Case study chapter 5

3.) Evaluate Merill Lynch's approach to Web services development. What are the advantages and disadvantages? Is it a good solution? Explain your answer.

Mr Crew seemed to have a clear undersatnding of what type of system the organization needed, he realized that there was not going to be a quick or cheap way to meet his goal. After looking into buying a premade system that would do the job he realized that it would not be worth it due to the amount of money it would cost to retrain all of there associates, it was estimated that it would have taken more than 1 year and over $80 million dollars, which was not feasable. So he decided that tehy would build a system from the ground up. This solution came with a list of issues as well when you copy data and move it from place to place many errors can occur and data can be lost. They ended up creating a new set of in-house proprietory tools that enabled there system to communicate with eachother cross functionally. I think that this was the right choice for Merill Lynch, when you have such a large organization to switch over a whole new system is usally very difficult. Since they had the man power and the knowledge to build there own system, I think it was a smart choice.


4.) Do you think that Merrill Lynch's decision to sell of its successful technology initiatives was a good idea? Why or Why not?

I think that it was a wise decision. They placed alot of money and manhours into building this new system, marketing it and making a profit seems like a a no brainer. They not only have the proof that the system is capable of providing support to a large order of buisness, but they also have it brand marked by their name. They have already used the system to gain thier competeive edge, and since they are the pioneers of the system they would be able to tweak it to there own advantage. Consumers may be able to purchase the program but Merill Lynch ultimately owns the programmer which is much more valuable.

The Mask of the Future?

Michael Kanellos Intel readies massive multicore processors;Staff Writer, CNET News.com Published: June 14, 2007 4:00 AM PDT

In chapter 5 there is a topic called Multicore processors, which is any system that contains two or more processors. This new way of increasing speed became very popular because the old way often generated an over abundance of heat on the system causing internal damage to the unit.

In 2007 Intel launched it's new prototype containg an 80 core processor that has a so called exoskeletal component. These new chips would have a better functionality and would be easier to integrate into new systems. Although this technology is extremely tempting, there has been alot of skepticism around this new prototype. Some of the more common questions were will this system run existing software and also is the amount of heat produced tolerable, Intels answer was "yes". This new terascale technology can aid in so called "hotspots", these are cores on the system that work nonstop and become overheated. This new system does kind of a hop scotch around the different cores so no one is working harder than the other. Intel is still working out the kinks of this new system before it can be offered mainstream.

Individual assignment for week#3 04/13/08

This article discusses how an analyst did a test simulation of an information system in a powder coating company production line. Through this test they hoped to gain knowledge of the major and minor org and prod issues. Through the use of this system the company would be able to better serve there customers and improve there lead time. This will give them a competitive advantage over their rivals.
We learned in chapter 2 that IS can help company's gain competitive advantage, and this is exactly the situation in the above case. They were able to ID issues in there production line and help increase the supply of the products. They found bottlenecks in there production line which were able to be corrected for, but without the IS the company would have had a very hard time determining these issues because they were in multiples. Many times we as humans can diagnose one or more concurrent problems but when you get into a area that is a grey it is sometimes very hard to grasp what is really going wrong in an organization. Information systems are a great way to diagnose, implement and improve business processes.




A. Azadeh, M. Haghnevis, Y. Khodadadegan Design of the integrated information system, business, and production process by simulation;volume 59, Issue 2 , Pages 216 - 234
Published Online: 6 Nov 2007
Copyright © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company

Case Chapter 4

1.) I believe that these issues do pose an ethical issue. We deserve to know what we should and shouldn't say on the telephone. I think that tapping just any one's telephone is an invasion of privacy.

4.) The phone company's responsiblity is to provide information in there privacy policy letting it's users know that there privacy may be breeched, if they fit the profiling lisited by the NSA. Ethical, social and political issues can apply to the profiling of it's customers based on name, race, gender, and calling radius. I think the question of how much are the phone companies being paid by the gov to realease the information would also bring up issues of ethicacy. What is the price that has been put on our privacy, i think we deserve to know.

5.) I suppose that this is an OK compromise, at least there are a set of limitations and a few hoops that need to be jumped through. I suppose that if they have reasonable suspicion that it should be allowed.

Blockbuster Vs Netflix

1.)Blockbusters business model was to provide video rentals to people within a few blocks or towns of their stores. Until Netflix, Blockbuster held a 40% share on the market of video rental.
3.) Yes Blockbuster launched an online store soon after Netflix popped up. They offer the same services at a lower price. They also offer video games for rent online.
5.) It's hard to say, i think as long as Blockbuster continues to match or beat Netflix's current options that they will be around for a long time. Blockbuster has the advantage of having walk in stores as well as online services. Netflix is limited to the Internet savvy consumer, even though it is convenient it is intended for a special consumer.