Merriam-Webster notes the term “Information Technology” was first used in 1978 and means “the technology involving the development, maintenance, and use of computer systems, software, and networks for the processing and distribution of data”.
MSN encarta defines IT as the “processing of data via computer: the use of technologies from computing, electronics, and telecommunications to process and distribute information in digital and other forms”.
Wikipedia says…
Information technology (IT) is “the study, design, development, application, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware”, according to the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA). IT deals with the use of electronic computers and computer software to securely convert, store, protect, process, transmit, input, output, and retrieve information.
In the past decade, IT has been increasingly framed as a Service that provides specific outcomes and value to a business or consumer.
For those of us in the profession, IT can mean anything from business analysis, the Internet, intranets, extranets, application code, operating systems, servers, desktops, laptops, iPhones, Blackberrys, smart phones, hubs, switches, routers, firewalls, load balancers, cabling, circuits, microwave, WLAN, telephones, PBX’s and even copiers and fax machines. And in most cases, it is a helluva lotta fun.