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Mini-Case Gig Abite Is a Bright, Hard-Working Engineer Who Once Owned

question 171

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Mini-Case
Gig Abite is a bright, hard-working engineer who once owned a successful engineering consulting firm in his native country of Frinezia. Gig became discouraged by the high tax rates in Frinezia, so he immigrated to the United States eleven years ago. Soon after moving to the U.S., Gig again started his own business, which he named Giganeers Consulting. The company struggled at first, and almost went under midway through its second year. However, Gig never lost faith, the company survived, and it soon developed a growing reputation for quality work and dependable service. Giganeers began experiencing sustained growth early in its fourth year. In fact, Gig hired additional employees over the next few years to keep up with the increasing workload. His company, which started with only Gig and 2 other full time workers, now provides jobs for 43 full-time employees as well as many part time workers.
Despite these past successes, some clouds are on the horizon. The company recently suffered its first drop in business since its very early years. Gig is convinced that the problem is not with his company, but rather due to a downturn in the U.S. economy. He heard a national broadcast last week reporting that the value of the total output of final goods and services in the U.S. declined over the last quarter. The news anchor went on to state that many economists believe that this downward trend is likely to continue for several more months. Gig is concerned that he will have to lay off some of his employees if the economy doesn't improve. He hopes that the government does something soon to put the economy back on track.
-Besides the slowdown in the general economy, Giganeers faces threats of competition from several other companies that provide engineering consulting services. In order to gain more business, Gig tries to convince potential clients that his company offers better service than the competition. He has advertised heavily in professional magazines, often quoting some of his highly satisfied clients. The market Giganeers operates in is an example of:

Definitions:

Application Layer

The top layer in the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) model, where applications access network services to perform user-oriented tasks.

Grid Computing

A form of distributed computing that harnesses the power of multiple computers to process large sets of data or solve complex computational problems.

Peer-to-peer Processing

A method of computing where each participant in a network can act as both a supplier and consumer of resources, sharing their computing power and data directly with others without the need for centralized control.

Internet Backbone

A core network of high-capacity data transmission lines and routers that provides the foundation for high-speed internet access across different regions and countries.