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E-Commerce and E-Business

ATM's ability to provide the required bandwidth makes it the evident choice. ATM has the ability to
scale from the desktop to LAN to WAN effortlessly. ATM's virtual circuits can reserve bandwidths for
different protocols. Each protocol can therefore have a fair access to any free resource that is available.
ATM is structured to have a long architectural life.
ATM is a new technology that is based on standards which make sure its interoperability and thus solve
the problems that will arise in the future.
ATM/Fiber-optic Networks
Optical fibers facilitate high bandwidth in communication. Optical networks together with copper
cables create information and data highways. NIIs have become prominent by using optical fiber to
deliver high bandwidth for various applications. Optical networks vary depending upon the distance
between transmitters and receivers, type of information carried, and the application.

ATM transmission over the optical fibers is considered as the key technology for delivering the NII
services requiring high bandwidths. ATM equipment which was initially developed for single-mode
networks is now being integrated into the existing LAN environments. There are problems related to
capacities at the interface.

The Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) networks which utilize ring topology
to connect users and route transmission with improved reliability over point-to-
point network architecture can carry a maximum of 100 Mbps capacity over its
backbone. ATM transmissions, on the other hand, can currently operate at 100-155
Mbps speeds. There are problems due to this mismatch that are solved by vendors
from both the fields. This results in fiber optics equipment that is used to optimize
and enhance ATM transmission capabilities.
Optical switches, wave division multiplexors, optical cross-connect systems, and fiber optic test
equipment can enhance electronic switching and monitoring routines to provide physical layer network
management. In addition, they can compress signals using multiple wavelengths to allow duplex
transmission over a single fiber. This results in improved network efficiency, increased network
capacities and reduced costs.

5.3.2 Technology Issues
The computer-based processing of information takes place at multiple sites in large interactive networks
of computers. The organizations are dependent on new kinds of information utilities helping
individuals and organizations. The technology vision of NII is based on the Internet. The main goals of
the Internet/NII are interconnection and interoperability. Interconnection is a need from
telecommunication whereas interoperability is a need of computer industry. The idea of interconnection
is easy and represents the global telephone system while interoperability demands universal adoption
of common standards. Interoperability can be achieved by allocating functionality to different layers
and indicating the interface between layers.
We need to build an infrastructure that is rapidly scalable across the local and wide areas for e-
commerce business models. The technology required for this task is a combination of load balancing,
and high availability including IP-based services such as intranet, extranet and the Internet services. The
load-balancing is done across servers for the Web, for secure e-commerce, file transfer, and mail servers.
The quality of the technology for balancing the loads at all levels has to be capable to monitor and route
traffic around server and software failure. File replication and synchronization is required to manage
content across globally distributed installations.

The major causes of technological issues include software failure, server failure,
content failure, network unavailability, and excess traffic.
High Capacity Storage Systems
Information stored in a computer is moved between disk storage and main memory based on the
requirement. As the movement of data to and from the disk is relatively slow compared to the CPU

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