When I entered Telecom industry everyone use to use words like ARPU, MOU, REC base, VLR base, HLR base………. Etc etc. That time Google was not invented so I always use to ask my friends the meaning of these words & I was lucky to get assistance from ”Happy to help” friends.
Time flies & I learned those abbreviations but one day I thought why I should not make my own book of abbreviations & I started with names like SB, KP, CKM…. etc etc. I had interacted with many departments but there was one department from which I learned a lot & that was IT. Interacting with developers, project managers & their way of working impressed me & I decided that I will enhance my IT skills & that lead to my major in IT.
So What is Information Technology ?( My learning till now… ?
Information technology (IT) system refers to any computerized command, communication control and reporting system that companies use to plan and operate their businesses. IT services refer to the development,implementation, configuration, and support of computerized system and tools that are used in the development and maintenance of such systems. The industry came into existence in early 1950’s as the first computers made their way into the business world with the introduction of IBM’s first large computer The IBM 701. After decades of slow but steady growth, the IT services market stood at $153 million in 1990. The market went through hyper-growth in the 1990’s by riding three overlapping waves spurred first by the client server revolution then the
threat of the year 2000 software problem and finally by the internet revolution, which in 2008 was still unfolding in its web2.0 iteration
In 2007 the worldwide IT services market registered 8.7% growth from 2006 reaching $730 billion in the end user spending and was projected to continue growing to $964.4 billion by 2011. At the beginning of 2008 IT services companies were retooling to address the needs of fast growing consumer oriented web companies while continuing to deliver enterprise level automation projects using software from oracle & SAP AG. Social networking, online auctions, blogs, podcasts, and video casts, webcasts and 3G wireless networks were all terms invented to describe information services delivered to consumers by businesses and increasingly by other consumers. Over the next 5 years as
companies integrate the information flow of their supply chains and eventually their entire value chains. Web technologies developed for B2C and C2C use (social networking, blogs..etc) will migrate to the enterprises as well. This will keep the IT services industry on growth trajectory for some time to come
According to my study there were 3 waves in the life of “Big Daddy” called IT.
1. First wave - Client Server Revolution : Client Server refers to a computing model where two distinct software programs often running on separate computers, collaborate with each other to automate business processes. The client software (running on client computer) often performs all tasks related to user interface functions such as using a graphical user interface like Microsoft windows to obtain data from functions such as using graphical user interface like Microsoft windows to obtain data from the user and display processed data. The server software services receive data provided by the user processes the data and returns the results to the client software for display.
2. Second wave – Y2K Problem : The year 2000 software problem ( known as Y2K bug) refers to computer programming technique used in the 1960’s and 1980’s when dates were programmed as two digit numbers, rather than four digit numbers. Thus, year 67 in legacy software represented year 1967. Software developed at the time assumed that the first two digits f all years were 19, since software like other business equipment was expected to be obsolete in 20 years or less. This meant that in year 2000 computers would assume that the number 00 represented 1900 causing the software to produce unpredictable results. Software engineers who had worked on mainframe programs in the 1970’s and 1980’s started discussing the possibility of a catastrophic meltdown of the programming date functions. By 1996 the low key discussions gained force as the press began to publish opinions about what could be triggered by the Y2K bug. Governments and companies alike swung into action and by 1977 a massive Y2K remediation effort was under way which alike swung into action which peaked in 1999 and wound down by the beginning of 2001.
3. Third wave – Internet bubble: The Third wave that kept IT services in hyper growth was the internet revolution. In 1994 a small company by the name of Mosaic Communication Corporation released a software product named Mosaic Netscape 0.9 which allowed windows and UNIX computer users to navigate the World Wide Web through an intuitive easy to use graphical user interface known as the browser. In 1996 when Mossaic by then renamed Netscape went public the internet revolution was in full swing. Just about every global 2500 company and government agency was developing an internet strategy almost overnight, so as not to cede any competitive turf. By the time the internet bubble burst and the dust settled in 2001 a massive worldwide overcapacity existed in telecommunications, computing infrastructure and software engineering, contributing to mild recession in the west ad plunging prices in all three areas. By then the world wide IT services market has reached staggering $520 billion but predictions for further growth were scaled back significantly.
4. The Next wave – Value chain integration & Web 2.0 : The IT services market in 2008 can be viewed as two distinct markets consumer oriented enterprise oriented. For decades IT services automated intra business processes and most recently inter-business processes. But with the advent of the internet and inexpensive web technologies, thousands of companies began to sprout up to provide Web based consumer services which created whole new market for It service companies – catering to web bases companies such as Amazon.com and e bay.
In 1990’s companies such as SAP AG of Germany, Oracle Corporations, Siebel Systems, People soft and others provided packaged applications to enterprises as cheaper and faster alternatives to developing customer applications. By 2008 after several bouts of consolidations SAP AG and Oracle Corporation split the world wide enterprise application market between them. In IT services the traditional players like IBM Global services, Accenture, EDS, Perot Systems, KPMG, Computer Science corporation and others still dominated, but Indian firms such as Tata consultancy & Infosys were fast becoming viable threats.
Hmm…………enough gyan on IT. If my teacher reads this, she will not believe that I actually had done detailed study on IT…… And since learning is continuous process I am still learning.
*photcredit - Flickr.com
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