Understanding IT: A Manager's Guide

Cover
Understanding IT
Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Preface Why general managers should understand more about IT
	The challenge to markets and investors
	The challenge to general managers
	The solution – education
	Purpose of the book
	How to use the book
Introduction: The importance of informationtechnology
	Concepts covered in this chapter
	Questions to ponder before reading
	A definition
	Need for managers to understand
	The opportunity of IT
	The challenge of IT
	Management perspectives
What a computer is
	Concepts covered in this chapter
	Questions to ponder before reading
	A soft machine
	Ubiquity
	Scope of computers
	A digital, electromagnetic medium (for now)
	Components
	Program execution
	Layers
	Management perspectives
How software works
	Concepts covered in this chapter
	Questions to ponder before reading
	What is software?
	The goals of an IT system
	Machine code is tough
	High-level languages
	A comparison of current computer languages
	Management perspectives
The role of networks and the Internet
	Concepts covered in this chapter
	Questions to ponder before reading
	The purpose of networks
	Networks for distributed processing
	How networks work
	Layers of a network
	Types of network
	The anatomy of the Internet
	Management perspectives
The Web and e-commerce The transition from information superhighway to transaction superhighway
	Concepts covered in this chapter
	Questions to ponder before reading
	Basic Web technologies
	Advanced Web technologies
	Computer security
	Management perspectives
The mobile/multimodal Internet
	Concepts covered in this chapter
	Questions to ponder before reading
	What is different about the mobile Internet?
	Mobile Internet communications technologies
	Architecture of the multimodal Internet
	Security in the multimodal world
	Management perspectives
The future of IT
	Concepts covered in this chapter
	A question to ponder before reading
	A framework for understanding IT progress
	Management perspectives
The near future
	Concepts covered in this chapter
	Questions to ponder before reading
	Emerging technology 1: The xInternet and Web services
	Emerging technology 2: Bluetooth PANs
	Emerging technology 3: Wireless information devices (WIDs)
	Emerging technology 4: Artificial intelligence
	Other leading and bleeding edge technologies
	Management perspectives
Concluding thoughts
Appendix I: Glossary of IT acronyms
Appendix II: Network communications speeds
Appendix III: Commonly used computer languages
Appendix IV: IT literacy test for managers
	Objective
	Questions
	Answers
Appendix V: Some useful books
Index