ICT DEPARTMENT

Information and Communication Technology

Piazzale Aldo Moro, 7
00185 Roma

Director
Prof. Riccardo Pietrabissa
contact

 

 

About Information Technology

Information Technology (IT), as defined by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) is: "the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware."

In short, IT deals with the use of electronic computers and computer software to convert, store, protect, process, transmit and retrieve information.

In this definition, the term "information" can usually be replaced by "data" without loss of meaning.

Nowadays it has become popular to broaden the term to explictly include the field of electronic communication so that people tend to use the abbreviation ICT (Information and Communication Technology). Strictly speaking, this name contains some redundancy.

History of Information Technology

The term "Information Technology" came about in the 1970s. Its basic concept, however, can be traced back even further. Throughout the 20th century, an alliance between the military and various industries has existed in the development of electronics, computers, and information theory. The military has historically driven such research by providing motivation and funding for innovation in the field of mechanization and computing.

The first commercial computer was the UNIVAC I. It was designed by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly for the U.S. Census Bureau. Since then, four generations of computers have evolved. Each generation represented a step that was characterized by hardware of decreased size and increased capabilities. The first generation used vacuum tubes, the second used transistors, the third integrated circuits, and the fourth used integrated circuits on a single chip. The late 70s saw the rise of microcomputers, followed closely by IBM&s personal computer in 1981.

Thanks to wikipedia.org for the information on this page.