Ranking Infrastructure Architecture Characteristics Impact

1. Review the five characteristics of infrastructure architecture and rank them in order of their potential impact on the Tribune Co.’s business.
Five characteristics of infrastructure architecture include scalability, availability, reliability, portability, and accessibility. Scalability describes how well a system can scale up, or adapt to the increased demands of growth. Availability refers to the time frames when the system is operational. Reliability ensures a system is functioning correctly and providing accurate information. Portability refers to the ability of an application to operate on different devices or software platforms, such as different operating systems. Accessibility refers to the varying levels that define what a user can

access, view, or perform when operating a system. I think availability has the greatest potential impact on the Tribune Co.’s business because it is important that the system is available. If the system was unavailable, productivity would dramatically decrease and would majorly impact how the company functions. Next, reliability would have the second greatest potential impact on the Tribune Co.’s business as it is important that entries are correct to avoid corruption of information. Portability is the next characteristic that would have the third greatest potential impact on the company as it is important for the system to be readily available on multiple devices so it is more continent to access. I would then rank accessibility next as each person who uses the system will have different needs and will help protect information. Accessibility allows the right information to be provided to the right person. Finally, scalability has the potential to impact the company as it is important for a company to handle growth well because it is highly important to anticipate growth so a system can be build a properly scaled system.

2. What is the disaster recovery cost curve? Where should the Tribune Co. operate on the curve?
A disaster recovery cost curve usually has a cost curve to support it. A disaster recovery curve charts the cost to the company of the unavailability of information and technology and the cost to the company of recovering from a disaster over time. Tribune Co. should operate where the two lines intersect on the disaster recovery cost curve because the point of intersection is the optimal disaster recovery plan in terms of cost and time. Although it is not easy to create such a curve, I think creating a disaster recovery plan will help better prepare a company if and when a disaster strikes.

3. Define backups and recovery. What are the risks to the Tribune Co’s business if it fails to implement an adequate backup plan?
Two ways businesses can minimize the damage of a system crash is to have a backup and recovery strategy prepared. A backup is an exact copy of a system’s information. Recovery is the availability to get a system up and running in the event of a system crash or failure that includes restoring the information backup. If a company suffers from a system crash or failure and does not have an adequate backup plan implemented, the situation could cost the business valuable time and money. Additionally, there could be damage to Tribune Co.’s reputation and a loss of valuable data information.

4. Why is a scalable and highly available enterprise architecture crucial to current operations and future growth?
Scalability describes how well a system can adapt to the increased demands of growth.

It a company grows more rapidly than predicted, it may experience problems. Anticipating expected and even unexpected growth is crucial to building scalable systems that can support that development. High availability occurs when a system is continuously operational at all times. A highly available enterprise architecture is crucial to current operations because it is convenient for the company to access their systems whenever they want from wherever. If a company was not highly available, it may be challenging for people to access a system because it may prevent some from operating smoothly and slow down growth.

5. Identify the need for information security at Tribune Co.
If Tribune Co. has information that should be kept confidential and private, information security is needed. Therefore, there is a strong need for information security at the company. Because Tribune Co. works with numerous individuals and businesses from advertisers to readers, there may be a need to protect some information. It is important to have information security to reduce the risk of unauthorized information getting into the hands of the wrong person.

6. How could the Tribune Co. use a classified ad web service across its different

businesses?
The Tribune could create a web service ad that it could use across all of its different businesses. By creating an ad web service, it will be easy for it to be distributed to its different businesses.