History of Information Technology
When the terminology 'information technology' is used, mistakenly it describes the entire industry. Information technology basically refers to the employment of computer hardware and software applications to manage data. Departments, such as Management Information Services (MIS), handle the responsibility for the storage, protection, processing, transmission and retrieval of the information as required.
Information technology, while stirring thoughts and visions of networks, the Internet, server rooms, racks of switches and routers, and advanced terms including VoIP, TCP/IP addressing, security and more, the 'technology' doesn't necessarily refer only to computer related issues. Any medium or channel that stores and processes information enters the category of information technology. The brain is an information processor, working to process and manage information that controls our every movement, body functions, and habits. Whichever procedure or attempt to communicate, store and manage information as well as utilize and administer the data will fall under the classification.
The backstory of information technology precedes the invention of the computer. The abacus, used by Asians, Egyptians, Romans, and the Greek can be termed a source of information technology. Calculators, the first mechanical one built by German polymath Wilhelm Schickard, or the slide rule, developed in 1622 by William Oughtred, also comes under the heading of information technology. Another example would be punch card machines, expanded upon by IBM in the early to mid 1900's, qualifies the term information technology.
As time progress along with the advances of inventions and applied knowledge, computing took shape and became useful in a variety of ways other than calculations. Computer science became an academic specialty, creating computer science departments and classes. As these classes took shape, separate branches of computer science became distinct areas of study. Today, Information Technology departments use computers, data centers, servers, database management system, specialized software applications and more, managed by system and database administrators, an Information Technology Manager and other department heads, including a Chief Information Officer (CIO). Even though information technology has a long reach into history, only recently has it been associated with the use of computers.
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