Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Electronic commerce involves customers using electronic communications to purchase
goods, typically using the Internet. This will change the way that many businesses do busi-
ness, and the way that consumers purchase their goods. Society is now moving from a cash
based society to a cashless society. Most consumers now use ATMs (Automatic Telling Ma-
chines) for cash withdrawals, and debit and credit cards to purchase goods. The future is
likely to see an increase in consumers using electronic methods to pay for their goods. An
important key to the acceptance of Internet-based purchases is that the must be secure, and
cannot be used by criminals to make false purchases, or criminals setting up companies
which take payments for incorrect services.
Computer networks are a crucial part of many organisations and many users now even
have a network connection in their own home. Without networks, there would be no elec-
tronic mail, no Internet access and no networked applications. It is one of the fastest growing
technological areas and brings benefits to virtually every country in the world. With the in-
terconnection of networks to the Internet, the world has truly become a Global Village. For
many people, especially children, the first place to search for a given topic is the World Wide
Web (WWW).
Who would believe the pace of technology over ten short years, such as:
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From networks of tens of computers operating at speeds of thousands of bits per second
to networks with thousands of computers operating at billions of bits per second.
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From organisations that passed paper documents back and forward, to the totally pa-
perless organisations.
•
From people who sent one letter each month to people who send tens of electronic mails
every day.
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From sending letters around the world which would take days or weeks to be arrive to
the transmission of information around the world within a fraction of a second.
•
From businesses that relied on central operations to ones that can be distributed around
the world, but can communicate as if they were next door.
•
From the transmission of memos which could be viewed by people and organisation
which were not meant to the read the message, to the transmission of messages can only
be read by the intended destination (and maybe, by space aliens). Not even the CIA can
decrypt these messages.
•
From written signatures that can be easily forged, to digital signatures which are almost
impossible to forge, and not only authenticate the sender but also all of the contents of a
message.
These days virtually every computer in a company is networked and networks are key to the
effective working of an organisation. Without them, few people could work effectively. They
provide us with:
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Electronic mail.
•
Networked application software.
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Remote connections.
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Shared printers.
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Networked video conferencing.
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Remote control of remote equipment.
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Remote data acquisition.
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Shared disk resources.
