Technology/Infrastructure architecture principles are defined in collaboration with operational staff. It is the duty of the application architect to correct any wrong assumptions that the team might make with regard to enterprise infra architecture. Traditionally, it covers the servers, desktops, storage, network, and so on.
In the current distortive and emerging technology world, collaboration is the key for success. On connecting and cooperating with various groups, it is easy to adapt into the latest trends instead of reinventing the wheel again on our own. Technology Architecture is highly influenced by this principle.
On playing the enterprise architect role, my experience educated me to insist on a high degree of collaboration with other types of architects in the system. It is expected to have a closer working experience with a solution architect to roll out the implementation of the specific technology and platform as part of the role. In fact, architecture is not at all specifically associated with a particular release of the software. If so, then it is probably not considered architecture:
As depicted in the preceding image, Technology Architecture layers start from the Network layers of LAN, WAN, or Remote Access. On top of the Network layer, the Security principles are laid with Identity, Isolation, and Permission models. Storage layer is designed on top of Network and Security layers. Platform resides on top of the Storage layer and is the foundation for any type of software application, which reaches/touches the end customer. Take a look at the following model:
The Open System Interconnection (OSI) model is an interesting area in Technology Architecture. It defines a networking framework to implement protocols in seven layers. As the lower/deep technical details, control is passed from one layer to the next, starting from the Application Layer to the bottom most Physical Layer of bits. The communication passes over the channel to the next station and back up the hierarchy.
Technology Architecture deals with these various layers and its essentials.