What are the various components of e commerce in infrastructure?
Answers
E-Commerce Infrastructure
E-commerce infrastructure is computer-based. As a result, like most computer systems, e-commerce infrastructure has both hardware and software components to it.
Hardware
From a hardware perspective, the infrastructure involves a number of items. Some of these include:
Servers - These are computers that handle the processing requirements for the infrastructure.
Proxy Servers - This is a server that acts as an intermediary between the outside world and the resources of the e-commerce infrastructure.
Load Balancers - These devices split the work to be done so that it is evenly distributed among the e-commerce infrastructure.
Firewalls - These are protection devices that restrict what a user can do with the e-commerce infrastructure.
Encryption Devices - These devices translate information into non-human readable forms and protect it from prying eyes.
Interactive Voice Response Units - This is the computer-generated voice you hear when you use voicemail, or when you call a company's automated support center.
Software
From a software perspective, some of the infrastructure includes:
Content Management Systems - This is software that controls user access to the content (user accessible information) stored on the e-commerce infrastructure.
Web Analytics - These are software tools that provide various web statistics (such as the number of users or their IP addresses) about the e-commerce infrastructure.
Text Analytics - This software provides various text-based capabilities like spell checking, and voice to speech or speech to voice conversion.
Application Programming Interfaces (API) - This provides access points that software developers can use to incorporate the capabilities of the e-commerce infrastructure into their own offerings.
Database Servers - These servers handle stored information, such as customer accounts, within the e-commerce infrastructure.