E-commerce Technologies: Hardware, Software, and Networking

This report delves into the technological aspects of e-commerce, examining hardware components like web servers, monitors, and networking cards, alongside software such as server software, web browsers, and database creation tools. It explores networking protocols, including TCP/IP, and programming languages like MySQL, PHP, JavaScript, and HTML. The report analyzes the performance of three websites—Amazon, Wikipedia, and YouTube—using Pingdom, evaluating their load times, page sizes, and performance ratings to identify strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, it discusses the advantages and disadvantages of website speed, emphasizing its impact on revenue, page views, and customer satisfaction. Finally, the report outlines the process of purchasing a domain name, providing practical guidance for establishing an online presence.

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Introduction
In this task I will be discussing the following technologies in the context of
e-commerce, such as hardware, software and networking. I will be
investigating 3 different websites and analyse and compare the
performance of each website by using Pingdom. Lastly, I will be
demonstrating how to purchase a domain name for Urban.
Hardware
Web server and specifications- Web Servers are essentially computers
that bring web pages. All web servers have an IP Address and may have a
domain name. An example of the function of a web server is to enter a
URL http://www.google.com in a browser; this would request the web
server whose domain would be google.com. The server would then obtain
the page with that name and send it to the browser of the user. The most
common web server is the Apache web server with a
large 33.6% of market shares of all web servers on the
internet.
Monitor- Another term for display screen. The term
monitor, typically refers to the whole box, whereas the
display screen means just the screen. In addition, the
term monitor often suggests graphics capabilities. A
monitor, no matter the type, usually connects to either an HDMI, DVI, or
VGA port.
Keyboard- Certain users navigate through the
internet using the keyboard rather than the mouse.
Some users with certain disabilities have no choice
but to use the keyboard. For example, people with a
motor impairment have difficulty with the fine motor
movements required for using a mouse; blind users
rely on assistive technology such as screen readers and can’t see where
to click the mouse.
Mouse- The mouse is how the client controls what
happens and the primary strategy for control is the
mouse. Typically, in the office, a standard 102 key, two
catch mouse is used. Also, WIMP (windows, icons,
menus, pointer) is commonly used to maximise usability.
Modem- A modem connects the computer to the outside world. They are
given by ISP (Internet service production) at which a client joins yet might
be obtained. They impart in the dialect sent by the client to the ISP and
give in open line of correspondence once the client has been checked.
Network card- A network interface card (NIC) is a circuit
board that you place into your computer so the computer
can be linked to a network. Most network interface cards

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are intended for an exact type of network, protocol and media. Some
network interface cards can serve numerous networks.
Software
Server software- Server software is essentially software which is used
by web designers to add more web pages to their web sites with ease.
Without the software it would be difficult trying to add another web page
to an already made website. The software works through a procedure
known as FTP (file transfer protocol) this procedure uploads web pages
straight onto a website without any difficulty.
Web browser- A web browser is a software application on computers
which is used to locate, recover and display content on the internet which
includes images, videos, web pages and other files. As a client model, the
browser is the client run on a computer that contacts the web server and
requests information. The web server directs information back to the web
browser and which then displays the results on the computer or other
devices which is enabled to use internet and supports a browser.
Web creation tools- These tools make it likely for more people to
generate web pages because they shorten the process of making it less
problematic. This results in anybody being able to do this, whether or not
they are IT experts. As a result of this, some people say that this has
helped the internet, whereas others say it has hindered it, this is due to
the quality of content on the internet. The two biggest web design tools
are Adobe Dreamweaver and Microsoft Office.
Database creation tools- Usually, e-commerce websites have a
database back-end storing the catalogue of products, customer records
and other business information. It is significant that this database is
related to the website smoothly, so the user does not realise. A number of
organisations allow the creation of their website to be known, however
they hold control of the content of the database, which means that if any
alterations are required, such as price changes, only the database needs
altering and only the organisation can do this.
Networking
Ports/protocols- A port is software that aids a communications endpoint
I
n a computer’s host operating system. A port is typically linked with the
Internet protocol address of the host as well as the type of protocol that is
used for communication. A port is identified by each address and protocol
by a 16-bit number, commonly known as the port number. In networking,
a protocol is the distinct set of rules in networking and communication

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between telecommunication devices. A protocol controls the following: the
type of error checking which will be used and how the sending device will
indicate that it has finished sending a message.
TCP/IP- Computers need to use the same protocol, as this helps two
computers comprehend the data conveyed between them. Each computer
is given a unique number, in order to make sure the data arrives at the
correct location on a network. This is called an IP address. It has a set of
four numbers each from 0-255. There are some default ports, for example,
port 25 is typically used for email and port 80 is mostly used for the
internet, although these can be changed.
Domain names and registration
Domain registration is the procedure of registering a domain name, which
recognises one or more IP addresses with a name that is easier to recall
and use in URLs to classify specific Web pages. The person or business
that registers a domain name is named the domain name registrant.
Domain registration requires utilizing the services of a domain name
registrar like ICANN or national ccTLD that has the power to register
domain names.
Programming
MySQL- MySQL is a database management system. A
database is an organised group of data. It may be
anything from a simple shopping list to a picture gallery
or the large totals of information in a corporate network.
To add and process data kept in a computer database,
you would need a database management system such as
a MySQL Server. Since computers are very good at
managing huge amounts of data, database management
systems play an integral role in computing or as parts of other
applications.
PHP- PHP (personal home page) is one of the most popular server-side
scripting languages in existence today. It has the ability to connect back
and forth with a server and make a lively web page for the user. If you
have a web hosting account to run your personal blog or website PHP will
already be installed. If you have desires of becoming a web developer,
PHP is a must for you and will let you produce dynamic web pages based
on external input from the user.
JavaScript- Another programming language is JavaScript. It is used
to make web pages interactive. JavaScript support is constructed
into every major web browser, including Internet Explorer, Firefox
and Safari etc. Provided that the guests to your site are using web
browsers that support JavaScript and have JavaScript enabled, then

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your JavaScript will work when they visit the page. JavaScript is often used
to make polls and quizzes.
HTML- HTML (Hypertext Mark-up Language) is simply a language for
defining web-pages using normal text. HTML is not a difficult programming
language compared to PHP, JavaScript and MySQL. Every web page is a
HTML file. Each HTML file is just a text file, but with a .html file extension
instead of .txt. It is made up of many HTML tags as well as the information
for a web page.
Internet speeds and connections
When running an online business, it is important to constantly monitor
download speeds of your customers using analytics tools such as Google
analytics. You also need to modify your website so that the images are as
compressed as possible without conceding the quality of the site. All
coding must run as efficiently as possible so that the site loads as fast as
possible. If users cannot access the information quickly they will be more
tend to leave the site straight away.
W3C
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the key
international standards organization for the World Wide
Web. The mission of the W3C is to lead the Web to its full
potential by evolving relevant protocols and guidelines.
This is accomplished mainly by producing and publishing
Web standards. By adopting the Web standards created by
the W3C, hardware manufacturers and software developers can
guarantee their equipment and programs work with the latest Web
technologies.
Investigation
Part 1
Amazon- https
Wikipedia- https
YouTube- https
Part 2
Amazon- Using Pingdom, Amazon was given a performance rating of 83
which is a grade B. The load time was 1.43 seconds, faster than 82% of
websites tested on Pingdom and the page size is 6.9MB.

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Wikipedia- Pingdom gave Wikipedia a performance rating of 84 (grade
B). The load time was 670 milliseconds, quicker than 95% of sites tested
on Pingdom and the page size is 335 kilobytes.
YouTube- YouTube was awarded a performance rating of 78 which
transfers to a grade C. the load time is 1.29 seconds, faster than 82% of
tested sites and has page size of 1.5MB.
The highest rated performance of the three sites is Wikipedia (84). It had
1 and 6 more ratings than Amazon and YouTube respectively. This may be
because the page size for this site is 335 kilobytes compared to Amazon’s
6.9MB and YouTube’s 1.5MB page size.
The second highest rating was given to Amazon. This site had the largest
page size of all three websites, this is the most likely option to why it was
not higher than Wikipedia. There were also 290 requests for this site; far
higher than the two other sites.
The lowest rated site was YouTube. It was only site to be given a grade C
rating. The most possible cause for this is that several images and videos
were loading so this would slow down the performance of the site.
Part 3
Advantages
There are a number of advantages for having a high speed website. One
of these include having increased revenue. Did you know Amazon loses
1% of sales for every 100ms it takes their site to load. Shopzilla reduced
their loading time from 7 seconds to 2. This performance boost resulted in
a 25% increase in page views and a 9.5% increase in revenue. Another
advantage is growing number of page views. Yahoo found that a 400ms
improvement to the speed of their site increased their page views by 9%.
If you want to increase traffic to your site, it makes sense to make site
performance a priority. Lastly, faster
websites have a higher customer satisfaction. A study released by Akamai
discovered that 47% of online shoppers expect a web page to load in 2
seconds or less. 40% of visitors will abandon a site that takes more than 3
seconds to load. 52% of shoppers claim that quick page loads are
important for their loyalty to a site.
Disadvantages
There are lots of disadvantages for having a slow website. A one second
delay in a page response can cause your customer satisfaction to fall by
16%. The number of visitors and the number of pages visited goes
considerably down with a slow website speed. Nearly half of customers

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would think changing service/website if they are confronted with a poor
website performance over a period of time.
Part 4
1. Search for
the domain
name that you
are looking for
using the
search bar.
2. Choose the
domain you wish
to purchase and
add this to your
basket. I have

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chosen “.co.uk”, add this to your basket and press continue at the top
right of the website.
3. You will now
need to Login. If
you are an
existing customer,
you can login with
your existing
account. If you are
a new customer,
you can create an
account straight
away.
Once you have
confirmed your
details, you have
the option to add
some extras to your domain name purchase.
4. Once you have
everything you need
in your basket, click
on the Checkout
option.