved by selecting and using any of the locations on the storage media
Each storage position
Has a unique address
Can be individually accessed in approximately the same time

46. Storage Trade-Offs (continued)
Direct and sequential access (continued)
Sequential access
Does not have unique storage addresses
Serial process
Data are recorded one after another in a predetermined sequence.
Locating an individual item requires searching all of the data until the desired item is located

47. Storage Trade-Offs (continued)

48. Semiconductor Memory Primary storage of your computer Advantages
Small size
Great speed
Shock and temperature resistant
Disadvantage
Volatility

49. Semiconductor Memory (continued)
Two basic types of semiconductor memory
RAM – random access memory
Volatile memory
Read/write memory
“working” memory

50. Semiconductor Memory (continued)
ROM – read only memory
Nonvolatile
Used for permanent storage
Can be read but not erased or overwritten

51. Semiconductor Memory (continued)
Variations of ROM
PROM
Programmable read only memory
EPROM
Erasable programmable read only memory

52. Magnetic Disk Storage Most common form of secondary storage
Data is recorded on tracks in the form of tiny magnetized spots
Thousands of bytes recorded on each track

53. Magnetic Disk Storage (continued)
Types of Magnetic Disks
Floppy disks
Zip disks
Hard disk drives

54. Magnetic Disk Storage (continued)
Redundant arrays of independent disks (RAID)
Provides large capacities with high access speeds
Data are accessed in parallel over multiple paths from many disks
Fault tolerant
Storage area networks (SANs)
Fiber channel LANs that connect many RAID units

55. Magnetic Tape Storage Used as secondary storage
Also used in robotic automated drive assemblies
Lower-cost storage
Archival storage

56. Optical Disk Storage
CD-ROM
CD-R
CD-RW
DVD
DVD-ROM
DVD-RAM

57. Optical Disk Storage (continued)
Business applications
Image processing
Provide access to reference materials in a convenient, compact form
videos

58. Discussion Questions
Do you agree with the statement: “The network is the computer”?
What trends are occurring in the development and use of the major types of computer systems?

59. Discussion Questions (continued)
Do you think that network computers (NCs) will replace personal computers (PCs) in business applications?
Are networks of PCs and servers making mainframe computers obsolete?

60. Discussion Questions (continued)
What trends are occurring in the development and use of peripheral devices? Why are those trends occurring?
When would you recommend the use of each of the following:
Network computers
NetPCs
Network terminals
Information appliances in business applications

61. Discussion Questions (continued)
What processor, memory, magnetic disk storage, and video display capabilities would you require for a personal computer that you would use for business purposes?
What other peripheral devices and capabilities would you want to have for your business PC?

62. Real World Case 1 – City of Richmond & Tim Beaty Builders
The Business Value of PDAs
What are the business benefits of PDAs for business applications?
What are the limitations of PDAs for business use?

63. Real World Case 1 (continued)
The City of Richmond now wants to use tablet PCs for some applications. What are the advantages of tablet PCs over PDAs and laptop PCs for business applications?

64. Real World Case 1 (continued)
Will the convergence of PDAs, sub-notebook PCs, and cell phones produce an information appliance that will make all of those categories obsolete?

65. Real World Case 2 – United Technologies & Eastman Kodak
The Business Case for Consolidating Computer Operations and Systems
What are some of the business benefits that United Technologies will gain from the consolidation of its computer systems, data centers, software, and help centers?
What limitations might there be?

66. Real World Case 2 (continued)
What are the business benefits of standardizing on selected models from one manufacturer of desktop and laptop PCs as UTC did with Dell and Kodak did with IBM?
What limitations might there be?

67. Real World Case 2 (continued)
What are the business benefits of UTC’s policy of “locking down” its new Dell PCs so employees can’t download other software from the Internet?
Do you agree with this policy?

68. Real World Case 2 (continued)
Should a conglomerate like UTC with many diverse companies standardize its PC hardware and software and lock out downloads of other software?

69. Real World Case 3 – Boscov’s, Winnebago, & WPS Health
Moving to Linux on the Mainframe
How can a mainframe run the equivalent of hundreds of Linux server applications at the same time?

70. Real World Case 3 (continued)
Why can the total cost of ownership of running Linux applications on the mainframe be less than on Intel-based servers?
What other IT and business benefits may be achieved?

71. Real World Case 3 (continued)
What challenges or limitations can arise in moving business applications from servers to Linux on a mainframe?

72. Real World Case 4 – La-Z-Boy & Corporate Express
The Business Benefits of Server Consolidation
What are the business and technical benefits of using multiple servers to run business applications for a company?

73. Real World Case 4 (continued)
What are the business and technical challenges facing companies who depend on many distributed server systems?

74. Real World Case 4 (continued)
What are the business and technical benefits of server consolidation initiatives?
What are the limitations of such a strategy?

75. Real World Case 5 – Los Alamos National Laboratory
The ROI of Blade Servers
What are the business and technical benefits of using blade servers versus rack-mounted or traditional servers?

76. Real World Case 5 (continued)
What limitations or challenges might there be in the use of blade servers?

77. Real World Case 5 (continued)
When should a company consider using blade servers?