Information & Instructions

· This is an individual assignment. You must work on your own.

· The Final Assessment is valued at 20 points.

· There 10 assessment items valued at 2 points each.

· You have 72 hours to complete the Final Assessment.

· Place your responses under each assessment item.

· Some external research is required. You must include the appropriate APA format references after your response.

· Do not just copy and paste materials. You must write complete mini essays that express your response in your own words with as much original thought as possible.

· You must post the completed Final Assessment by the due date shown in the Course Schedule.

Answer Assessment Items

1. Provide at least two features that differentiate how random access memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory (USB Flash Drive), optical storage (CD/DVD), and magnetic storage (hard drive) are used to store information.

2. What are component parts of the CPU? Specifically describe how each functions to process program instructions.

3. Convert the numbers and populate the missing cells based on column heading. To receive credit, you must show each step you took to calculate each conversion.

4. You are the IT Infrastructure Specialist on a desktop refresh project responsible for defining hardware requirements and implementation plan. Identify a structured methodology and outline the steps you would use to conduct the requirements analysis.

5. What is a communications protocol? What is the relationship between communications protocols and IT infrastructure?

6. What is a network topology? List and define at least three examples of network topologies, along with their pros and cons

7. You have been hired to develop a website-based sales system for a large US retail firm that wishes to expand its international market. List and describe at least four features that are specific to the Web design of your system and customer service that are uniquely important to consider if your system is to be successful at attracting, keeping, and servicing customers living outside of the US. For top marks, you must focus only on those issues that must be addressed to successfully service your international customers, NOT those features that are common to any web design, e.g., privacy issues, special discounts, and links to customer reviews.

8. Describe LAN, WAN, and MAN. List and define the various components associated with these concepts.

9. What is the backbone for the Internet? Briefly describe how the Internet works.

10.Consider the following questions about internal hardware size:

(a) A single CPU processes one instruction at a time. Adding a second CPU (or core) allows the system to process two instructions simultaneously, effectively doubling the processing power of the system. A third core will offer triple the processing power of a single CPU, and so on. However, studies have shown that, in general, the expected increase in computing power starts to decline when the number of cores grows large, beyond eight or so. Why would you expect this to be the case?

(b) The technologist's notion of Moore's Law is that the number of transistors per chip doubles approximately every 18 months. In the 1990s, Moore's Law started to be described as the doubling of microprocessor power every 18 months. Given this new variation of Moore's Law, answer the following: After successfully completing your computer organization and architecture class, you have a brilliant idea for a new chip design that would make a processor six times faster than the fastest ones on the market today. Unfortunately, it will take you four and a half years to save the money, create the prototype, and build a finished product. If Moore's Law holds, should you spend your money developing and producing your chip or invest in some other venture? Explain your answer.