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B20.3362 Advanced Technologies for Business ApplicationsSpring
2005, Wed.
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DRAFT
SYLLABUS: SUBJECT TO CHANGE
Course Description
The IT revolution is far from over, and, contrary
to the well-known claim of Nicolas Carr, IT does
matter. In fact, according to Bill Gates, “we’re only beginning to realize computing’s potential” and that “we’re entering an era when
software will fundamentally transform almost everything we do” (Information
Week,
This course will provide a thorough examination of several enabling technologies responsible for major advances in the high-tech industry. The goal of the course is for the students to study these technologies, explore various business opportunities that they create, and gain insights into how these technologies could lead to major transformations in the ways we do business and to the creation of “smart businesses.” The technologies to be covered in this course include:
1. Communication technologies, including wireless, wireline and Internet technologies
2. Business Integration, Business Process Management and Web Services Technologies
3. Knowledge and content management technologies
The students will not only familiarize themselves with these technologies, but will also explore corresponding markets and study some of the key companies operating in these markets. In particular, the students will examine what these companies do, which technologies they deploy, how these technologies support their critical applications and allow the companies to achieve their business objectives, and how these companies compete and collaborate with other companies. Moreover, we will discuss possible future directions and trends for the technologies being studied, novel applications that they enable and how high-tech companies can leverage these trends. Finally, we will examine how all of these technologies can be integrated to create “smart businesses.”
The students will study these advanced technologies within the context of several major themes, such as what are the driving forces behind these technologies, how transformational they are and what the business potential of these technologies is, where they lie on the Gartner’s “hype-and-gloom” curve, how hard it is to advance these technologies and what it would take for them to “cross the chasm” (using Geoffrey Moore’s paradigm) and become mass-market technologies, and several other themes.
The students will learn the material through the combination of class lectures, discussions, student presentations, case studies, and demos. Periodically, experts from the industry will be invited to share their experiences pertaining to the technologies being studied and discuss current trends and future directions for these technologies and corresponding industries. Last time I taught the course, we had the following guest speakers:
· Richard Lynch, CTO of Verizon Wireless
· Dwight Merriman, CTO and Co-Founder of Doubleclick
· Michael Liebow, Vice President of Web services, IBM Global Services
· Stelios Papadopoulos, Vice Chairman, SG Cowen, and Founder and Chairman of the Board of Exelixis, Inc. and Eric Schmidt, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at SG Cowen Securities Corp.
I am working on inviting the guest speakers this coming semester and have commitments from Richard Lynch (Verizon Wireless) and Michael Liebow (IBM) so far. I am trying to invite other guest speakers of the same caliber.
Intended Audience and Prerequisites
The course should be useful for the students interested in careers in the high-tech companies, IT consulting, investment banking in the technology sector, venture capital and technology entrepreneurship.
Although this course does not have any formal prerequisites, I will assume certain basic familiarity with key technologies, including the basic understanding of
1. how computers work;
2. communication networks and how Internet works;
3. WWW basics.
If the students have taken B20.2317 (Information and Internet Technologies) they will have the appropriate knowledge. Otherwise, the students are encouraged to examine the syllabus of that course at B20.2317 and/or the content of the following books
- How computers work: Millennium Edition, Ron White, Que, 1999
- How the Internet works: Millennium Edition, Preston Gralla, Que, 1999
to see if they have basic familiarity with key technical concepts. Finally, if you are still not sure if your background is appropriate for this course, you can contact the instructor.
The Project
The students will be grouped into small teams (4 students per team on average) and asked to analyze a company or a specific technology covered in the course. The deliverables of this analysis are (1) an in-class 12 – 15 minute presentation and (2) a written report that will be delivered at the end of the course. The purpose of this project is to encourage exploration and independent research and to stimulate thinking about emerging applications and factors contributing to the success or failure thereof.
The students will also be asked to write a short (mini) report either (a) on one of the topics selected by the instructor or (b) about one of the cutting edge and highly innovative technologies of your choice that also has a strong business potential, or about a particular company commercializing this technology. In the latter case, the student will be asked to make a 5-minute class presentation about this technology.
Requirements and Grading
The bulk of the grade will come from the project (both an in-class presentation and a written report) and the report mentioned in the previous section. Also, there will be three quizzes administered in-class to test the knowledge of the material. The purpose of these quizzes is to encourage periodic review of the course material and strengthen understanding of the concepts covered in class.
A student’s overall combined average score will be calculated based on the following components:
1. Project 40%
2. Mini-report 21%
3. Quizzes (3) 24%
4. Class participation 15%
All of these items will be graded on a 100-point basis (i.e. no grades will be given for individual components). These grades will be combined using the weights specified above, and the final grade will be based upon the weighted numerical score.
Some of the factors affecting class participation include showing interest in the subject and active participation in the class discussions, regular class attendance, and preparedness for the classes.
It is not possible to do supplementary assignments to compensate for poor or missing grades obtained in any of these categories.
Reading Materials
The Reading Packet and the handouts.
Contact Information and Office Hours
Office: KMEC 8-92
Phone: 998-0832
e-mail:
Office Hours: TBA.
Course
Outline
*** THIS IS A TENTATIVE
OUTLINE. THE ACTUAL ONE CAN BE SOMEWHAT DIFFERENT. ***
We start with the “grand tour” of the course and overview the major emerging technologies and their business applications enabled by these technologies. We will also cover the major themes of the course, such as examination of business pull and technology push strategies and the interactions between the two, Gartner’s “hype-and-gloom” curve and where different technologies lie on the curve, transformational nature of various technologies, and other themes. We will also consider the thesis of Nicolas Carr that “IT does not matter” and will discuss its applicability in the current business environment.
Module 1: Communication Technologies
1. Overview of the telecommunications industry. Overview of the basic communication concepts, networks, devices and broadband technologies. Convergence of voice and data network technologies; discussion of Voice-over-IP (VoIP) and other related technologies.
2. Market overview and overview of some of the Internet infrastructure companies: what they do, which technologies they use, and how these technologies support their critical applications and business models.
3. Overview of wireless technologies and discussion of interesting wireless applications; overview of the market for wireless technologies.
4. Foundations of wireless technologies, including FDMA, TDMA, and CDMA and overview of different generations of wireless technologies (1G, 2G, 2.5G, 3G and 4G), and corresponding numerous standards (e.g., AMPS, IS-136, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, W-CDMA and CDMA2000); making sense of these standards. Cutting-edge wireless technologies, including Smart antennas, mesh networks, ultrawideband (UWB) radio and agile radios.
5. Wireless LANs and the corresponding standards, including IEEE 802.11 and 802.16 (WiMax) standards; wireless personal area networks and the Bluetooth technology.
6. Pervasive and smart wireless technologies, including RFID technologies; the paradigm of smart mobile wireless devices connected into smart wireless networks communicating to each other and to the outside world; location-based wireless technologies.
7. Studies of wireless applications and services for data, voice and video. Overview of different types of services, including location-based, messaging, monitoring, mobile commerce and mobile entertainment services.
8. Overview of the markets for mobile application developers, equipment manufacturers and carriers; studies of some wireless companies: what they do, how they compete and cooperate with each other; how they use wireless technologies covered in this module.
9. Integration of wireline and wireless technologies. Discussion of future directions in these communication technologies, including discussions of innovative applications and emerging technologies supporting these applications.
Module 2: Business Integration, Business Process Management and Web Services Technologies
1. Business Integration technologies: what they are and why they are important from the business point of view; business integration architectures.
2. Overview of the Business Process Management and Automation technologies. Discussion of their potential and importance.
3. Overview of the main Web service concepts; business perspective on Web services and discussion of the major business drivers for Web services; connection between Web services and Business Integration.
4. Technological perspective on Web services and overview of its key technologies, including XML, SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI languages and protocols; emerging additional standards and protocols for Web services, including business process execution (e.g., BPEL4WS), transaction and security standards; architectures of Web services.
5. Providing and consuming Web services using .NET.
6. Overview of the Web service market, the key players and their Web service strategies.
Module 3: Knowledge and Content Management Technologies
1. Discussion of what knowledge and content management are and in which applications these technologies can be used and how.
2. Overview of various knowledge management technologies, including search, retrieval, discovery and taxonomy generation technologies.
3. Overview of the content management concepts. Discussion of how different types of content can be created, collected, transformed and stored in digital libraries.
4. Overview of Digital Asset and Digital Rights Management systems.
5. Discussion of the content management standards.
6. Overview of the knowledge and content management market and different players in the market.
Finally, at the end of the course, we will examine how all these different technologies can be combined to create “smart businesses.”