Hures Company Case Study
ANALYSING THE SCENARIO:
What is mainframe computer and dumb terminal?
Mainframe computer is the form of computing in which a single centralize computer performs the processing for multiple computer (crfonline.org). Dumb terminal is a display monitor that has no processing capabilities attached to mainframe computer. Dumb terminal is simply an output device that accepts data from mainframe computer (webopedia.com). Here, as Hures Company implemented its first information system in 1987 purchasing mainframe computer that served dumb terminals we can easily anticipate that the system has embedded database system which cannot run in individual process. As the system runs only in one computer it is 1-tier architecture. Fig: Mainframe and dumb terminals.
In 1999 to cope with changes in both business and Information System environment and also to accommodate Y2K demands, the Hures Company ported applications to client/server system which contributed large to efficiency and profit.
What is client/server application?
Client/server application is a piece of software in client and makes requests to a remote server via network. Client/server application is written in high-level visual programming languages where user interfaces and most of the business logics reside in client application. One of the examples of client/server applications is database application that makes database queries to a remote central database server. This type of application grew in popularity many years ago as personal computers became common alternative to older mainframe computers (compnetwroking.about.com). Fig: Client/server application system
Current situation:
The company continued to grow rapidly ever since but has noticed that the network has problems such as difficulty in scaling the servers to respond to the increased load in the distributed environment and a continual requirement for increasingly powerful desktop machines.
1. Do you think the problems faced by Hures,
What is mainframe computer and dumb terminal?
Mainframe computer is the form of computing in which a single centralize computer performs the processing for multiple computer (crfonline.org). Dumb terminal is a display monitor that has no processing capabilities attached to mainframe computer. Dumb terminal is simply an output device that accepts data from mainframe computer (webopedia.com). Here, as Hures Company implemented its first information system in 1987 purchasing mainframe computer that served dumb terminals we can easily anticipate that the system has embedded database system which cannot run in individual process. As the system runs only in one computer it is 1-tier architecture. Fig: Mainframe and dumb terminals.
In 1999 to cope with changes in both business and Information System environment and also to accommodate Y2K demands, the Hures Company ported applications to client/server system which contributed large to efficiency and profit.
What is client/server application?
Client/server application is a piece of software in client and makes requests to a remote server via network. Client/server application is written in high-level visual programming languages where user interfaces and most of the business logics reside in client application. One of the examples of client/server applications is database application that makes database queries to a remote central database server. This type of application grew in popularity many years ago as personal computers became common alternative to older mainframe computers (compnetwroking.about.com). Fig: Client/server application system
Current situation:
The company continued to grow rapidly ever since but has noticed that the network has problems such as difficulty in scaling the servers to respond to the increased load in the distributed environment and a continual requirement for increasingly powerful desktop machines.
1. Do you think the problems faced by Hures,