The technological infrastructure

The platform or technological infrastructure of an organization is the set of systems (computers, electronic network equipment, storage equipment, and other physical elements) together with the way that has been chosen to manage them (which includes management processes and tools equipment, performance measurement, security against incidents and catastrophes as well as basic operating systems).

When choosing a certain technological platform we must consider a multiplicity of aspects, some of the most important would be:

1.            Degree of knowledge or experience of that platform in the area where the organization operates.

2.            Planned future of the platform.

3.            Suitability for the business.

There are different ways to classify the way a platform is designed (platform architecture), one of them is by its topological configuration.

From this point of view we have:

1.            Client server model . A very widespread technology platform model is the so-called client server. In this, the systems are divided into two groups, one part, normally grouped in a single center, where a single consistent copy of all the organization's data (database) is maintained and where the most intensive computer work is carried out (calculations accountants, CRM).

2.            Distributed model . In this topological configuration, each client or small group of clients, typically all belonging to the same department, connects to a local server (close to them) that manages their most common data and applications.

A specific design of how information is exchanged through the network is what is known as a protocol.

A computer network is a communication system that interconnects computers and other computer equipment with each other, in order to share information and resources.

Among the different services that we can obtain from a network, we can highlight:

1.            User access service

2.            File and data sharing service

3.            Printing, recording or mass storage services

Normally in networks we speak of servers , which are the computers that offer network services and clients, which are the computers that make use of these services.

A classification that is made of computer networks is according to their scope, having LAN networks (Local Area Network) that are departmental networks, that is, they interconnect the members of a department or a small company. When several LANs are interconnected to each other that are widely separated (for example, interconnecting the LAN networks of a company with an office in several cities), we speak of WAN (Wide Area Network) networks . These WANs can be campus-wide (multiple buildings interconnect), country-wide (multiple cities), or global (multiple offices around the world).

There are many ways to send information over a network. A specific design of how information is exchanged through the network is what is known as a protocol. Without a doubt the most famous protocol today is the IP protocol .

Private networks are those with restricted access, usually to members of an organization, such as a departmental local network ( LAN ) or a corporate WAN . These networks tend to be known as intranets . It is possible to allow an external system to enter a corporate network by granting permissions, it is then said that the network is an extranet . There are public networks that anyone can access, the global interconnection of all public networks based on IP protocol generated the so-called Internet .

Key aspects when designing technological infrastructures are the availability and quality of the installation and a technological platform provides service to the different computer applications of the organization, these applications increasingly need to be active for longer. We define availability as the percentage of time per year that a platform is providing service.

A manager should establish systems for measuring the quality and availability of the platform to be able to know the evolution that it is having, in terms of service, at all times.

When establishing a contingency center , normally aimed at avoiding a catastrophic situation in the main center (such as a flood or a terrorist attack) one of the key aspects to determine is the maximum time it would take to switch all services ( or those that the organization identifies as most important) from one center to another. A time of two to four hours is considered acceptable today.