IT versus Infrastructure

duality of Information Network & Technology (IT)

 IT   is   infrastructure
 IT
represents
affects - manages
relies on
infrastructure

network is essential to IT:

Computer (hardware + software)  =  Steam Engine

Network + Computer  =  Railroad System
 IT as Infrastructure: good properties

 available: accessible from a variety of places, using a range of different systems, in form accessible to different persons and organizations, and most of the time
multimodal, open formats & protocols, redundance

 timely and accurate: to represent, and enable decisions about the real world, information must be reasonably  accurate and up to date; its integrity protected
bureaucratic and software correction mechanisms built-in, crypto

 info flow freely: allow outside verification, accountability
and/or (depends on application)
published, open source, protocols, interfaces, community oversight
 info be very secure: protect privacy, intellectual property, national security, etc.
clear guidelines, crypto (open challenges), physical and human security

 durable information: must survive forever - through changes of platform, provider, etc. 
open source, formats & protocols
durable IT: reasonable, foreseeable lifetime for hardware + software (also, disaster recovery)
locally redundant-replaceable: avoid single source for hardware and software, preserve interoperability, physical redundance
develop/maintain te(a)chnology resources, avoid bleeding-edge, proprietary, one-of-a kind tech
Decay of IT -  usually leads to Disaster

decay process - slow and insidious
disaster event - fast and obvious 

software does not wear out (and hardware, very slowly)
but software decays:

brittle architecture, unable to adapt to:
component upgrades - hidden dependencies exposed
mission creep - typical of IT, consider Peter’s Law
maintenance - bug repair introduces bugs

resource issues:
workload change - mission creep, victim of own success
loss of connectivity and/or power - networks as roads,
capacity yields congestion
loss of provider and/or know-how

consider bit rot:
loss of information because of loss of means to read it!!
how many (format) versions of MS Word have you used?
how many removable storage (floppy, tape, CD, zip...)?

to learn more: 
comp.risks on the web: http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks
Computer-Related Risks by Peter Neumann
Decay Prevention/Mitigation

design & specify to slow decay
understand threat/risks: technical but also economic, social, political - the best network breaks if the poor steal copper trunks.
seek graceful degradation: build-in disaster testing, physical redundancy, harden systems, but only up to surrounding infrastructure
seek boring solutions: avoid obsolete & bleeding-edge solutions, require multiple sources, think interchangeable pieces

operate for decay and disaster:
be slow to retire, and mothball rather than destroy previous manual/proven processes
develop & maintain local human resources (first response, only response)

Decay in Latin America and Caribbean

economic Disasters are natural: 
currency collapses (IT resources sold in dollars), buy equipment but can’t support it

low density of IT and hi-tech:
less support, little competition, higher costs (for first-world companies)

dependence on first-world for IT, hi-tech

What to do?  think “sustainable”

solutions small but redundant (use more labor?)

work within region - many problems shared, first-response, amortize costs, negotiate volume

develop stakeholders for IT, develop local human resources

Food for thought: Peru’s open source bill

Edgar Villanueva’s bill’s principles
free access of public info by the citizen
permanence of public data
security of state and citizens
turn out to lead to robust, decay-resistant, recovery-friendly IT 

specifically (compare to IT as infrastructure guidelines):
no single provider encodes data
no single provider controls usability and maintainability
transparency and accountability

discussion on the web of Villanueva’s bill: http://www.opensource.org/docs/peru_and_ms.html