Dictionary of E-Business: A Definitive Guide to Technology and Business Terms - Softcover

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Francis Botto was born in Goresinon, near Swansea, Wales, on 4 October 1962. A writer and researcher specialising in new technologies, in the mid-1980's he began a pioneering and prolific output of notable articles and enduring books that he wrote in the UK, and more recently in Australia. His continuing interest in IT has yielded a varied output of works addressing subjects like multimedia and Internet applications in contexts of usage and development, and more recently the development of new technologies such as SunSoft's Jini technology.

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Here is your definitive guide to the implementation processes and technologies that underpin e-business. It explains important terms and phrases relating to electronic business in the context of design, development and usage. E-business is a remarkably fast changing topic driving multiple paradigm shifts. The infrastructures, software components and technologies that combine to make the World Wide Web provide the key to modern e-business.
* Comprehensive guide to terms and definitions including advertising, on-line banking and the technically complex security issues.
* Explains the software and development tools which create a world with geographically insensitive marketing, advertising and selling channels.
* Includes Java, JavaScript, HTML, DHTML, VRML, C++ and visual basic.
Wide-ranging entries make it an indispensable reference for both business managers and the technical audience including Web site designers, developers and researchers.

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E-business is an awesome, fast-chasing subject, driving multiple paradigm shifts as radical as those that splintered from the industrial revolutions with all its recorded social, economic and technological impacts. For the first time virtual stores may provide POI (point-of information) and POS (point-of-sale) functionality that provide advertising and selling channels leading to the global market. The benefits of E-business have been the focus of numerous papers, publications and conferences for some time, and far outweigh the much-publicised potential pitfalls that include the threat of larceny resulting from illegally obtained customer payment details, and the threat of an exodus of traders from the high street. Industry's response to the security issues has proved technically complex with numerous cryptosystems being driven into obsolence. Standardisation and advancements in cryptography, which continue to exhibit minor flaws, see today's secure E-business sites win the confidence of consumers, banks and notable credit card companies including Visa and MasterCard. One catalyst is the SET (secure electronic transactions) consortium which specifies technologies and guidelines for secure, compliant application initiated by Microsoft, Visa and MasterCard. The infrastructures, software components and technologies that combine to make the World Wide Web provide the key to modern e-business. They are being shaped by the following: *

Updated developer's workbench which includes Microsoft Visual Studio *

Programming languages such Java, JavaScript, HTML, DHTML VRML, C++, Visual Basic and VBScript *

Object web with its standard components and building blocks *

Modern standard client/server initiatives which include Sun Microsystems's Java-based Jini technology which impacted in 1999 *

Updated mainstream web site development tools from software publishers which include Microsoft, Asymetrix and Macromedia. The aforementioned technologies are driving change, and are being driven themselves by underlying hardware advancements including: *

New processors, primarily from Intel (and other chip makers) *

Client/server architectures that use server technologies like SMP, NUMA, and MPP *

Advancing peripheral devices including modems *

The vast network that supports the Internet, including physical or wireless digital pathways and mobile networks *

More efficient protocols Access technologies like ISDN and cable are part of the English language with many house purchases wanting to know if they have been installed. The vast audience currently benefiting from E-business, these are as transparent as the methodologies and multiplicity of complex processes and sub-processes that constitute the development lifecycles of Web sites. The same may be said of the development lifecycle required to produce the tools and technologies themselves, where the levels of granularity and technical detail are incomprehensible to all but those directly involved with their creation. Everyday E-business terms and phrases are entering the English language, and are beginning to frequent dictionaries of a general nature; terms that are prefaced by on-line are widespread, including on-line shopping, on-line banking, on-line share dealing, on-line travel agencies etc. E-business is yet another feature of modernity driven by the Internet and by technology as a whole and is a new specialisation for analysts, and for industry professionals such as Web site designers, developers, researchers and technologists. Many new technologies, software enhancements and development tools are not prefixed by the term E-business, and it drives new global markets in the effort to capitalise on the swing of consumer shopping habits towards the Internet. Co-ordination is a key feature pinned to that ubiquitous growing entity that has come to be known as the Internet or to some, the Information Superhighway. More than ever standards organisations including W3C, IETF, the Object Management Group (OMG), ITU and SET provide makers with the opportunity to develop compatible products and at the same time reduce wasted resources and expended energies while attempting to forge proprietary standards. Not that major manufactures will ever be relieved of this effort, but the growing transparency of hardware platforms from a web-based E-business application viewpoint introduces stability and reassurance for those investing in such implementations and services. E-business implementations used to address the mass market are at the heart of the current revolution, but more specialist impacts such as those in banking, stock markets, and money markets night be considered more significant as they are influential in determining the performance of an economy. A country's IT infrastructure, as well as those of its enterprises, drives trade at home and abroad. But the question mark which hangs over direct channel selling is echoed by E-business, namely will consumers buy products blind? Selling via the direct channel off the page, over the telephone or via TV shopping is meant to offer the consumer savings, but the theoretical price differential does not always favour the direct seller. Some of the consumer electronics giants favour high street and out-of -town stores with lower prices as they prefer to win consumer confidence by allowing them to experience their products at first hand. Furthermore, shopping in conventional stores is perceived as a leisurely experience to many consumers. Whatever arguments are presented, it seems that it is most probable that numerous sales channels will serve consumers, giving more choice, but those price differentials which exist between them will eventually subside as a slightly imperfect equilibrium takes hold.