Laudon/Laudon/Brabston, Management Information Systems, Seventh Canadian Edition
Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies
1) A primary example of centralized processing is client/server computing.
2) In N-tier computing, significant parts of Web site content, logic, and processing are
performed by different servers.
3) Application server software is responsible for locating and managing stored Web pages.
4) IT infrastructure consists of just those physical computing devices required to operate the
enterprise.
5) An application server may reside on the same computer as a Web server or on its own
dedicated computer.
Laudon/Laudon/Brabston, Management Information Systems, Seventh Canadian Edition
6) Enterprise integration requires software that can link disparate applications and enable data
to flow freely among different parts of the business.
7) The decision to outsource software development is also referred to as the rent-versus-buy
decision.
8) The operating system is used to manage the computer’s activities.
9) SANs create large central pools of storage that can be rapidly accessed and shared by
multiple servers.
10) In green computing, reducing computer power consumption is a top priority.
Laudon/Laudon/Brabston, Management Information Systems, Seventh Canadian Edition
11) Autonomic computing is implemented primarily with enterprise or ISP servers.
12) Java software is designed to run on any computing device, regardless of the specific
microprocessor or operating system it uses.
13) Web services can exchange information between two different systems regardless of the
operating system or programming languages on which the systems are based.
14) Whereas XML is limited to describing how data should be presented in the form of Web
pages, HTML can perform presentation, communication, and data storage tasks.
15) Hypertext markup language specifies how text, graphics, video, and sound are placed on a
Web page document.
Laudon/Laudon/Brabston, Management Information Systems, Seventh Canadian Edition
16) The collection of Web services that are used to build a firm’s software systems constitutes
what is known as a service-oriented architecture.
17) Today most business firms have discontinued operating their legacy systems, replacing
these with inexpensive Web services and hosted software.
18) Scalability refers to the ability of a computer, product, or system to expand to serve a large
number of users without breaking down.
19) TCO refers to the original cost of purchased technology: both hardware and software.
20) Some companies still run traditional mainframe systems or use mainframe computers as
massive servers supporting large Web sites and corporate enterprise applications.
Laudon/Laudon/Brabston, Management Information Systems, Seventh Canadian Edition
21) Mainframe computing refers to a model of computing that provides access to a shared pool
of computing resources (computers, storage, applications, and services) over a network,
often the Internet.
22) Nanotechnology uses individual atoms and molecules to create computer chips and other
devices that are thousands of times smaller than current technologies permit.
23) Law of Mass Digital Storage states that the amount of digital information is roughly
doubling every year
24) Unix is a network standard for connecting desktop computers into local area networks that
enabled the widespread adoption of client/server computing and local area networks and
further stimulated the adoption of personal computers.
25) Storage area networks (SANs) are computers consisting of only a circuit board with
processors, memory, and network connections that are stored in racks.
Laudon/Laudon/Brabston, Management Information Systems, Seventh Canadian Edition
26) Which type of infrastructure services provides voice and video connectivity to employees,
customers, and suppliers?
A) networking
B) telephone
C) VOIP
D) telecommunications
27) Which of the following is not an IT infrastructure service component?
A) operating system software
B) computing platforms to provide a coherent digital environment
C) physical facility management to manage the facilities housing physical components
D) IT management services to plan and develop the infrastructure and provide project
management
28) Place the following eras of IT infrastructure evolution in order, from earliest to most recent:
1. Cloud Computing Era; 2. Client/Server; 3. Enterprise Era; 4. Personal Computer; and 5.
Mainframe and Minicomputer.
A) 4, 5, 3, 2, 1
B) 5, 4, 2, 3, 1
C) 4, 5, 2, 3, 1
D) 5, 4, 2, 1, 3
Laudon/Laudon/Brabston, Management Information Systems, Seventh Canadian Edition
29) The introduction of the minicomputer
A) allowed computers to be customized to the specific needs of departments or business
units.
B) enabled decentralized computing.
C) offered new, powerful machines at lower prices than mainframes.
D) all of the above.
30) A client computer networked to a server computer, with processing split between the two
types of machines, is called a(n)
A) service-oriented architecture.
B) on-demand architecture.
C) multi-tiered client/server architecture.
D) two-tiered client/server architecture.
31) In a multi-tiered network
A) the work of the entire network is centralized.
B) the work of the entire network is balanced over several levels of servers.
C) processing is split between clients and servers.
D) processing is handled by multiple, geographically-remote clients.
32) Interpretations of Moore’s law assert that
A) computing power doubles every 18 months.
B) transistors decrease in size 50% every two years.
Laudon/Laudon/Brabston, Management Information Systems, Seventh Canadian Edition
C) data storage costs decrease by 50% every 18 months.
D) none of the above.
33) Which of the following factors provides an understanding of why computing resources
today are ever more available than in previous decades?
A) network economics
B) law of mass digital storage and Moore’s law
C) declining communications costs, universal standards, and the Internet
D) all of the above
34) Today’s nanotechnology-produced computer transistors are roughly equivalent in size to
A) the width of a fingernail.
B) a human hair.
C) a virus.
D) an atom.
35) Specifications that establish the compatibility of products and the ability to communicate in
a network are called
A) network standards.
B) telecommunications standards.
C) technology standards.
D) Internet standards.
Laudon/Laudon/Brabston, Management Information Systems, Seventh Canadian Edition
36) ________ unleash powerful economies of scale and result in declines in manufactured
computer products.
A) Internet and Web technologies
B) Technology standards
C) Linux and open-source software
D) Client/server technologies
37) The multitasking, multi-user, operating system developed by Bell Laboratories that operates
on a wide variety of computing platforms is
A) Unix.
B) Linux.
C) OS X.
D) COBOL.
38) The network standard for connecting desktop computers into local area networks that
enabled the widespread adoption of client/server computing and local area networks and
further stimulated the adoption of personal computers is
A) TCP/IP.
B) COBOL.
C) Ethernet.
D) ASCII.
Laudon/Laudon/Brabston, Management Information Systems, Seventh Canadian Edition
39) Which of the following is a leading networking hardware provider?
A) Dell
B) Cisco
C) Seagate
D) IBM
40) Software that manages the resources of the computer is called
A) operating system software.
B) application software.
C) data management software.
D) network software.
41) A SAN is a ________ network.
A) server area
B) storage area
C) scalable architecture
D) service-oriented architecture
Laudon/Laudon/Brabston, Management Information Systems, Seventh Canadian Edition
42) As referred to in the text, legacy systems are
A) traditional mainframe-based business information systems.
B) electronic spreadsheets used on a PC.
C) any pre-1990 Wintel systems.
D) systems found on older ASPs.
43) Legacy systems are still used because they
A) can only be run on the older mainframe computers.
B) are too expensive to redesign.
C) integrate well using new Web services technologies.
D) contain valuable data that would be lost during redesign.
44) Which of the following is not an example of the emerging mobile computing platforms?
A) tablets
B) the Kindle
C) cell phones
D) CRM
45) All of the following are current hardware platform trends except
A) green computing.
B) virtualization.
C) cloud computing.
D) Unix.
Laudon/Laudon/Brabston, Management Information Systems, Seventh Canadian Edition
46) Connecting geographically remote computers in a single network to create a “virtual
supercomputer” is called
A) co-location.
B) edge computing.
C) grid computing.
D) utility computing.
47) The business case for using grid computing involves all of the following except
A) cost savings.
B) increased accuracy.
C) speed of computation.
D) agility.
48) Which of the following does grid computing utilize to create enormous supercomputing power?
A) massive unused data centers
B) underutilized mainframe computers
C) networked computers with idle resources
D) networks with low usage
Laudon/Laudon/Brabston, Management Information Systems, Seventh Canadian Edition
49) The process of presenting a set of computing resources (such as computing power or data
storage) so that they can all be accessed in ways that are not restricted by physical
configuration or geographic location is called
A) cloud computing.
B) autonomic computing.
C) virtualization.
D) multicore processing.
50) Which type of computing refers to firms purchasing computing power from remote
providers and paying only for the computing power they use?
A) on-demand
B) grid
C) edge
D) autonomic
51) An example of autonomic computing is
A) spyware protection software that runs and updates itself automatically.
B) software programmed to run on any hardware platform.
C) cell phones taking on the functions of handheld computers.
D) programming languages that allow non-programmers to create custom applications.
52) An industry-wide effort to develop systems that can configure, optimize, tune, and heal
themselves when broken, and protect themselves from outside intruders and self-destruction
is called
Laudon/Laudon/Brabston, Management Information Systems, Seventh Canadian Edition
A) grid computing.
B) utility computing.
C) virtualization.
D) autonomic computing.
53) Which type of software is created and updated by a worldwide community of programmers
and available for free?
A) software packages
B) mashups
C) outsourced
D) open source
54) Which of the following is not one of the current software platform trends?
A) grid computing
B) open-source software
C) HTML5
D) software outsourcing
55) Linux is
A) primarily concerned with the tasks of end users.
B) designed for specific machines and specific microprocessors.
C) an example of open-source software.
D) especially useful for processing numeric data.
Laudon/Laudon/Brabston, Management Information Systems, Seventh Canadian Edition
56) Which of the following statements about Linux is not true?
A) It plays a major role in the back office running local area networks.
B) It is available in free versions downloadable from the Internet.
C) It has garnered 80 percent of the server operating system market.
D) Linux applications are embedded in cell phones, smartphones, netbooks, and other
handheld devices.
57) Running a Java program on a computer requires
A) a Java Virtual Machine to be installed on the computer.
B) a Java Virtual Machine to be installed on the server hosting the Java applet.
C) a miniature program to be downloaded to the user’s computer.
D) no specialized software, as Java is platform-independent.
58) A software tool with a graphical user interface for displaying Web pages and for accessing
the Web and other Internet resources is called a Web
A) service.
B) client.
C) browser.
D) app.
Laudon/Laudon/Brabston, Management Information Systems, Seventh Canadian Edition
59) The development of TCP/IP occurred during the ________ era.
A) cloud and mobile computing
B) general-purpose mainframe and minicomputer
C) enterprise computing
D) personal computer
60) Sets of loosely coupled software components that exchange information with each other
using standard Web communication standards and languages are referred to as
A) Web services.
B) EAI software.
C) SOA.
D) SOAP.
61) What is the foundation technology for Web services?
A) XML
B) HTML
C) SOAP
D) UDDI
62) A set of self-contained services that communicate with each other to create a working
software application is called
A) Web services.
B) EAI software.
Laudon/Laudon/Brabston, Management Information Systems, Seventh Canadian Edition
C) SOA.
D) SOAP.
63) Prewritten, commercially available sets of software programs that eliminate the need for a
firm to write its own software programs for certain functions, are referred to as
A) software packages.
B) mashups.
C) outsourced software.
D) open-source software.
64) ________ are created by combining and customizing components from different online
software applications.
A) Apps
B) Mashups
C) SaaS
D) Web services
65) The marketplace for computer hardware
A) has become increasingly concentrated in top firms.
B) has expanded to include a wide variety of start-up and mobile-computing firms.
C) has moved significantly to Asian firms.
D) has been decimated by mobile and cloud computing.