Transborder Data Flow Issues And Their Impact On Multinational Companies

Today, companies experiencing transborder data flow are faced with obstacles that limit the free flow of information. This prevents companies from taking full advantage of international markets. Some of these obstacles include connectivity problems, security issues, language problems, the price structure of communication services, trade barriers, and, most importantly, transborder data flow restrictions applied by different countries. Multinational companies can minimize the negative effects of these obstacles if they can adjust their organizational decision making structures and information systems architectures based on the obstacles they face, and encourage the standardization of systems networking

Global Organizations Empowered By The Internet-Intranet-Extranet Technologies: Planning And Strategic Implications

Information technology simultaneously drives and facilitates global business. The World Wide Web (WWW) represents a paradigm shift of comparable significance to that of the printing press due to its capability of broadcasting not only the written word (static information) but also entire software applications (dynamic information). The WWW surfaces a new level of power and effectiveness for the Internet-Intranet-Extranet (Net) enabled organization similar to the benefits brought aboutby the three-tier/hyper-tier structure in the client-server computing model. The Internet acts as a natural extension of the intranet and the extranet, since the underlying technologies (e.g., TCP/IP, HTML, HTTP, CGI, URL) are continuous with one another.This enables global access to applications such as data warehousing, on-line analytical processing (OLAP), data mining and data visualization, thus contributing to the productivity of millions of knowledge workers across the globe. This also enables organizations to allow access outside of their own employee base to customers, partners, suppliers, and investors

Object Oriented Database Management Systems: Architecture and Application

The advent of multimedia computing, the World Wide Web, and objectoriented application languages has caused the proliferation of complex data types that must be managed differently from traditional character or numeric data types. Relational DBMS (RDBMS) can be modified with data extenders to support these complex new data types. Object DBMS (OODBMS), however, are designed specifically for these data types, and manipulate them with far greater efficiency. OODBMS perform direct navigation, clustering, schema evolution, and other functions that RDBMS cannot match. Adoption of common interoperable standards will facilitate the move towards open systems for heterogeneous, distributed platforms

Global Digital Libraries: A Historical Perspective and Architectural Considerations

Digital libraries will replicate many of the features of traditional libraries, but they may also draw on techniques developed by video rental companies and bookstores in making information both readily accessible and attractively presented. A generalized schema for global information systems of this type is essential; it must address issues of data structure and system interoperability so that information of all types can be freely exchanged across whatever platforms may develop in the future. The ability to search, identify, and retrieve not only text but recorded sound and complex images depends on a systematic approach to handles and metadata. The mode of access to data will be partly determined by economic and social forces and could require additional tagging. The global digital library may well be an inevitable next stage in the evolution of information sharing, but its implementation requires a plan that addresses the complexities of these issues on a broadly conceived and coherent basis

A Comparison of Service Design Processes in Relevant International ITSM Models and Standards

International IT Service Management models (CMMI-SVC, MOF-4, and ITUP) and de facto or dejure standards (ITIL v3, ISO 20000-4) include a Service Design process as part of theirmandatory set of processes. Nevertheless such availability of processes, their used nomenclature,their phase-activity structure, and their granularity level used for their descriptions, are nonstandardized.Additionally, there are few - if any -comparative studies in Service Designprocesses. Consequently, ITSM academics are faced with a useful but disparate and disperseliterature, and ITSM professionals lack of practical insights regarding comparativecharacteristics of such Service Design processes. In this research, we address such real andacademic problematic, and develop a conceptual comparative study of Service Design processesof five relevant ITSM models and standards. Thus, we report a substantial description of eachone, and report an initial comparative scheme based in the criteria of clarity, completeness andbalance for assessing an overall value of each model or standard. Our findings suggest that ITSMmodels (MOF-4, ITUP and CMMI-SV) provide more informational value than ITSM standards(ITIL v3, ISO 20000-4). We conclude with the need to elaborate an integrative Service Designprocess which contains the minimal set of expected phases, activities, artifacts and roles using acommon nomenclature