Why Local Internet Providers Are Gaining Popularity

Why Local Internet Providers Are Gaining Popularity

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The Rise of Frustration with National ISPs


The Rise of Frustration with National ISPs, well, its pretty clear why local internet providers are gaining popularity these days! IT services in sydney . You know, folks are just fed up with the service theyve been getting from the big national companies. I mean, have you ever tried to get through to a customer service rep at one of those places? Good luck with that! Its like they dont want to hear from you unless youre canceling your service.


And dont even get me started on the speed issues. I swear, it feels like youre back in dial-up territory sometimes. But with local ISPs, its a whole different ball game. Theyre not just far away in some corporate headquarters; theyre right here in the community. When you call them, you actually get to talk to someone who knows your name and your address.


Another thing is reliability. National ISPs, they seem to have outages all the time. Its like theyre playing a game of Russian roulette with our internet connections. But local providers, they work tirelessly to keep the lights on, so to speak. Theyre invested in making sure you can stream, game, and work without any interruptions.


Lastly, theres the pricing. While national ISPs always seem to be hiking their rates, local providers are offering competitive pricing without all the extra fees. Its refreshing to see a company thats not trying to nickel and dime you for every little thing.


So, its no wonder that more and more people are switching over to local internet providers. Theyre not just getting better service; theyre getting peace of mind. And hey, who doesnt want that?

Personalized Customer Service: A Local Advantage


Personalized customer service is a local advantage that cant be beat! Its not just about getting help when you need it, but really feeling understood and valued. You know, like when you call your local internet provider and they remember your name and your dogs name too (seriously, who does that these days?)! Its not about being stuck with some automated system that doesnt seem to get you at all.


And heres the thing, these local providers arent just offering tech support either. Theyre part of the community! They know the neighborhood, they know the local events, and if theres a big storm coming, theyre on it!

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You dont have to worry about being transferred from person to person, losing your place in the conversation, or getting hung up on because you asked too many questions. Its like having a friend whos also your internet provider.


Now, compare that to some big, faceless corporation where you feel like a number, not a customer. They might offer you the latest and greatest in tech, but what good is that if you cant get a hold of anyone when something goes wrong? Sure, they might have all the bells and whistles, but when it comes down to it, they dont really care about you as a person. Theyre just another company, another transaction.


But with local providers, its different. They know that youre more than just a subscription fee, youre part of their community. They want you to be happy, they want you to stay. Thats why personalized customer service is such a big deal. Its not just about getting your internet issues sorted out, its about building a relationship, a connection. And thats why more and more people are choosing local internet providers over the big guys. Theyre not just buying internet, theyre buying peace of mind and a little bit of home.

Community Focus and Investment


Local internet providers? Yeah, theyre kinda having a moment, arent they! A big part of their appeal – and honestly, its hard to deny it – lies in their community focus and investment. I mean, think about it: these arent some faceless corporations operating from a thousand miles away (or, like, another country). Theyre actually in your community.


This means theyre more likely to understand the specific needs of the area. For example, if your neighborhood has terrible infrastructure that the big guys just arent bothering to upgrade, a local provider might actually see that as an opportunity. They might be more willing to invest in improving it, knowing it benefits their neighbors – and, of course, their own business. And hey, isnt that how it should be?


Furthermore, local providers often sponsor community events, support local schools, and generally contribute to the well-being of the area. Theyre not just taking money out; theyre putting it back in, you know (thats a huge difference!). That creates a sense of trust and loyalty thats hard for those huge national companies to replicate. Youre not just a number to them; youre part of their community too. They cant not care!

Competitive Pricing and Bundling Options


Okay, so local internet providers, right? Theyre, like, totally becoming a thing, and a big part of that is how theyre handling pricing. It aint just about undercutting the big guys (though, that helps!).


Think competitive pricing. Its not just slapping a lower number on the bill. Local providers, theyre smart. They get that folks are sick of hidden fees and those sneaky "introductory rates" that vanish faster than free pizza at a party. So, theyre being upfront, and maybe even offering stuff like price guarantees. Its simple, its honest, and it works!


Then theres bundling options. Now, big companies do this too, sure, but local providers? They can tailor bundles like nobodys business. You dont need cable TV? Fine! (I mean, who even watches cable anymore?).

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Theyll bundle your internet with, like, phone service – maybe even security systems or smart home stuff. And the best part, these bundles arent always cookie-cutter. They can work with you to find something that actually fits your needs and budget. Isnt that refreshing!


They arent just selling internet; theyre selling a relationship. They understand the local market and what people actually want. Its a huge advantage over the corporate giants who see everyone as just another number. And lets be real, who doesnt want to support a local business that genuinely cares, eh?

Faster, More Reliable Internet: Optimized Local Infrastructure


In today's fast-paced world, we all crave faster, more reliable internet. It's just a fact of modern life! However, many people have started to notice that local internet providers are gaining a lot of popularity lately. So, what's driving this trend? Well, it seems to boil down to optimized local infrastructure and a desire for better service.


First off, let's talk about the big guys – the national ISPs. They may have the resources, but they often don't deliver on speed or reliability. Customers are tired of buffering videos or dropped connections during important video calls. It's frustrating when you're paying for a service that doesn't meet your needs. Thats where local providers come in. They're not just filling a gap; they're offering something that the big companies often cant: personalized service and attention to detail.


Local ISPs tend to invest in their communities and infrastructure. They understand the specific needs of their customers because they're part of the same neighborhoods. When they optimize their networks, they're not just throwing money at the problem – they're actually working to improve the service based on what people in the area really need. This often results in faster installation times, better customer support, and more reliable connections. Who wouldn't want that?


Moreover, local providers can adapt quickly to changing demands. They're not tied down by corporate red tape, so they can offer innovative solutions that national companies might overlook. This agility allows them to implement new technologies or upgrade their networks without all the fuss. And let's not forget the sense of community that comes with supporting a local business. People like knowing their money is going back into their neighborhoods rather than lining the pockets of distant shareholders.


However, it's not all roses. Some folks may argue that local ISPs don't have the same reach or bandwidth as the larger providers. While that might hold some truth, many local companies are finding ways to partner with others to expand their services. They're proving that you don't need to be a giant to provide excellent service.


In conclusion, the rise of local internet providers is a refreshing change in an industry that often feels stagnant. With faster, more reliable internet, they're making a name for themselves by focusing on what matters most: the customer. As more people discover the benefits of supporting their local providers, it's clear that the future of internet service may be much brighter than we thought!

Supporting Local Businesses and Economies


Why Local Internet Providers Are Gaining Popularity: Supporting Local Businesses and Economies


Look, it aint no secret that big internet corporations dominate the market. But, guess what? Local internet providers (LIPs) are steadily gaining ground, and its largely because folks are realizing the power of supporting their own communities. I mean, its more than just getting online, its about investing in a stronger, more vibrant local economy!


When you choose a LIP, your money doesnt just vanish into some far-off corporate headquarters. Instead, it circulates within your town or region.

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These providers, often smaller companies, tend to source equipment and services locally, creating jobs and opportunities for other local businesses. Think about it: a local electrician installing their fiber, a local marketing agency handling their ads, and a local accountant managing their finances. This creates a ripple effect, boosting the entire local economic ecosystem.


Furthermore, LIPs are, generally speaking, more likely to be invested in the well-being of their communities. They often sponsor local events, support local charities, and participate in community initiatives. You wont see that from those huge, faceless corporations, will ya? They understand they are intimately tied to the success of the area they serve, because if the town struggles, they struggle. This sense of connection fosters a greater sense of responsibility and a commitment to providing better service and support.


Its not just about altruism, though, lets be honest. Supporting LIPs often means supporting better, more personalized customer service. They arent bogged down by complicated corporate structures and can often respond to customer needs more quickly and efficiently. Its a win-win! You get reliable internet, and your community thrives. Choosing local aint just a trend, its an investment in a brighter future for everyone!

Addressing the Digital Divide in Underserved Areas


Okay, so, why are local internet providers becoming, like, a thing? Well, its not just about faster speeds, though thats definitely part of it! A big reason is how theyre actually tackling the digital divide, especially in areas that, yknow, havent exactly been showered with internet love.


Think about it. Big corporations? They often skip over rural communities or low-income neighborhoods. Why? Not enough profit, naturally. (Ugh, capitalism, am I right?) But these local companies? Theyre often from those areas. They care about connecting their neighbors. They understand the specific challenges, like, topography making it hard to lay fiber, or folks not being able to afford those crazy expensive plans.


Addressing this divide isnt just about being nice; its about equity! Its about making sure kids can do their homework, small businesses can thrive, and everyone has access to information and opportunities. Local providers sometimes offer more flexible pricing, or even partner with community centers to provide free wifi. They might even get creative with technology, using things like fixed wireless to reach remote locations where laying cable just isnt feasible. They certainly wont ignore their communities.


It aint perfect, of course. Local providers might face resource limitations, and it can be tough competing with the big guys. But their commitment to bridging the digital divide?

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Thats a huge reason why theyre gaining traction. And honestly, its about time! They fill a void that the big companies havent, and thats worth celebrating!

Citations and other links

The Net (or net) is the international system of interconnected local area network that utilizes the Internet procedure collection (TCP/IP) to connect in between networks and gadgets. It is a network of networks that consists of exclusive, public, scholastic, service, and federal government networks of neighborhood to worldwide scope, connected by a wide selection of digital, wireless, and optical networking technologies. The Internet lugs a vast range of info resources and solutions, such as the interlinked hypertext files and applications of the Net (WWW), electronic mail, web telephone, and data sharing. The beginnings of the Web date back to research that allowed the time-sharing of computer resources, the growth of package switching in the 1960s and the layout of computer networks for information interaction. The collection of regulations (interaction protocols) to enable internetworking on the web developed from r & d appointed in the 1970s by the Defense Advanced Research Study Projects Firm (DARPA) of the United States Division of Protection in collaboration with universities and researchers throughout the United States and in the United Kingdom and France. The ARPANET initially worked as a backbone for the affiliation of regional scholastic and military networks in the United States to allow source sharing. The funding of the National Science Structure Network as a new foundation in the 1980s, in addition to private financing for various other business extensions, encouraged around the world engagement in the development of brand-new networking innovations and the merging of several networks using DARPA's Internet procedure collection. The connecting of industrial networks and ventures by the very early 1990s, along with the arrival of the Internet, noted the beginning of the shift to the modern-day Internet, and generated sustained rapid development as generations of institutional, individual, and mobile computer systems were linked to the internetwork. Although the Internet was extensively used by academia in the 1980s, the subsequent commercialization of the Net in the 1990s and beyond integrated its services and innovations into basically every element of contemporary life. Most standard interaction media, including telephone, radio, tv, paper mail, and papers, are improved, redefined, or even bypassed by the Internet, giving birth to brand-new solutions such as e-mail, Internet telephone, Internet radio, Web television, online music, electronic papers, and audio and video streaming internet sites. Papers, publications, and other print posting have actually adapted to site modern technology or have actually been reshaped into blog writing, web feeds, and online information collectors. The Web has enabled and increased new forms of personal interaction with instant messaging, Web online forums, and social networking solutions. Online purchasing has grown tremendously for significant retailers, local business, and business owners, as it enables firms to extend their "brick and mortar" presence to serve a larger market or even offer products and solutions totally online. Business-to-business and monetary services online impact supply chains throughout whole markets. The Internet has no single centralized governance in either technological implementation or policies for access and usage; each constituent network sets its very own policies.The overarching definitions of the two principal name areas on the Internet, the Web Procedure address (IP address) room and the Domain Name System (DNS), are directed by a maintainer company, the Net Company for Assigned Labels and Figures (ICANN). The technological support and standardization of the core procedures is a task of the Internet Engineering Task Pressure (IETF), a charitable organization of loosely affiliated global individuals that anyone may relate to by contributing technological know-how. In November 2006, the Net was included on USA Today's checklist of the New 7 Wonders.

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The history of the Internet originated in the efforts of scientists and designers to build and adjoin local area network. The Net Protocol Suite, the set of regulations utilized to communicate between networks and tools on the web, occurred from r & d in the United States and involved worldwide collaboration, particularly with researchers in the UK and France. Computer science was an arising discipline in the late 1950s that started to consider time-sharing between computer users, and later on, the opportunity of achieving this over broad area networks. J. C. R. Licklider created the concept of a global network at the Data processing Techniques Workplace (IPTO) of the USA Department of Protection (DoD) Advanced Study Projects Company (ARPA). Separately, Paul Baran at the RAND Corporation proposed a distributed network based upon information in message blocks in the very early 1960s, and Donald Davies envisaged packet switching in 1965 at the National Physical Lab (NPL), proposing a national business information network in the United Kingdom. ARPA awarded contracts in 1969 for the development of the ARPANET job, directed by Robert Taylor and taken care of by Lawrence Roberts. ARPANET adopted the packet switching technology suggested by Davies and Baran. The network of User interface Message Processors (Rogues) was built by a team at Screw, Beranek, and Newman, with the design and specification led by Bob Kahn. The host-to-host method was specified by a team of graduate students at UCLA, led by Steve Crocker, along with Jon Postel and others. The ARPANET increased swiftly throughout the USA with links to the United Kingdom and Norway. A number of very early packet-switched networks emerged in the 1970s which looked into and supplied information networking. Louis Pouzin and Hubert Zimmermann pioneered a streamlined end-to-end method to internetworking at the IRIA. Peter Kirstein put internetworking right into practice at University College London in 1973. Bob Metcalfe developed the theory behind Ethernet and the PARC Universal Package. ARPA initiatives and the International Network Working Team developed and improved ideas for internetworking, in which several different networks could be signed up with into a network of networks. Vint Cerf, now at Stanford University, and Bob Kahn, currently at DARPA, published their study on internetworking in 1974. Through the Net Experiment Note collection and later on RFCs this progressed right into the Transmission Control Method (TCP) and Web Procedure (IP), 2 protocols of the Web method suite. The design consisted of principles spearheaded in the French CYCLADES task directed by Louis Pouzin. The development of packet changing networks was underpinned by mathematical work in the 1970s by Leonard Kleinrock at UCLA. In the late 1970s, national and worldwide public data networks emerged based upon the X. 25 procedure, made by Rémi Després and others. In the USA, the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded nationwide supercomputing facilities at numerous universities in the USA, and gave interconnectivity in 1986 with the NSFNET project, thus creating network access to these supercomputer sites for research and academic companies in the USA.International connections to NSFNET, the appearance of style such as the Domain System, and the adoption of TCP/IP on existing networks in the USA and all over the world noted the starts of the Internet. Industrial Internet service providers (ISPs) emerged in 1989 in the USA and Australia. Restricted private connections to components of the Web by officially commercial entities emerged in a number of American cities by late 1989 and 1990. The optical backbone of the NSFNET was decommissioned in 1995, getting rid of the last constraints on using the Internet to lug industrial web traffic, as web traffic transitioned to optical networks handled by Sprint, MCI and AT&T in the USA. Study at CERN in Switzerland by the British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee in 1989–-- 90 resulted in the World Wide Web, connecting hypertext documents into an info system, available from any kind of node on the network. The significant growth of the ability of the Web, made it possible for by the introduction of wave department multiplexing (WDM) and the rollout of fiber optic cords in the mid-1990s, had an advanced influence on culture, commerce, and technology. This implemented the increase of near-instant communication by e-mail, instantaneous messaging, voice over Web Procedure (VoIP) phone conversation, video clip chat, and the Internet with its discussion online forums, blog sites, social networking services, and on-line purchasing sites. Raising amounts of information are transmitted at greater and greater rates over fiber-optic networks running at 1 Gbit/s, 10 Gbit/s, and 800 Gbit/s by 2019. The Web's takeover of the international interaction landscape was fast in historic terms: it only communicated 1% of the details moving via two-way telecommunications networks in the year 1993, 51% by 2000, and more than 97% of the telecommunicated info by 2007. The Net continues to expand, driven by ever before higher amounts of on the internet info, commerce, entertainment, and social networking services. However, the future of the international network may be formed by regional distinctions.

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A computer lab contains a wide range of information technology elements, including hardware, software and storage systems.

Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data and information processing, and storage. Information technology is an application of computer science and computer engineering.

The term is commonly used as a synonym for computers and computer networks, but it also encompasses other information distribution technologies such as television and telephones. Several products or services within an economy are associated with information technology, including computer hardware, software, electronics, semiconductors, internet, telecom equipment, and e-commerce.[1][a]

An information technology system (IT system) is generally an information system, a communications system, or, more specifically speaking, a computer system — including all hardware, software, and peripheral equipment — operated by a limited group of IT users, and an IT project usually refers to the commissioning and implementation of an IT system.[3] IT systems play a vital role in facilitating efficient data management, enhancing communication networks, and supporting organizational processes across various industries. Successful IT projects require meticulous planning and ongoing maintenance to ensure optimal functionality and alignment with organizational objectives.[4]

Although humans have been storing, retrieving, manipulating, analysing and communicating information since the earliest writing systems were developed,[5] the term information technology in its modern sense first appeared in a 1958 article published in the Harvard Business Review; authors Harold J. Leavitt and Thomas L. Whisler commented that "the new technology does not yet have a single established name. We shall call it information technology (IT)."[6] Their definition consists of three categories: techniques for processing, the application of statistical and mathematical methods to decision-making, and the simulation of higher-order thinking through computer programs.[6]

History

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Antikythera mechanism, considered the first mechanical analog computer, dating back to the first century BC.

Based on the storage and processing technologies employed, it is possible to distinguish four distinct phases of IT development: pre-mechanical (3000 BC – 1450 AD), mechanical (1450 – 1840), electromechanical (1840 – 1940), and electronic (1940 to present).[5]

Ideas of computer science were first mentioned before the 1950s under the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University, where they had discussed and began thinking of computer circuits and numerical calculations. As time went on, the field of information technology and computer science became more complex and was able to handle the processing of more data. Scholarly articles began to be published from different organizations.[7]

During the early computing, Alan Turing, J. Presper Eckert, and John Mauchly were considered some of the major pioneers of computer technology in the mid-1900s. Giving them such credit for their developments, most of their efforts were focused on designing the first digital computer. Along with that, topics such as artificial intelligence began to be brought up as Turing was beginning to question such technology of the time period.[8]

Devices have been used to aid computation for thousands of years, probably initially in the form of a tally stick.[9] The Antikythera mechanism, dating from about the beginning of the first century BC, is generally considered the earliest known mechanical analog computer, and the earliest known geared mechanism.[10] Comparable geared devices did not emerge in Europe until the 16th century, and it was not until 1645 that the first mechanical calculator capable of performing the four basic arithmetical operations was developed.[11]

Zuse Z3 replica on display at Deutsches Museum in Munich. The Zuse Z3 is the first programmable computer.

Electronic computers, using either relays or valves, began to appear in the early 1940s. The electromechanical Zuse Z3, completed in 1941, was the world's first programmable computer, and by modern standards one of the first machines that could be considered a complete computing machine. During the Second World War, Colossus developed the first electronic digital computer to decrypt German messages. Although it was programmable, it was not general-purpose, being designed to perform only a single task. It also lacked the ability to store its program in memory; programming was carried out using plugs and switches to alter the internal wiring.[12] The first recognizably modern electronic digital stored-program computer was the Manchester Baby, which ran its first program on 21 June 1948.[13]

The development of transistors in the late 1940s at Bell Laboratories allowed a new generation of computers to be designed with greatly reduced power consumption. The first commercially available stored-program computer, the Ferranti Mark I, contained 4050 valves and had a power consumption of 25 kilowatts. By comparison, the first transistorized computer developed at the University of Manchester and operational by November 1953, consumed only 150 watts in its final version.[14]

Several other breakthroughs in semiconductor technology include the integrated circuit (IC) invented by Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments and Robert Noyce at Fairchild Semiconductor in 1959, silicon dioxide surface passivation by Carl Frosch and Lincoln Derick in 1955,[15] the first planar silicon dioxide transistors by Frosch and Derick in 1957,[16] the MOSFET demonstration by a Bell Labs team,[17][18][19][20] the planar process by Jean Hoerni in 1959,[21][22][23] and the microprocessor invented by Ted Hoff, Federico Faggin, Masatoshi Shima, and Stanley Mazor at Intel in 1971. These important inventions led to the development of the personal computer (PC) in the 1970s, and the emergence of information and communications technology (ICT).[24]

By 1984, according to the National Westminster Bank Quarterly Review, the term information technology had been redefined as "the convergence of telecommunications and computing technology (...generally known in Britain as information technology)." We then begin to see the appearance of the term in 1990 contained within documents for the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).[25]

Innovations in technology have already revolutionized the world by the twenty-first century as people have gained access to different online services. This has changed the workforce drastically as thirty percent of U.S. workers were already in careers in this profession. 136.9 million people were personally connected to the Internet, which was equivalent to 51 million households.[26] Along with the Internet, new types of technology were also being introduced across the globe, which has improved efficiency and made things easier across the globe.

As technology revolutionized society, millions of processes could be completed in seconds. Innovations in communication were crucial as people increasingly relied on computers to communicate via telephone lines and cable networks. The introduction of the email was considered revolutionary as "companies in one part of the world could communicate by e-mail with suppliers and buyers in another part of the world...".[27]

Not only personally, computers and technology have also revolutionized the marketing industry, resulting in more buyers of their products. In 2002, Americans exceeded $28 billion in goods just over the Internet alone while e-commerce a decade later resulted in $289 billion in sales.[27] And as computers are rapidly becoming more sophisticated by the day, they are becoming more used as people are becoming more reliant on them during the twenty-first century.

 

Data processing

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Ferranti Mark I computer logic board

Electronic data processing or business information processing can refer to the use of automated methods to process commercial data. Typically, this uses relatively simple, repetitive activities to process large volumes of similar information. For example: stock updates applied to an inventory, banking transactions applied to account and customer master files, booking and ticketing transactions to an airline's reservation system, billing for utility services. The modifier "electronic" or "automatic" was used with "data processing" (DP), especially c. 1960, to distinguish human clerical data processing from that done by computer.[28][29]

Storage

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Punched tapes were used in early computers to store and represent data.

Early electronic computers such as Colossus made use of punched tape, a long strip of paper on which data was represented by a series of holes, a technology now obsolete.[30] Electronic data storage, which is used in modern computers, dates from World War II, when a form of delay-line memory was developed to remove the clutter from radar signals, the first practical application of which was the mercury delay line.[31] The first random-access digital storage device was the Williams tube, which was based on a standard cathode ray tube.[32] However, the information stored in it and delay-line memory was volatile in the fact that it had to be continuously refreshed, and thus was lost once power was removed. The earliest form of non-volatile computer storage was the magnetic drum, invented in 1932[33] and used in the Ferranti Mark 1, the world's first commercially available general-purpose electronic computer.[34]

IBM card storage warehouse located in Alexandria, Virginia in 1959. This is where the United States government kept storage of punched cards.

IBM introduced the first hard disk drive in 1956, as a component of their 305 RAMAC computer system.[35]: 6  Most digital data today is still stored magnetically on hard disks, or optically on media such as CD-ROMs.[36]: 4–5  Until 2002 most information was stored on analog devices, but that year digital storage capacity exceeded analog for the first time. As of 2007, almost 94% of the data stored worldwide was held digitally:[37] 52% on hard disks, 28% on optical devices, and 11% on digital magnetic tape. It has been estimated that the worldwide capacity to store information on electronic devices grew from less than 3 exabytes in 1986 to 295 exabytes in 2007,[38] doubling roughly every 3 years.[39]

Databases

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Database Management Systems (DMS) emerged in the 1960s to address the problem of storing and retrieving large amounts of data accurately and quickly. An early such system was IBM's Information Management System (IMS),[40] which is still widely deployed more than 50 years later.[41] IMS stores data hierarchically,[40] but in the 1970s Ted Codd proposed an alternative relational storage model based on set theory and predicate logic and the familiar concepts of tables, rows, and columns. In 1981, the first commercially available relational database management system (RDBMS) was released by Oracle.[42]

All DMS consist of components; they allow the data they store to be accessed simultaneously by many users while maintaining its integrity.[43] All databases are common in one point that the structure of the data they contain is defined and stored separately from the data itself, in a database schema.[40]

In the late 2000s (decade), the extensible markup language (XML) has become a popular format for data representation. Although XML data can be stored in normal file systems, it is commonly held in relational databases to take advantage of their "robust implementation verified by years of both theoretical and practical effort."[44] As an evolution of the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), XML's text-based structure offers the advantage of being both machine- and human-readable.[45]

 

Transmission

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Radio towers at Pine Hill lookout

Data transmission has three aspects: transmission, propagation, and reception.[46] It can be broadly categorized as broadcasting, in which information is transmitted unidirectionally downstream, or telecommunications, with bidirectional upstream and downstream channels.[38]

XML has been increasingly employed as a means of data interchange since the early 2000s,[47] particularly for machine-oriented interactions such as those involved in web-oriented protocols such as SOAP,[45] describing "data-in-transit rather than... data-at-rest".[47]

Manipulation

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Hilbert and Lopez identify the exponential pace of technological change (a kind of Moore's law): machines' application-specific capacity to compute information per capita roughly doubled every 14 months between 1986 and 2007; the per capita capacity of the world's general-purpose computers doubled every 18 months during the same two decades; the global telecommunication capacity per capita doubled every 34 months; the world's storage capacity per capita required roughly 40 months to double (every 3 years); and per capita broadcast information has doubled every 12.3 years.[38]

Massive amounts of data are stored worldwide every day, but unless it can be analyzed and presented effectively it essentially resides in what have been called data tombs: "data archives that are seldom visited".[48] To address that issue, the field of data mining — "the process of discovering interesting patterns and knowledge from large amounts of data"[49] — emerged in the late 1980s.[50]

 

Services

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Email

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A woman sending an email at an internet cafe's public computer.

The technology and services IT provides for sending and receiving electronic messages (called "letters" or "electronic letters") over a distributed (including global) computer network. In terms of the composition of elements and the principle of operation, electronic mail practically repeats the system of regular (paper) mail, borrowing both terms (mail, letter, envelope, attachment, box, delivery, and others) and characteristic features — ease of use, message transmission delays, sufficient reliability and at the same time no guarantee of delivery. The advantages of e-mail are: easily perceived and remembered by a person addresses of the form user_name@domain_name (for example, somebody@example.com); the ability to transfer both plain text and formatted, as well as arbitrary files; independence of servers (in the general case, they address each other directly); sufficiently high reliability of message delivery; ease of use by humans and programs.

The disadvantages of e-mail include: the presence of such a phenomenon as spam (massive advertising and viral mailings); the theoretical impossibility of guaranteed delivery of a particular letter; possible delays in message delivery (up to several days); limits on the size of one message and on the total size of messages in the mailbox (personal for users).

Search system

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A search system is software and hardware complex with a web interface that provides the ability to look for information on the Internet. A search engine usually means a site that hosts the interface (front-end) of the system. The software part of a search engine is a search engine (search engine) — a set of programs that provides the functionality of a search engine and is usually a trade secret of the search engine developer company. Most search engines look for information on World Wide Web sites, but there are also systems that can look for files on FTP servers, items in online stores, and information on Usenet newsgroups. Improving search is one of the priorities of the modern Internet (see the Deep Web article about the main problems in the work of search engines).

Commercial effects

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Companies in the information technology field are often discussed as a group as the "tech sector" or the "tech industry."[51][52][53] These titles can be misleading at times and should not be mistaken for "tech companies," which are generally large scale, for-profit corporations that sell consumer technology and software. From a business perspective, information technology departments are a "cost center" the majority of the time. A cost center is a department or staff which incurs expenses, or "costs," within a company rather than generating profits or revenue streams. Modern businesses rely heavily on technology for their day-to-day operations, so the expenses delegated to cover technology that facilitates business in a more efficient manner are usually seen as "just the cost of doing business." IT departments are allocated funds by senior leadership and must attempt to achieve the desired deliverables while staying within that budget. Government and the private sector might have different funding mechanisms, but the principles are more or less the same. This is an often overlooked reason for the rapid interest in automation and artificial intelligence, but the constant pressure to do more with less is opening the door for automation to take control of at least some minor operations in large companies.

Many companies now have IT departments for managing the computers, networks, and other technical areas of their businesses. Companies have also sought to integrate IT with business outcomes and decision-making through a BizOps or business operations department.[54]

In a business context, the Information Technology Association of America has defined information technology as "the study, design, development, application, implementation, support, or management of computer-based information systems".[55][page needed] The responsibilities of those working in the field include network administration, software development and installation, and the planning and management of an organization's technology life cycle, by which hardware and software are maintained, upgraded, and replaced.

Information services

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Information services is a term somewhat loosely applied to a variety of IT-related services offered by commercial companies,[56][57][58] as well as data brokers.

Ethics

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The field of information ethics was established by mathematician Norbert Wiener in the 1940s.[60]: 9  Some of the ethical issues associated with the use of information technology include:[61]: 20–21 

  • Breaches of copyright by those downloading files stored without the permission of the copyright holders
  • Employers monitoring their employees' emails and other Internet usage
  • Unsolicited emails
  • Hackers accessing online databases
  • Web sites installing cookies or spyware to monitor a user's online activities, which may be used by data brokers

IT projects

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Research suggests that IT projects in business and public administration can easily become significant in scale. Research conducted by McKinsey in collaboration with the University of Oxford suggested that half of all large-scale IT projects (those with initial cost estimates of $15 million or more) often failed to maintain costs within their initial budgets or to complete on time.[62]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ On the later more broad application of the term IT, Keary comments: "In its original application 'information technology' was appropriate to describe the convergence of technologies with application in the vast field of data storage, retrieval, processing, and dissemination. This useful conceptual term has since been converted to what purports to be of great use, but without the reinforcement of definition ... the term IT lacks substance when applied to the name of any function, discipline, or position."[2]

References

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Citations

[edit]
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  2. ^ Ralston, Hemmendinger & Reilly (2000), p. 869.
  3. ^ Forbes Technology Council, 16 Key Steps To Successful IT Project Management, published 10 September 2020, accessed 23 June 2023
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  45. ^ a b Pardede (2009), p. 4.
  46. ^ Weik (2000), p. 361.
  47. ^ a b Pardede (2009), p. xiii.
  48. ^ Han, Kamber & Pei (2011), p. 5.
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  60. ^ Bynum, Terrell Ward (2008), "Norbert Wiener and the Rise of Information Ethics", in van den Hoven, Jeroen; Weckert, John (eds.), Information Technology and Moral Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-85549-5.
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Bibliography

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  • Alavudeen, A.; Venkateshwaran, N. (2010), Computer Integrated Manufacturing, PHI Learning, ISBN 978-81-203-3345-1
  • Chaudhuri, P. Pal (2004), Computer Organization and Design, PHI Learning, ISBN 978-81-203-1254-8
  • Han, Jiawei; Kamber, Micheline; Pei, Jian (2011), Data Mining: Concepts and Techniques (3rd ed.), Morgan Kaufmann, ISBN 978-0-12-381479-1
  • Lavington, Simon (1980), Early British Computers, Manchester University Press, ISBN 978-0-7190-0810-8
  • Lavington, Simon (1998), A History of Manchester Computers (2nd ed.), The British Computer Society, ISBN 978-1-902505-01-5
  • Pardede, Eric (2009), Open and Novel Issues in XML Database Applications, Information Science Reference, ISBN 978-1-60566-308-1
  • Ralston, Anthony; Hemmendinger, David; Reilly, Edwin D., eds. (2000), Encyclopedia of Computer Science (4th ed.), Nature Publishing Group, ISBN 978-1-56159-248-7
  • van der Aalst, Wil M. P. (2011), Process Mining: Discovery, Conformance and Enhancement of Business Processes, Springer, ISBN 978-3-642-19344-6
  • Ward, Patricia; Dafoulas, George S. (2006), Database Management Systems, Cengage Learning EMEA, ISBN 978-1-84480-452-8
  • Weik, Martin (2000), Computer Science and Communications Dictionary, vol. 2, Springer, ISBN 978-0-7923-8425-0
  • Wright, Michael T. (2012), "The Front Dial of the Antikythera Mechanism", in Koetsier, Teun; Ceccarelli, Marco (eds.), Explorations in the History of Machines and Mechanisms: Proceedings of HMM2012, Springer, pp. 279–292, ISBN 978-94-007-4131-7

Further reading

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[edit]

 

Frequently Asked Questions

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