Page 11 - DCAP309_INFORMATION_SECURITY_AND_PRIVACY

Unit 1: Information Systems

1.3 Global Information Systems: Role of Internet and Web Services Notes

Understanding information infrastructures requires a holistic perspective – an infrastructure is
more than the individual components. Successful development and deployment of information
infrastructures requires more than a combination of traditional approaches and strategies for
development of telecommunications solutions and information systems.
The infrastructures up to some extent can be seen as information systems as they contain
everything you find in an information system. But an infrastructure is something more than an
information system. Current information infrastructures are combination of traditional
information systems and telecommunication technology.
Traditional approaches to information systems development are implicitly based on assumptions
where the information systems are closed, stand-alone systems used within closed organizational
limits.
They are assumed developed within a hierarchical structure – a project (managed by a project
leader and a steering group) – which is a part of a larger hierarchical structure - the user
organization (or the vendor organization in case of a commercial product).
Telecommunication systems, on the other hand, are global. The most important design work –
or decisions at least – are taken care of by standardization bodies (CCITT and ITU). When
developing infrastructures, the focus on closed, stand-alone systems has to be replaced by one
focusing on the infrastructures as open and global as is the case for development of
telecommunication technologies. However, there are other parts of the telecommunication
approach which is more problematic.

Characteristic for traditional telecommunication solutions have been their stability. This is in
particular true for their functionality and user interface. To put it simply, the basic functionality
has been stable for more than hundred years. A telephone service has one function: the user can
dial a number, talk to the person at the other end, and hand up when finished.

As telecommunication got “informational zed,” however, this started to change and new functions
(for instance, you can transfer your phone “virtually” to another number, you may use it as an
alarm clock, etc.) have been added. But the stability of the functionality is a basic precondition
for how the approaches and strategies followed for developing telecommunication technologies.
What has been in focus has been the improvement of the technologies invisible to the users.
At the national level, the telecommunication infrastructures have been built and operated by
national monopolies since about the turn of the century. Monopolies have dominated this
technology as its size and interconnectedness makes this “natural,” and most investments have
been made based on long time horizons, usually 30 years.
All technologies are designed and specified as global (universal) standards. Such standards have
been seen as absolutely required to enable smooth operation and use of the infrastructure.
However, the development of such standards takes time – usually about ten years for each
standard. And under the existing conditions – the simple user interface – one (or may be three:
dial, talk, hang up) operation not being modified for 100 years, the long term planning of the
infrastructure, and the limited number of actors – one for each country – this approach has
worked pretty well.
Information systems development, however, has very different – or rather opposite –
characteristics. While the telephone functionality and user interface has been extremely stable
and simple, information systems are characterized by very rich and highly dynamic functionality.
Information systems are closely tied to the working processes they support. These processes are
inscribed into the systems making them unique and local - not universal. The environments of

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