JENN: Hi, there. I'm Jenn from Doodle IT, and today, I'll be explaining the evolution of IT infrastructure from its humble beginnings to the complex network that we are so familiar with today. First off, the word "IT infrastructure" may not make any sense to you, and that's OK. You may have heard the word "infrastructure" before in reference to things like city buses, roads, bridges, and other structures that make cities more connected. You won't find any city buses in IT infrastructure, but it is a similar idea. Simply put, IT infrastructure is a combination of hardware, software, networks, and all other kinds of information technology components that work together to monitor, control, and support your IT services.

So what was there before computers? Well, throughout most of the 1900s, the full extent of most businesses' IT was based in an accounting or tabulating machine. These machines were typically quite large, some the size of an upright piano, and had very limited function. They were a combination of a calculator and a printer, and mostly completed tasks such as filing payroll information and tracking billing information. This may not sound as impressive as being able to send a cat photo to your friend halfway across the world. But a 1930s report on the tabulating machine made for Columbia University was the first time the term "supercomputing" was used.

The tabulating machines had a long lifespan, but as technology improved, it was overshadowed by a new player in business-- the mainframe. Mainframes were really big, very powerful, and had way more functions than just payroll and billing. It could also process huge piles of data that would have previously been impossible to do, or painstaking to do by hand. While mainframes aren't so relevant for computing anymore, the famous mainframe IBM System/360 did make an appearance in the episode of the TV show Mad Men called The Monolith. Spoiler alert, it drove someone crazy.

While mainframes were great, they weren't really useful for everyday use due to their size and their price. However, in the early '80s, IT infrastructure evolved again, with the introduction of the personal computer. One of the biggest differences between the PC and its predecessors is that multiple people could be working off the same mainframe all at once. Personal computers were also programmable, so the number of jobs they could learn how to do skyrocketed. As they became smaller and more affordable, they began popping up in more and more homes and businesses. By 2002, personal computers have become a staple piece of equipment in almost all workplaces.

IT infrastructure technology really boomed after this point. The introductions of networks and servers helped to increase the productivity and efficacy of how computers could operate in the workplace. In the early '80s, the client-server was developed. This is used with major computer functions, such as email, accessing the world wide web, and wirelessly printing off documents.

The client-server model operates so that multiple individual PCS can connect to a central server. Servers hold multiple functions, services, and resources that the PCs can tap into at any point and utilize. Think of it like a ping pong game. Bytes of information are flying back and forth between the client-- for example, the internet-- and the server-- your computer. If the internet requests a file from your computer, your computer retrieves it and serves it back to the internet.

Enterprise computing was developed in 1992 and has become critical for businesses' IT infrastructure. Enterprise computing assists with streamlining processes by selling an entire platform to a company that can be accessed by all members of the business. Analytics, reports, and databases are able to be accessed from anyone connected to the system.

Sound confusing? Think back to when you went to a store like Best Buy and we're looking for a specific product, but you just can't seem to find it. The employee helping you says that they don't have the product in stock at this location, but they will check on the computer to see if another store does. What the worker is actually doing is accessing Best Buy's database through the use of enterprise computing and looking at the other store's records in order to check and see what they have in stock.

The most recent addition to IT infrastructure is cloud computing. This was introduced in the early noughties, or 2000s. With the rise of laptops and other portable devices, this technology has only grown more important, because it is the only one that does not require a personal computer. Cloud computing uses a network of remote servers that are hosted on the internet to process, store, and manage data. All cloud computers have their information stored on the internet for people to access immediately and remotely. Programs you may be familiar with, such as OneDrive, Dropbox, and iCloud, utilize cloud computing.

So what's next for IT infrastructure? As technology grows and changes, the way to store and handle our data will also change. But for now, we hope you enjoyed our timeline of IT infrastructure evolution. Thank you.

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