Data Centre

It is a facility where computer systems and associated components like storage and communications are housed. Data centres power much of the Internet, and it is an essential component in any enterprise that makes relatively extensive use of IT in its business. Irrespective of the fact that the data centre may be managed or owned by a third party, it is important that the centre be evaluated in terms of risk and reliability. That is, to the maximum extent possible, the data centre operator should have taken precautions against unknown factors like power failures and so on.

CD

The Compact Disc was the first popular optical storage media. The result of collaboration between Philips and Sony, its original use was for playback of audio recordings. CDs are available in the following types based on the content they carry: CD A (Audio CD), Video CD (for video), Mixed Mode CD (Containing audio and other data types), Data CD (containing all forms of files), CD—I (CDs containing interactive content), and more. Based on their recording capability, we have CD-ROM (Read-only; all pre-manufactured CDs are of this type); CD-R (recordable once); and CD-RW (read and write many times). The original CD drive could read data at 150 Kilobytes per second, and every subsequent CD drive speed has been rated as a multiple of this speed. The laser used in a CD drive has a wavelength of 780 nanometers. The rated storage capacity is 700 MB

In The Pipeline

A few innovations expected in 2008
1. AMD's quad-core processor for the Desktop, Phenom (not "Athlon X4"), was released towards the end of 2007. One can expect to see larger number of these CPUs entering the market.
2. Intel's "true" quad-core processor for the Desktop market, presently code-named Penryn, featuring four cores on the same die, is expected in 2008. (Intel's present Core 2 Quad processors are not native quad-core; rather, they fuse two Core 2 Duo processors.) Penryn is also the first CPU to use the 45nm fabrication process, the smallest in the industry. Penryn-based CPUs have already been released for the server market, under the Xeon label.
3. DDR 3 SDRAM, presently marketed only by a few high-end memory manufacturers, and supported only by Intel's P35 chipset, can be expected to gain broader market acceptance.

VAR

A Value Added Reseller (VAR) is an essential component in the sales and support of software. Value Added Resellers are trained by the software and hardware companies to provide different levels of support to the end customer. Typically, Value Added Resellers create their own, special packages on top of the main offering which acts as incentive to the prospective buyer. For example, a Value Added Reseller of ERP software may decide to provide a bundled offer to its customers which include both the hardware and the software.

HD-DVD

High-Definition DVD is a new format of optical storage that is primarily intended to store High Definition video data. It was also called Advanced Optical Disk. It is incompatible with Blu-ray disc technology. It uses a blue violet laser with wavelength of 405 nanometres. It is capable of storing 15 gigabytes of data on a single layer and 30 GB in dual-layer. HD-DVD disks appear in the following types: HD-DVD RAM (read and write), HD-DVD ROM (readonly; all pre-manufactured discs), HD-DVD—R (read once), and HDDVD— RW (read and write ). The data transfer rate of the first HDDVD drive was 4.36 Megabytes per second.

ISO 9660

One comes across this term when writing a CD. ISO 9660 is a file format for CDs. It was necessary to create a standard file system since competing operating systems created CDs that were not compatible with other operating systems. The ISO 9660 file format is an old format and is used in CDs since it guarantees maximum compatibility with standalone CD players. This standard format has been extended to increase its functionality. The Joliet extension allows the use of file names larger than eight letters and containing non-ASCII characters. The El Torito extension allowed optical media to be made bootable. ISO 9660 is being replaced by UDF.

SMPS

Switching-Mode (or Switched-Mode) Power Supply refers to that class of devices that use a switching transistor along with other components) to convert AC current into DC current of different voltages. The switching transistor is used since the mode of operation constantly switching off and on, effectively “chopping up” the input power is the most power-efficient. Using the same mechanism as in adapters for single devices would result in significant loss of energy as heat during the conversion process.

Virtualization

It is the process of creating a virtual version of something such as an operating system, a server, storage devices, or network resources. Operating system virtualization enables the user to use software to run multiple operating systems on the same computer hardware. Some virtualization software also allows you the capability of dynamically adding more hardware to increase the power and range of the virtualized software. There are three main areas of virtualization that are increasingly becoming popular. One is network virtualization, where the combined bandwidth of the network is split into several channels independent from each other and which can be assigned to a particular server or device in real time. By using virtualization, users need not be concerned with the underlying complexity of the actual physical network. The second is to consolidate storage from multiple network storage devices into a single virtualized storage device that is managed from a single place. As far as the end-user is concerned, he will be dealing only with a hard disk, and will have no idea whether the drive is virtualized or not. The third is in server virtualization, where a user may have full access to a range of operating system services in a virtualized environment.

Wireless Mouse

This mouse does away with the need for wires by using radio waves to communicate with a base station that is connected by wires to the system, usually to the USB port. The mouse has an independent power source, usually in the form of batteries, or can be recharged by plugging into the base station. Since radio waves can pass through objects, there is no need to position the mouse in front of the base station to use it.

SOA

SOA is the Service-Oriented Architecture. Traditionally, software systems in organizations were built to meet a specific need. However, this led to a situation where a number of elements of data and business processes would overlap each other in software. The service-oriented architecture is a system architecture mechanism that essentially provides the guidelines for creating and managing business processes within the organization. The business processes are delivered as services that are supported by the IT infrastructure. Functionality is broken down into small distinct elements or services which can be distributed over the network, can be mixed and matched together, and reused to create fresh business applications. Finally, these services are able to talk to each other by passing data from one service to another.

Return On Investment

This is the magic number that finance managers like to ask for and IT geeks like to dodge. The return on investment is the only true measure of the cost effectiveness of your IT investments. However, the difficulty is in determining the parameters on which ROI will be calculated. This requires that any ROI measurement be pegged to some business driver that is suffering due to lack of technological support. The decision to use the business driver as the measure of ROI should be established through a consensus among the various project stakeholders. For example, a company may have a purchase process that is currently not efficient. A software has been identified which will improve the efficiency of the process. To calculate the ROI, we would first determine the cost of the current process and then compare it with the revamped process. The difference in cost between the two processes measured over a pre-agreed period of time will be the basis on which the ROI calculation will be worked out. However, this approach has its drawbacks, and in some cases where the change is not so readily visible, it may be that ROI is locked in to some secondary process.