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In Fall 2001, the Computing Center, Management Information, and the Telephone Office merged into the new Office of Vice President for Information Technology (OVPIT) organization. The information below relates only to the former Purdue University Computing Center operation.

The OVPIT provides instructional and research computing services, multimedia integration, and data networking to all departments on the West Lafayette campus.

The OVPIT operates more than 50 instructional computing laboratories with over 2,200 workstations around the campus. There are labs equipped with Apple Macintosh, PC/Windows-compatible, and Sun/UNIX workstations. These labs may be scheduled for in-the-lab classes, or students may be assigned to use the labs to complete homework assignments. Several Sun computer systems serve as central file servers for the workstations in the instructional labs. Sun systems also provide a UNIX environment for instructional use.

A 272 processor IBM SP supercomputing system has been installed to serve the high-performance computing needs of Purdue researchers. The Purdue SP is a world-class supercomputer ranked in the top 10% of the most powerful supercomputing systems in the nation when it was installed in the summer of 2000.

In addition to the SP system, clusters of IBM RS/6000 workstations are installed to act as servers for large research computations. Additional RS/6000s support interactive computing applications and act as file servers. A Sun Microsystems server provides a general-purpose UNIX environment for faculty, staff, and graduate students. Several terabytes of online data storage is available for applications that require it. Consulting on the use of these systems is available from the Research Computing Services Division (ITRCS) staff.

The Multimedia Instructional Development Center (MIDC) helps faculty who want to enhance their teaching with multimedia materials. The MIDC houses multimedia hardware and software and provides training on various multimedia software packages. Faculty can visit the MIDC and use the equipment to digitize video, scan images, and create graphics and animations for their classes. MIDC staff members are available for consultation about the design of instructional presentations. Seminars and workshops offered by the MIDC address topics such as Web page development, image acquisition and manipulation, use of digital video, and related issues. An annual grant program administered by the MIDC provides funding to faculty who want to develop instructional applications using multimedia.

The Purdue data network links major campus buildings with optical fiber, providing high-speed TCP/IP connections to a constantly increasing number of departmental systems and subnets. All major systems on campus are interconnected via the network. Network access is available from all University buildings, including the RESNET system in the on-campus student residence halls. This same RESNET system provides off-campus students, faculty, and staff with network addresses and access capabilities equivalent to those available in on-campus residence halls and offices. Internet access is also available to all users on the campus network.

Source: Office of the Vice President for Information Technology