The Information Systems Infrastructure

Any area where people live or work needs a supporting infrastructure, which entails the

interconnection of all basic facilities and services enabling the area to function properly. The

infrastructure of a city, for example, includes components such as streets, power, telephone,

water, and sewage lines but also schools, retail stores, and law enforcement.

The Need for an Information Systems Infrastructure

As people and companies rely on basic infrastructures to function, businesses also rely on an

information systems infrastructure (consisting of hardware, software, networks, data,

facilities, human resources, and services) to support their decision making, business

processes, and competitive strategy. Business processes are the activities that organizations

perform in order to reach their business goals and consist of core processes and supporting

processes. The core processes make up the primary activities in the value chain; these are all

the processes that are needed to manufacture goods, sell the products, provide service, and so

on.

Almost all of an organization’s business processes depend on the underlying information

systems infrastructure, albeit to different degrees. For example, an organization’s

management needs an infrastructure to support a variety of activities, including reliable

communication networks to support collaboration between suppliers and customers, accurate

and timely data and knowledge to gain business intelligence, and information systems to aid

decision making and support business processes. In sum, organizations rely on a complex,

interrelated information systems infrastructure to effectively thrive in the ever-increasing,

competitive digital world.

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Modern organizations rely heavily on their information systems infrastructure; its

components include the following:

■ Hardware

■ Software

■ Communications and collaboration

■ Data and knowledge

■ Facilities

■ Human resources

■ Services

1. Hardware:

The information systems hardware is an integral part of the IS infrastructure. This hardware

consists not only of the computers used in an organization but also of networking hardware.

While the computing hardware is integral to an organization’s IS infrastructure because it is

needed to store and process organizational data, the networking hardware is needed to

connect the different systems to allow for collaboration and information sharing. Companies

often face difficult decisions regarding their hardware. Constant innovations within the

information technology sector lead to ever increasing processor speeds and storage capacities

but also to rapid obsolescence.

2. Software:

Various types of software enable companies to utilize their information systems hardware

and networks. This software assists organizations in executing their business processes and

competitive strategy. Consequently, with increased reliance on information systems for

managing the organization, effectively utilizing software resources is becoming increasingly

critical and complex. For example, companies have to manage the software installed on each

and every computer used, including managing updates, fixing bugs, and managing issues

related to software licenses. In addition, companies have to decide whether to upgrade their

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software or switch to new products and when to do so. Clearly, managing the software

component of an IS infrastructure can be a daunting task.

3. Communications and Collaboration

One of the reasons why information systems in organizations have become so powerful and

important is the ability to interconnect, allowing internal and external constituents to

communicate and collaborate with each other. The infrastructure supporting this consists of a

variety of components, such as the networking hardware and software that facilitate the

interconnection of different computers, enabling collaboration literally around the world.

However, having a number of interconnected computers is necessary but not sufficient for

enabling communication and collaboration; companies also need various other hardware and

software. For example, e-mail servers, along with communication software such as Microsoft

Outlook, are needed to enable a broad range of internal and external communication.

Similarly, companies have to decide on whether to utilize tools such as instant messaging and

which system to use for such applications. Further, it has become increasingly important for

companies to be able to utilize videoconferencing to bridge the distances between a

company’s offices or between a company and its business partners, saving valuable travel

time and enhancing collaboration. However, as there are vast differences in terms of quality,

costs, and functionality of these systems, companies have to assess their communication

needs and carefully decide which combination of technologies best support the goals of the

organization.

4. Data and Knowledge

Data and knowledge are probably among the most important assets an organization has, as

data and knowledge are essential for both gaining business intelligence and executing

business processes. Managing this resource thus requires an infrastructure with sufficient

capacity, performance, and reliability. For example, companies such as Amazon.com need

databases to store customer information, product information, inventory, transactions, and so

on. Like Amazon.com, many companies operating in the digital world rely heavily on their

databases not only to store information but also to analyze this information to gain business

intelligence. For example, the main data center for United Parcel Service (UPS) handles on

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average 10 million package tracking requests per day, with peak days approaching 20

million. To support this core business process, UPS has designed a data management

architecture that includes an array of Unix-based mainframes running a massive database

management system.

5. Facilities

Although not directly needed to support business processes or business intelligence,

specialized facilities are needed for the information systems infrastructure. While not every

company needs facilities such as Google’s data center in The Dalles, managers need to

carefully consider where to house the different hardware, software, data centers, and so on. A

normal desktop computer might not need much in terms of power, nor does it generate much

heat; however, massive clusters of computers or server farms (facilities housing a vast

number of servers to support the information processing needs of a large organization) have

tremendous demands for reliable electricity and air-conditioning. In addition to such

technical requirements, there is also the need to protect important equipment from both

outside intruders and the elements, such as water or fire. The most prominent threats to an

organization’s IS facilities come from floods, seismic activity, rolling blackouts, hurricanes,

and the potential of terrorist activities

6. Human Resources

Another issue faced by companies is the availability of a trained workforce. Although even

large facilities do not require large support staff, the staff that is needed should be well

trained. This is one of the issues faced by Google’s new data center in The Dalles. While the

construction of the facility has created a large number of construction jobs, helping the area’s

unemployment situation, permanent jobs will likely require special skills so that much of the

workforce will be “imported” from other regions. For this reason, many companies try to

locate facilities in common areas. For example, the automobile industry has historically been

centered in Detroit, while many of the technology companies have chosen areas like Austin,

Boston, San Jose, and Seattle.

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7. Services

A broad range of services is the final infrastructure component. Over the past few years, this

component has become increasingly important for many business organizations.

Traditionally, an organization would perform all business processes—from acquiring raw

materials to selling and servicing the final product—itself, no matter if these processes would

be the organization’s core competency or not. Today, with increasing pressures from the

competition and the organization’s shareholders, many processes that are not among a

company’s core competencies are being delegated to other organizations with considerably

higher expertise. For example, business organizations turn over the management of their

supply chains to logistics companies such as UPS, or organizations turn over the

responsibility for the information systems infrastructure to organizations such as EDS.

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Impulse

Impulse is a leading Apparel/Garments Accessories supplier and retailer in India.

Infrastructure & Technology:

Contemporary technology and state of the art infrastructure make the difference in providing

an environment which inspires high level of performance of their teams servicing the

customer requirements and management of the supply chain in sourcing clothing,

accessories, home and other life style products.

Over two hundred computers connected to central servers across multiple offices support

their infrastructure. Processes like data management are supported by customized software

and an updated database. There is an excellent IT team which manages and supports the

complete IT network.

Their offices are equipped with complete amenities to facilitate a relaxed and cheerful

working atmosphere for their employees. They use tools such as Computer Aided Layer

Optimization in order to check material consumption and costs and to remove wastages.

It is their policy to make sure that every part of the product is tested to comply with the

material requirements of the importing country, customer and end-user. They use services of

the best testing labs in the country such as ITS, SGS, and others. Their technologists check

that the materials and reports are as per various parameters defined by their customers and

only then they give the approvals.

They have upgraded communication systems for better interaction with their clients and

vendors, in order to ensure smooth administration and execution of customer orders. Video

Conferencing facility is available in the office for interactive discussions and meetings with

their customers.

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Details for Infrastructure:

Migration:

Impulse prepare "Excel template" for migration in all of its software applications that can be

found in application path. They expect customer to provide data in excel format and to do

migration by themselves. In case that the migration requires efforts from their technical team,

then migration process will be charged as per their policy.

Migration can be done with below parameters

All masters in details

Only Item master [Quick migration]

Bill wise outstanding [summary data alone]

Checklist for customers to verify migration

Master verification to make sure all required attributes and price are migrated correctly

Stock verification : batch wise, stock value, stock worth, etc. with the closing stock

report from old software

Ledger balances and the closing balance values

Verify count of values in master migrated with old software values

Whatever else that is in migration scope

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System requirement

Operating System ProcessorMinimum

RAMRecommended

HDD

SPACE

Windows Vista SP1,

Windows 7

AMD Athlon and

higher1 GB 1 GB 40 GB

Pentium IV and

higher1 GB 1 GB 40 GB

RDBMS : Microsoft SQL Server 2005, MSDE 2000, SQL Server 2000

Supported Accessories / Hardware

Accessory Integration: Barcode Scanner, Barcode Printer, Display Pole, Cash Drawer,

weighing scale.

Printers Supported: 80 column dot matrix printer and Laser.

Hardware Supported: ESSAE, HCL, IBM, Touch screen monitors and LCD'S, Mobile.

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List of transaction

Module TransactionsProduct Profile Paper Type

POS DE 5.5 Designable Default Pre-Print Plain Roll

Sales Sales Bill

Delivery Note

Delivery Note Return - -

Sales Order -

Sales Quotation -

Sales Return -

Dispatch -

Stock Transfer - -

Customers Address

Labels* - -

Cash Hand Over / Till

Management- -

Cash deposit from

counter* - -

Cash Withdrawal from

counter* - -

Packing Slip -

Purchase Purchase Invoice -

Purchase Order

Reorder -

Receipt Note -

Purchase Return -

Parcel Entry * - -

Expiry Return - -

Transfer In - -

Inventory Change Selling -

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Material Issue * - - -

Physical Stock

Discrepancy- -

Physical Stock Audit - -

Production Detail with

Excise * -

Service Service Invoice -

Job card - -

Barcode Barcode Sticker Printing - - -

Barcode sticker Printing

For Sales Man code* - - -

Barcode sticker Printing

For Users* - - -

Barcode sticker Printing

For Transactions- - -

Accounts

Journals - -

Bill wise Receipts - -

Bill wise Payments - -

Expenses Voucher -

Receipt Voucher -

Credit Note -

Debit Note -

Cheque - -

Note:

* Available for Selected customers Yes No - Not applicable

Printer supported

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Print includes a WYSIWYG (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get) tool [Easy Print Designer] to

help them design their print profile to suit the business transactions and a run time

component [Easy Print Runtime] to print the transactions.

Features of Easy Print Designer Tool

Easy to design print format : Drag and drop the fields in each one of the section like

header, detail and footer sections

Supports text [DOS] and graphical [Windows] printing

Design for multiple stationary types : plain paper and pre-printed stationary

Multi copy per page

Labels can be designed and printing

Barcode sticker can be designed and printed

Designed profiles can be exported and imported

Wifi printer supported

Features of Easy Print Runtime Tool

Select the profile to print a transaction at the time of printing

Preview can be seen before printing

Print both in synchronous [blocking] and asynchronous [non-blocking] modes: In

asynchronous mode, user can resume with next transaction after the print job is submitted

without waiting for the printing to complete.

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Export to pdf and same can be sent as a email

Multi profile can be activated same time to be printed on different printers

Water marking in printouts

Vendor

NameModels Technology Specification

Barcode

ScannerWifi

PA600 Win CE 6 Min 64 Mb RAM

IPQ 210 Win CE 6 Min 64 Mb RAM

Best configuration for Impulse

Operating System Windows mobile 6

RAM 128 MB

Hard disk 100 GB

Microprocessor 520 MHz

WiFi Enabled

MicroSD slot Minimum 2GB

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TRAVELODGE INFRASTRUCTURE:

Travelodge is the largest hotel brand in London, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Cambridge.

Around 80% of Travelodge hotels are now located in major city centres, towns and popular

holiday hotspots. The Travelodge brand has a range of hotel designs including: purpose built

hotels, grade ll listed buildings, office conversions, acquisitions of existing hotels and co-

partnerships with leading pub companies, supermarkets and retailers. Travelodge is an e-

commerce business and offers its best room rate online. Today 90% of room bookings are via

Travelodge.co.uk.Last year, Travelodge sold c7 million rooms, 40% of these were for £29 or

below. One million rooms were at £19 or below The Travelodge Revenue team daily check

the rates of every hotel in the UK, to ensure that Travelodge room rates are the most

competitive within the marketplace.

Travelodge has signed a distribution deal with Amadeus; Amadeus is a leading transaction

processor and provider of advanced technology solutions for the global travel and tourism

industry. Travelodge’s 490 hotels in the UK, Ireland and Spain are now available through the

global distribution system (GDS) via its Amadeus Selling Platform and Hotels Plus booking

tool. Travelodge rooms can also be booked through Amadeus e-Travel Management, a self-

booking tool designed for corporate travelers, as well as being available to online travel sites

and third party developers using Amadeus Web Services.

The comprehensive contract with Pegasus solution provides a total enterprise solution that

includes central reservations system (CRS) and property management system (PMS)

applications and data hosting, and Internet hotel connectivity/distribution, and Travelodge's

branded Web site, www.travelodge.co.uk, is being Powered by Pegasus a leading worldwide

provider of hotel technology and services. Web-based PMS offered on a pure application

service provider (ASP) basis.

Travelodge's properties migrated from the LodgeLink PMS to the PegasusCentral PMS.

Travelodge's properties use PegasusCentral via the Internet to manage daily on-site

operations of all hotel departments, such as check-in and checkout of hotel guests, sales and

financial tracking and forecasting, comprehensive guest profiles, and inventory management,

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substantially increasing the PMS capabilities of Travelodge's 490 properties. PegasusCentral

is centrally hosted in Pegasus' data centre in Phoenix. Ariz.

Central Reservations system

Service agreement also includes the continuation of a CRS outsourcing agreement that

Travelodge has had with Pegasus since 1994. Pegasus Solutions will continue to house and

host Travelodge properties' hotel inventory and rates in Pegasus' robust RezView(R) CRS in

Phoenix. Using Pegasus' Web-based NetRez tool to access the CRS, Travelodge can

effectively access and manage its CRS hotel inventory and rates 24/7. The majority of

Travelodge's room reservations are made via the budget hotel company's U.K. voice centre,

where 200 reservations agents use Pegasus' RezView CRS to make hotel bookings. Through

a direct interface between the RezView CRS and the PegasusCentral PMS, Travelodge will

be able to achieve a single, logical database of hotel inventory and rates and have a 100

percent view from either system at any time.

GDS Connectivity

Travelodge also continues to connect to Pegasus' Electronic Distribution Switch for seamless

connectivity between the budget hotel company's CRS and the GDSs, such as Amadeus,

Galileo, Sabre and Worldspan. Used by travel agents and some Web sites, the GDS computer

systems can access Travelodge's CRS for hotel inventory and rates and to make reservations

with instant confirmations. Travelodge properties are bookable under the GDS chain code

"TG."Travelodge Web Site Powered by Pegasus(TM)Also wrapped into the comprehensive

agreement is a NetBooker(TM) renewal. Travelodge's proprietary Web site

www.travelodge.co.uk, which is available in five languages, has been powered by Pegasus

for Internet bookings since 2000. Using Pegasus' NetBooker booking engine, Travelodge's

guests are able to make real-time Internet reservations and access negotiated rates through

the RezView CRS.

Internet Distribution

In addition, Travelodge maintains its connection to Pegasus for distributing hotel availability,

room rates and content via the Internet. With Travelodge's CRS connection to Pegasus'

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Electronic Distribution Switch, select third-party Web sites in Pegasus' Online Distribution

Network, such as Superbreak.com, have instant access to Travelodge properties' inventory

and rates for real-time reservations. Travelodge's hotels are included in Pegasus' Online

Distribution Database of approximately 44,000 hotels worldwide, with 40 percent of

properties outside the United States. Pegasus' Online Distribution Database feeds more than

75,000 images and detailed property information to the thousands of Web sites in Pegasus'

Online Distribution Network. A sampling of European Web sites Powered by Pegasus

includes lastminute.com, Hotel net Web Site, HotelHub.net, ebookers, laterooms.com,

ThePlaceToStay.co.uk, Bedhunter.com and Direct-Hotels.co.uk.Travelodge's centralized

control of rates and inventory through Pegasus' comprehensive enterprise solution ensures

last-room availability through all distribution channels.

TECHNOLOGY REQUIRED FOR TRAVELODGE:

Opera Property Management System

The OPERA enterprise solution

is Travelodge’s premier property

management software, MICROS

Systems’ Opera Enterprise

Solution is a full featured,

integrated, web enabled, multi-

lingual and scalable suite of

products for the hospitality

industry. Built around the

Oracle® database management

system, speed, reliability,

functionality and ease of use are built into Opera’s design.OPERA PMS provides all the

tools, that staff needs for doing their day-to-day jobs – handling reservations, checking guests

in and out, assigning rooms and managing room inventory, accommodating the needs of in-

house guests, and handling accounting and billing. The property management software is

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configurable to each property’s specific requirements and operates in either single-property

or multi-property mode, with all properties in a complex sharing a single database. OPERA

Property Management System is fully integrated with Sales and Catering, Gaming and Comp

Accounting, Vacation Ownership System, Quality Management System, and The central

reservation System; and OCIS, The Customer Information System.

Required configuration of computer workstations (minimum):

• RAM -512 MB (Windows 2003 ).

• 2 GHz Pentium 4 Processor.

• 40 GB Hard Drive.

• 100 Base-T Network Adapter, Gigabit Preferred.

• High speed (20 MBPS) internet access with a static IP address.(B.T)

• Opera PMS (Reservation System)

• Internet Explorer 7/8

• Adobe Reader 8/9

• Mcfee Antivirus

Electronic Key Card

Utilizing a Windows® software platform,

VISION by VingCard hotel lock system is easy

to interface to OPERA PMS (Property

Management System) Windows 2003VISION

hotel lock system offers a range of possibilities

to choose from for your server and workstation

needs. You may prefer to integrate VISION

onto your existing PMS workstations and

server, select a specially designed VISION

touchscreen workstation or any other

Windows®-based workstation By combining

"who", "where" and "when" definitions into

precisely defined user-groups, VISION by VingCard hotel locks system provides flexible

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access management control that is far more powerful than the fixed hierarchical structures of

many other hotel lock systems. In other words, you can control exactly who has access to

every door on the property, and when. The dedicated portable LockLink™ interrogation and

programming unit allows you to view the last 100 locking events right at the guestroom lock.

Simply plug the unit into any hotel door lock to program it, or to view and download the

hotel lock events from the entry log audit trail.

Retail Credit Card Processing

Travelodge is doing business face to face; accepting credit

card processing has become a necessity. Whether customer

using store, restaurant or kiosk, Merchant Warehouse can

help your business set up a merchant account and accept

credit cards .

How Retail Credit Card Processing Works:

The model below describes how credit card processing

works in a typical storefront environment.

1. The receptionist slides the customer's card through the credit

card terminal and enters the sale amount. The terminal then

connects to Merchant Warehouse’s processor for

authorization.

2. The processor passes that information onto the bank that issued the credit card where the

bank checks to see if the card is valid and see if the charge amount is available on the card.

3. The issuing bank sends back an approval number or a decline message to Merchant

Warehouse’s processor.

4. The information is passed back to the credit card terminal which prints a receipt for the

customer to sign if the card is approved. It takes approximately 12-15 seconds to complete

steps 1-4 on a credit card machine using a phone line. The newer internet enabled machines

can cut this time to just a few seconds.

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5. At the end of the day the merchant must "settle" or "batch out" their terminal which will

begin the final process of the transaction. In most cases Merchant Warehouse can

automatically settle the transactions at a specified time each day. Once the settlement process

is initiated the funds are transferred from the card issuing bank and are electronically deposits

them into the merchant's checking account. It typically takes no more than two business days

from the time of the original transaction for the funds to reach the merchant's checking

account.

Walkie-Talkie:

Advanced communications throughout any business, large or small, is

vital for success and future growth. Communication is one of the main

components to building a strong team of employees, especially

Travelodge equip members of their staff with a set of walkie-talkies

which have improved overall function as a business and as a team.

Walkie-talkies work in fairly simple manner. Through the use of

frequencies, communication is possible. Simply push and hold the button on the walkie-talkie

while you talk into the walkie-talkie's microphone. This sound is then transmitted through the

air using radio waves. These radio waves are then picked up by another walkie-talkie, and

turned back into sound.

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IT Infrastructure Case Study

Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music

Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio, is in the midst of a $20.6 million -- $1.2 million of

which represents the information technology (IT) portion -- construction project that will

double the physical size of its Conservatory of Music. Expected to be completed by the fall

of 2011, the project includes major renovations and new construction; joining two existing

campus buildings with the adjacent church complex. Upfront planning is crucial to ensure a

good IT installation that meets all the needs of their students and professors and wisely uses

capital funds. Here are the basic concepts involved in IT system planning and infrastructure.

Greg Flanik and Daniel Stilla from Baldwin-Wallace’s IT department provided Buildipedia a

look into the planning and technologies involved in getting their new building “wired for

sound.”

Connecting to Existing IT Infrastructure

Whenever a new building or building expansion is proposed, the first planning task is to

determine the most efficient route and method to connect to the campus’s existing IT

infrastructure. Like most campus environments, most of Baldwin-Wallace’s main campus IT

backbone is a buried network of conduits accessible by service manholes. Contained within

these conduit runs are copper cables for telephone service, coaxial cable for television, and

fiber-optic cables for data (computer) networks and fire alarm systems. An increasingly

common option for new telephone service is the Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP)

network. VOIP allows the current data network (wired and wireless) to be used as the

conductor for telephone service as well as for data networks, reducing the need for separate

copper telephone cabling (minimal copper cable is necessary for emergency services).

If a new building project is conveniently located near established IT infrastructure, an

existing manhole can be used as a node for system expansion. If a new campus building is

remotely located such that adding a segment of buried conduit/cabling from an existing

manhole is not practical, leasing utility pole rights-of-way to string overhead copper and

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fiber-optic cables is a common alternative. A good example of this approach is Baldwin-

Wallace’s IT connection to their Building and Grounds building, which relies upon utility

pole conductor runs along Bagley Road in Berea.

Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music

The IT planning for the Conservatory of Music expansion followed the norm, and a

connection point to the existing IT infrastructure was identified as the first step. Most of the

Conservatory of Music project site was currently connected to the college’s network

infrastructure. Stilla was able to plan the required network expansion from the infrastructure

currently in place.The next step was to identify where network closets within the building

complex will be required. Network closets, or “propagation points,” are accessible IT utility

rooms within each building space.

Network closets contain network switches that connect all the building’s IT devices from

every possible end-user location in a building back to the main IT infrastructure. Three

network closets are necessary for the new conservatory building, which involves renovating

and connecting two existing campus buildings (Kulas Hall and Merner-Pfeiffer Hall) to a

renovated church (formerly the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Berea). Two

of the three required network closets were already located in Kulas Hall and Merner-Pfeiffer

Hall. The third network closet needed to be placed in the former church building, which

represented some challenges due to its massive stone walls.

For several reasons, it’s very important for the IT specialists to be involved in new floor plan

development from the very beginning. If they are not involved, expensive or visually

unappealing IT system retrofits (i.e., conduit runs attached to outside walls) could be

necessary. Stilla describes several of the components required when planning network

closets for a building.

1. The interior Ethernet cabling, which connects all of a building’s IT devices to a

network closet, should not be run in distances that exceed 300’-0". Distances greater

than 300’-0" will reduce the performance characteristics of the Ethernet cabling and

play an integral part in where the network closet will be located.

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2. Water piping should not be located within, or run through, the network closet spaces

in a building. There’s risk of damage to expensive IT components if a pipe leak

should occur. An option is to reroute water pipes away from a building’s preferred

network closet location, but this adds to a project’s cost. Other building systems

placed too close to a network closet (i.e., HVAC) tend to create radio-frequency (RF)

interference that impacts the function of various IT components.

3. Partnering with an architectural--engineering firm (Weber Murphy Fox for this

project) should ensure that network closet locations, conduits, conductors, and IT

devices are accurately specified in the final construction documents.

Tracing Back to the Server Room

The goal of good IT planning is to ensure that all the envisioned IT devices within a new

building can be efficiently connected to the campus network infrastructure, using existing IT

infrastructure to the maximum possible extent. The sequence of basic hardware to consider

is:

A computer jack, "smart" board, projector, or other IT device planned at each end-

user location (i.e,. a student or professor workstation in a classroom);

Ethernet cable runs to connect each end-user IT device to a network closet;

Switch devices in the network closets to connect all Ethernet-based hardware to the

campus network via fiber optics; and finally

The main data center.

Flanik and Stilla outline the specific details of what’s involved in their IT infrastructure

components and trace through their entire system, from classroom end-user back to their

server room.

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Wired Network Components

• A student attending class might plug a laptop computer into the campus network via a

network jack. Data are passed through the jack to a network closet via category 5e

Ethernet cables.

• Ethernet cabling is eight strands of color-coded copper conductor terminated in an 8-

pin plastic jack. As Stilla points out, just because a computer jack is installed in a

building space, that’s not an immediate indication that it’s functional to a user --

although most are, sometime jacks are installed and labeled as “spare” for redundancy

and future expansion.

• Each jack must be physically and individually connected with Ethernet cable to a

patch panel in a network closet to be operational. Within each network closet, patch

panels are plugged into network switches that communicate with the main data center

via the fiber optic cables of the campus IT infrastructure.

• An important component of the network switches installed in the network closets are

gigabit interface converters (GBICs), which can convert electronic signals sent

through metal conductor (Ethernet) cables to light signals sent through the campus’

fiber-optic cables via LEDs or lasers.

There are two types of fiber optic cables commonly used by building owners like Baldwin-

Wallace and found in their buried IT utility network. These are 62.5/125 multi-mode fiber

optic cables and 8/125 single-mode fiber optic cables.

Single-mode fiber optic cables offer higher transmission rates over greater distances,

but are more expensive.

Multi-mode fiber optic cables carry high bandwidth at high speed, but are more

limited for distance.

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Wireless Network Components

• The “wireless” aspect of these networks refers only to the wireless (RF)

communications between a wireless-capable device and a wireless Access Point (AP),

which is actually a physical device located nearby in the building space.

• The AP’s are actually hard-wired devices, though. Stilla describes the AP connections

to the network closets in much the same way that a “wired” computer jack would be

connected -- via Ethernet cable.

• Baldwin Wallace uses a Cisco wireless network system. Two Cisco wireless 5500

series controllers are located in the server room. Part of this wireless vendor package

includes software that can actively identify “hotspots” (or areas of wireless RF

coverage or lack thereof) within a floor plan. Proposed wall materials and thicknesses

are entered as programmable inputs into the software.

• This advanced analysis helps ensure that the installed AP’s will be placed to best

serve the building occupants’ wireless needs.

• It’s particularly important to conduct this type of wireless survey when the project

involves renovations to an old stone church building with dense walls that can impede

RF signals.

Often mysterious to those not directly involved in this industry, Baldwin-Wallace’s

infrastructure and state-of-the-art IT planning offers a behind-the-scenes look at modern IT

infrastructure.

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Taj Gateway

Software installed for MIS :

Front office , checking:-

Fidelio software

Dos based software

Resturant bill:

Showman pose software

Windows base software

Also useful for CRM

The fidelio and showman pose software run by IBM server which is XX 3760

Both software use at mis and tps level and they are use as groupwise.

Back up:

Atempo software – back up to Mumbai

Orian software – back up at midnight mannually

Fizilla software – back up to baroda

Attepo is a push mail system software

For inward mass communication of taj group they prefer to use taj buzz

ERP system:-

Erp system is ORACLE based

All the softwares developed by MICROS software company which is germany base

company

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://www.zota.ase.ro/simp/Managing%20the%20IS%20Infrastructure.pdf

http://impulse.co.in/Infrastructure-Technology.aspx

http://buildipedia.com/operations/facility-management-technologies/it-infrastructure-case-

study-baldwin-wallace-college-conservatory-of-music

www.travelodge.co.uk

www.hospitalitynews.co.uk

www.micro.co.uk

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