IT in Businesses. Week Six Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

IT in Businesses. Week Six - Essay Example It began with the Harvard Mark I electromechanical calculator in World War Two weighing five tons and 50 feet long. It was then replaced by the 30 ton Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, having 18,000 vacuum tubes and occupying a large space. The invention of the transistor in 1947 gave way for the development of smaller, powerful and more resourceful computers. Input-output tools changed to magnetic tape from punch cards, and new computer languages were developed to interact with the new technology (Laudon & Laudon, 2010). The second stage started in the 1970s when processors on chips and magnetic discs were built. They decentralized computing power from bulky data centers to smaller offices. Steve Jobs and Steve Wosniak sold Apple II machines and Bill Gates founded Microsoft. IBM launched the Personal Computer in 1981 (O’Brien, 1999). The third stage involved embedding microprocessors in electronic products. As the complexity of technology grew and the costs reduced, the need for information sharing within enterprises also increased, giving rise to client/server era in which networked computers could access shared information on a server (O’Brien, 1999). The fourth stage of IT evolution originated from the US Department of Defense. It enabled high speed networks and coupled portions of the business enterprise together giving information access encircling the entire management structure. Universities linked up to this system and used it to deliver messages. The US National Science Foundation and several universities set up their own networks, leading to the onset of the popular World Wide Web and broadband (Laudon & Laudon, 2010). The fifth, which is the latest stage, is the wireless one and includes cloud computing. It incorporates the use of cell phones and wifi networks. It gives rise to high levels of mobility independent of location, configuration and nature of the hardware. This phase began with the invention of the mobile phone. It