Vertically integrated information systems then are key to many company's competitive advantage in being able to respond quickly to the needs of their distribution channel partners and customers. Supply chains are the most complex type of vertically integrated information system in manufacturing firms.
3. What is a client/server system? What is a client? What is a server? Why would an organization choose to implement a client/server system?
A client/server system is also referred to as a client/server network as it relies on a series of integrated systems in which the processing power is distributed between a central server and a number of client computers (Brown, DeHayes, Hoffer, Martin, Perkins, 2009). A client can be either an application, as is the case with Salesforce.com accessing customer data for example on a remote server through a Web browser, or a complete computer system accessing a server. Increasingly clients are Web browser-based and rely on XML integration to get access to the data necessary for completing tasks (Mahalik, Lee, 2002). A server is a combination of hardware and software and is designed to support and scale to the needs of multiple clients throughout a network of users. The concept of having application servers designed to modularly support tasks and functions has been in existence for over a decade (Lewandowski, 1998) and AJAX-based programming has accelerate this trend. Organizations that rely on client/server systems often...
It is common to find client/server systems in software engineering departments in aerospace and defense companies where the security of the data is critically important. Client/server systems are also commonplace as financial systems as the data is confidential and the client systems (either individual systems or Web applications) can be restricted in terms of which data they can access and use. Client/server systems have proven to be very reliable and scalable over their decades of use.
References
Alnoor Bhimani, & Mthuli Ncube. (2006). Virtual integration costs and the limits of supply chain scalability. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 25(4), 390-408.
Brown, C.V., DeHayes, D.W, Hoffer, J.A., Martin, W.E., Perkins, W.C. (2009). Managing information technology: (6th ed.).Prentice Hall. ISBN: 9780131789548
Scott M. Lewandowski. (1998). Frameworks for Component-Based Client/Server Computing. ACM Computing Surveys, 30(1), 3-27.
N GPC Mahalik, & SK Lee. (2002). Client server-based distributed architecture for concurrent design of DCS networks: A case study. Integrated Manufacturing Systems, 13(1), 47.
Maro Vlachopoulou, Vicky Manthou, & Dimitris Folinas. (2005). Partners Relationship Management of e-Logistics Networks. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 17(3), 40-50.
