MIS Assignment 6

As an IT Consultant??

If I were hired by the university president as an IT consultant? Wow Intereseting,. Haha Well this is fun, have to run my imagination again,. LOL But 3000 words?? hUhu

Let us first define few terminologies to better understand things here,. Hehe

An IT consultant works in partnership with clients, advising them how to use information technology in order to meet their business objectives or overcome problems. Consultants work to improve the
structure and efficiency and of an organization’s IT systems.
IT consultants may be involved in a variety of activities, including marketing, project management, client relationship management and systems development.
They may also be responsible for user training and feedback. In many companies, these tasks will be carried out by an IT project team. IT consultants are increasingly involved in sales and business development, as well as technical duties.

Typical work activities
Task typically involve:
•meeting with clients to determine requirements;
•working with clients to define the scope of a project;
•planning timescales and the resources needed;
•clarifying a client's system specifications, understanding their work practices and the nature of their business;
•traveling to customer sites;
•liaising with staff at all levels of a client organization;
•defining software, hardware and network requirements;
•analyzing IT requirements within companies and giving independent and objective advice on the use of IT;
•developing agreed solutions and implementing new systems;
•presenting solutions in written or oral reports;
•helping clients with change-management activities;
•project managing the design and implementation of preferred solutions;
•purchasing systems where appropriate;
•designing, testing, installing and monitoring new systems;
•preparing documentation and presenting progress reports to customers;
•organizing training for users and other consultants;
•being involved in sales and support and, where appropriate, maintaining contact with client organisations;
•identifying potential clients and building and maintaining contacts.
http://www.prospects.ac.uk/p/types_of_job/it_consultant_job_description.jsp

"Information technology consulting (IT consulting, Computer consultancy, Computing consultancy, technology consulting or business and technology services) is a field that focuses on advising businesses on how best to use information technology to meet their business objectives. In addition to providing advice, IT consultancies often implement, deploy, and administer IT systems on businesses' behalf."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_technology_consulting

"The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standardized Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP). It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private and public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope that are linked by copper wires, fiber-optic cables, wireless connections, and other technologies. The Internet carries a vast array of information resources and services, most notably the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support electronic mail, in addition to popular services such as online chat, file transfer and file sharing, online gaming, and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) person-to-person communication via voice and video."
http://tl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet

Now improving the internet connectivity would be a great step for change on the university. Internet is very essential for everyone today especially for students. The popularity and accessibility of the Internet has been the driving force behind many improvements and new technologies. Even technologies that were around for a long time before the Net went mainstream have benefited from its explosion in popularity. Access to the internet brings out lots of information that are of great help for students in the university. In the university with a not-so-fast internet connection improving the internet connection is badly needed. Especially for an IT student like me, there is need to access to the internet at all time. It is good if we can just access it on the school to save time and money but I think it would not be possible for now.

If I were hired as an IT consultant of the university I would suggest the following to make internet connection better and possible for everyone.

On technology,.
Talking about the best technology for the improvement of internet connectivity in the university.
What are the most important technologies to determine the Internet’s future?
“Number one is broadband access to the home. Among my coworkers, virtually everybody has a cable modem if they’re in an area that’s served by cable modems. If they’re not, then they have ISDN or DSL. One of the heads of the Yankee Group who spoke in front of AT&T about a year ago said, “Once you have a cable modem, you’d sooner give up your firstborn child than lose it.” I use that quote because it’s exactly what happened to me: I moved from an area where I had a cable modem to an area where one wasn’t available, and I’ve been suffering for the last 10 months. I’m not giving up any of my children, thank you, but really does revolutionize how you use the computer and the Internet from home. High-speed access also means both new applications and an ever-increasing load on networks and servers.”
By: Fred Douglis
http://dsonline.computer.org/portal/cms_docs_dsonline/dsonline/topics/os/Internet.pdf

Here are some types of internet connection that could be of use within the university for better internet accessibility..

Types of Internet Connections

As technology grows, so does our need for bigger, better and faster. Over the years, the way content is presented via the Web has changed drastically. Ten years ago being able to center bold, colored text was something to admire, while today Flash, animations, online gaming, database-driven Web sites, e-commerce and virtual offices — to name but a few — are becoming standards. The need for speed has changed the options available to consumers and businesses alike in terms of how and how fast we can connect to the Internet.
While technology changes at a rapid pace, so do Internet connections. The connection speeds listed below represent a snapshot of general average to maximum speeds at the time of publication. This is no doubt will change over time and Internet connection speeds also vary between Internet Service Providers (ISP).

Analog (up to 56k)
Also called dial-up access, it is both economical and slow. Using a modem connected to your PC, users connect to the Internet when the computer dials a phone number (which is provided by your ISP) and connects to the network. Dial-up is an analog connection because data is sent over an analog, public telephone network. The modem converts received analog data to digital and vise versa. Because dial-up access uses normal telephone lines the quality of the connection is not always good and data rates are limited.
• Typical Dial-up connection speeds range from 2400 bps to 56 Kbps.

ISDN
Integrated services digital network (ISDN) is an international communications standard for sending voice, video, and data over digital telephone lines or normal telephone wires.
• Typical ISDN speeds range from 64 Kbps to 128 Kbps.

B-ISDN
Broadband ISDN is similar in function to ISDN but it transfers data over fiber optic telephone lines, not normal telephone wires. SONET is the physical transport backbone of B-ISDN. Broadband ISDN has not been widely implemented.

DSL
DSL is also called an always on connection because it uses existing 2-wire copper telephone line connected to the premise and will not tie up your phone as a dial-up connection does. There is no need to dial-in to your ISP as DSL is always on. The two main categories of DSL for home subscribers are called ADSL and SDSL.

ADSL
ADSL is the most commonly deployed types of DSL in North America. Short for asymmetric digital subscriber line ADSL supports data rates of from 1.5 to 9 Mbps when receiving data (known as the downstream rate) and from 16 to 640 Kbps when sending data (known as the upstream rate). ADSL requires a special ADSL modem.

SDSL
SDSL is still more common in Europe. Short for symmetric digital subscriber line, a technology that allows more data to be sent over existing copper telephone lines (POTS). SDSL supports data rates up to 3 Mbps. SDSL works by sending digital pulses in the high-frequency area of telephone wires and can not operate simultaneously with voice connections over the same wires. SDSL requires a special SDSL modem. SDSL is called symmetric because it supports the same data rates for upstream and downstream traffic.

VDSL
Very High DSL (VDSL) is a DSL technology that offers fast data rates over relatively short distances — the shorter the distance, the faster the connection rate.
• All types of DSL technologies are collectively referred to as xDSL.
• xDSL connection speeds range from 128 Kbps to 8 Mbps.

Cable
Through the use of a cable modem you can have a broadband Internet connection that is designed to operate over cable TV lines. Cable Internet works by using TV channel space for data transmission, with certain channels used for downstream transmission, and other channels for upstream transmission. Because the coaxial cable used by cable TV provides much greater bandwidth than telephone lines, a cable modem can be used to achieve extremely fast access.
• Cable speeds range from 512 Kbps to 20 Mbps.

Wireless Internet Connections
Wireless Internet, or wireless broadband is one of the newest Internet connection types. Instead of using telephone or cable networks for your Internet connection, you use radio frequency bands. Wireless Internet provides an always-on connection which can be accessed from anywhere — as long as you geographically within a network coverage area. Wireless access is still considered to be relatively new, and it may be difficult to find a wireless service provider in some areas. It is typically more expensive and mainly available in metropolitan areas.
• See the Wireless Networking Standards page of Webopedia for data rates, Modulation schemes, Security, and More info on Wireless networking.
http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/internet_connection_types.asp


From the statement of Fred Douglis I would suggest for the university to have broadband connection.

What are the standard broadband technologies?

“The standard broadband technologies in most areas are DSL and cable modems. Newer technologies in use include VDSL and pushing optical fiber connections closer to the subscriber in both telephone and cable plants. Fiber-optic communication, while only recently being used in fiber to the premises and fiber to the curb schemes, has played a crucial role in enabling Broadband Internet access by making transmission of information over larger distances much more cost-effective than copper wire technology. In a few areas not served by cable or ADSL, community organizations have begun to install Wi-Fi networks, and in some cities and towns local governments are installing municipal Wi-Fi networks. As of 2006, broadband mobile Internet access has become available at the consumer level in some countries, using the HSDPA and EV-DO technologies. The newest technology being deployed for mobile and stationary broadband access is WiMAX.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadband_Internet_access#Technology

The university should have the best broadband connection on their laboratories so that student may use them as a tool for getting information through the internet. Another technology the university should have is the Wireless Fidelity network or Wi-Fi. At present the university does have Wi-Fi connections but just limited on some chosen spots in the university not benefiting those who need it. It would be better that university have a Wi-Fi connection so everyone could benefit of course still taking mind of the cost.

On infrastructure,.
As what I’ve understand internet infrastructure are all the hardware and services required to make internet browsing possible. Of course good internet connection should come with good internet infrastructure. As time pass, technology also evolves and so better internet infrastructure could also evolve. The university should give priority of having good quality and affordable hardware components for the laboratories in the school.

On innovations,.
The Internet has nurtured fantastic innovations that contributed to the welfare of the global society. Furthermore, Internet innovations are driven by the global user community and many of the innovations were not envisioned by the original Internet designers. Innovations are enabled by the abundant and affordable computing resources provided by Moore’s Law, and universal connectivity provided by the Internet. As time runs the internet as well as technology also continues to undergo innovations. Such innovations are fast changing and we should also cope up with it.

It is not easy to develop something for an organization and this should be done well. With above mentioned technologies, infrastructure and innovations that may be applicable to the universities also proper maintenance should also be done. For the computer units in laboratories there should be proper security measures so units won’t be easily infected with viruses.




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