How far does "IT" extend?

October 3, 2016 9:35 AM

Make me seem less dumb. Do these fall under the designation of IT?

1. A machine and software that read retinas and blood vessels, providing data for diagnosis and treatment.
2. A machine & software that monitors the level of molten metal in a vat, and at a certain level adds a quantity of another molten metal to the vat.
3. An automatic watering system for a lawn with an interface, presumably to some kind of software.
Thanks!

posted by LonnieK to Technology (18 answers total)

Those are all fairly specialized hardware. Depending on how the office is set up, A traditional IT office might manage their network connectivity (if any) and establish policies that whatever unit maintains them needs to comply with, but maintenance is likely handled by specifically trained staff who probably aren't part of the IT department -- in my experience IT staff are responsible for network infrastructure and policy, and workstations, and general office hardware like printers, etc. I imagine specialized support services might be contracted out to the manufacturer or vendor.

In my case, I operate and maintain specialized equipment (motion capture gear) but work with IT to make sure their policies are respected.
posted by Alterscape at 9:47 AM on October 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

It depends? What is the context? What things about the machine & software (buying the machine? maintaining the machine? keeping the arm that adds metal clean & oiled? buying the software? writing the software? loading the software? troubleshooting problems with the software & the machine? installing the watering system? maintaining the watering system? plumbing the watering system?)

Which is to say, some of it does, some of it doesn't, and even within that it isn't a hard line - different places/companies/etc will break things up differently.
posted by brainmouse at 9:48 AM on October 3, 2016 [2 favorites]

It depends on the context. These are systems that use computers, but "IT" is generally thought of as technical support and system administration tasks. Someone who installs an automatic watering system probably does not think of herself as a "IT professional". Someone who helps create an automatic watering system product probably thinks of herself as a "developer" or "engineer" rather than "in IT". However, some contexts might apply the term "IT" more broadly, like the "IT sector", where companies who make the systems you mentioned could be put under that category (but more likely to be put under medical or industrial sectors).
posted by demiurge at 9:49 AM on October 3, 2016

None of those would be considered IT.

IT = Information Technology. It's a fancy way of saying it involves devices with internet connectivity, with a focus on personal computing (even for work related activities) and networking/servers.

Your list sounds more like engineers would handle them. You might have a computer somewhere involved in those things - and that might be handled by an IT professional, but that'd only extend to things like making sure it turns on, has updated software, and connects to the internet. The engineer would use said software and such to make sure all the things are working like they're suppose to.

Software developers (aka programmers and the teams they work in) are considered to work in IT and thry might develop the software used in those examples.

IT basically splits into "administrators" who manage and monitor the computer systems themselves and "developers" who use said systems to create [something]. You also have engineers and designers who are involved, but their roles often differ.
posted by INFJ at 9:51 AM on October 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

The examples you sited are PLC devices. Made and supported by electrical engineers and programmers (and serviced by PLC technicians). None of which are typically considered IT.
posted by zinon at 9:56 AM on October 3, 2016 [5 favorites]

The second falls under industrial automation software, so this one I can help you with. Within the context of a plant, the IT manager would be in charge of that software. They would probably not be in charge of the hardware, but would be in charge of making sure the firmware was up to date and compatible with the hardware and other software used to make the system run. Licensing, versioning and probably buying (or at least recommendations) would all fall within the realm of Plant or Corporate IT. The vat itself? Probably not, although again there would be monitoring in place which might or might not fall within the realm of IT.

If you're talking to a lay audience, over the dinner table, sure, why not? It's computer technology stuff. You won't sound like an idiot. If you're talking about within a work environment, each one would probably have a more granular designation like above.

The third could also be called part of "home automation" or "smart building" or "smart home" or, possibly, the Internet of Things (IOT).
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 9:59 AM on October 3, 2016

I've heard "IT" used to describe everything from the people who write low-level hardware-interfacing code to the guy who sets up your conference call. It depends on the company. Usually "IT" is the term used when tech people are a cost of doing business instead of a revenue-driver. For example, banks usually have an IT department that develops and maintains software for auditing or customer service, but the same type of work would be done by an "engineering" team at a software company.
posted by deathpanels at 10:23 AM on October 3, 2016 [2 favorites]

Kind of depends. I work in IT at a hospital and very often we might support a Windows machine that connects to, say, a bone densiometer or an EKG machine. We support the Windows machine itself, but not the medical equipment. Clinical Engineering or the vendor usually supports the medical stuff.

Similarly, we support Windows servers/workstations that connect to a variety of devices. Temperature monitors for drug refrigerators, controllers for pneumatic tube systems, HVAC systems, etc. In almost all cases the computers themselves fall under IT, the attached equipment under someone else.

Exceptions are workstations or servers that are 100% vendor support due to FDA or other requirements. Embedded systems are kind of a grey area. Often we work with vendors to make sure the systems are secure but the vendor ultimately supports it. Generally we have a "if this device even hints at being unsecured we will boot it off the network" policy.
posted by bondcliff at 10:28 AM on October 3, 2016 [3 favorites]

I'm with the "it depends" crowd. When I worked in IT, we would sometimes handle facilities (including managing contractors on build-outs), help with new business pitches (as in helping edit the decks, besides handling any gear that needed to go to the pitch site), consulting with clients on dot com issues (what domain do we want, is the internet ready for this idea, etc.), and so forth.

My experience is that the "technology" part of the name is more relevant than the "information" part.
posted by Mo Nickels at 10:49 AM on October 3, 2016

I know people who have actually supported #2 as their job in a foundry, and they were considered IT.
posted by Jairus at 11:31 AM on October 3, 2016

Your three examples all would be considered "embedded software".

Embedded software refers to a system in which discrete hardware has been replaced by a microprocessor and some firmware, because it's cheaper, more reliable, and more capable.

Embedded software is not considered IT.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:50 AM on October 3, 2016

IT = Information Technology. It's a fancy way of saying it involves devices with internet connectivity

I don't think that connectivity is the key point. References to "IT" started to crop up a lot in business and education from around 1980 - often referring to non-networked computing. Almost all IT will have internet connectivity (although whether it should is another matter), but it's not fundamental.
posted by howfar at 1:05 PM on October 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

You're getting varying answers because the question as written is not really answerable.

"Do these fall under the designation of IT?"

Whose designation? For what purpose?There is no consensus definition of "information technology." The term is as broad and deep a term as you want it to be, so the answer to your question depends entirely on the context.

And no, internet connectivity is not a requirement for something to be called "IT." E.g., electronic voting systems, glucose monitoring mobile apps, electronic health records.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 1:12 PM on October 3, 2016

To me, IT means anything with a database (including hard disks).

In 20 years doing embedded software, embedded means ROMs.

But these are not canonical definitions and it's not surprising that there are differences of opinion.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 8:51 PM on October 3, 2016

Yes, Virginia, there is a widely accepted definition of information technology. Does it store, process, transmit, receive, or manipulate electronic data? Then it is "information technology".

So the answer to all three is "Yes" they are included under that broad 'IT' scope. The examples given are usually managed in separate pieces as Bondcliff mentioned. There is a standard PC or server to run software that stores or visualizes the data, and there is the specialized device or system that collects or acts on the data. The specialized devices or systems are typically managed by a separate engineering division or specialized sub-groups in the typical IT organization. Bondcliff mentioned clinical engineering, but also see industrial control systems and factory automation. This includes things like SCADA and DCS that control PLCs and would be used in your second and third examples.
posted by anti social order at 9:28 PM on October 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

"IT" has developed something of a negative or low-status connotation to some people. The point about technology as cost center vs revenue generator is a good one. "IT" tends to be the term used in organizations where technology concerns and tech people have no influence in decision-making. E.g. Silicon Valley tech companies rarely describe themselves as IT companies. Sometimes engineers feel the term is used to devalue their work, by treating it as fungible, commoditized, and easily outsourced.

Big non-tech organizations probably do use the term, but might describe the "sexier" or "higher-status" work as falling under some other category (analytics, r&d, engineering, "labs", etc.).

So in some sense it is accurate to describe all of those things as IT, but you might get some pushback for (pretty good) political reasons.

If you want more buzzwords, "engineering" or "technology" probably wouldn't raise objections. #2 and #3 are probably "Internet of Things" or "industrial Internet".
posted by vogon_poet at 6:27 AM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]

It's absolutely cost center vs profit center related, to me as an engineer who designs manufacturing equipment. We have an IT dept; they maintain our computers, email, any not very technologically interesting databases, etc. We also have computer engineers who build our supercomputers within equipment that we sell, and software engineers who write the software that controls things like the molten metal step you describe. None of them are IT to us because none of them are support.

Even in the factory/foundry example with the molten metal control unit, it probably is owned by plant engineering and maintenance, and not by IT, because that is a more natural area for it to fall under - the kind of problems you would have are "wrong type/amount of metal added" and not "could not ping server". It wouldn't make sense for the foundry engineer to call in IT to fix a metals composition problem, they would need to know how to troubleshoot/repair the device themselves.
posted by Lady Li at 8:36 AM on October 5, 2016

Response by poster: OP here. Well, this is a rich discussion.
My takeaway is that there are different opinions. But hey, my goal is to not look dumb. So all I have to do is toss off a few of these ideas -- 'on the one hand... on the other hand ...'
Srsly, thanks all. It's not a simple question, clearly.
posted by LonnieK at 4:24 PM on October 19, 2016