There are currently 3 flavours of Unix supported in-house, including increasing use of Linux. In addition, the Department is a subscriber to the Oscar supercomputer. Another server has a local backup in addition to using the HFS, also for reasons of rapid restoration. All server computers in the Department are carried on relevant hardware maintenance contracts. Mounted on the servers are different ranges of software, dictated by the different needs of the various research groups and teaching labs.
All research groups make considerable use of IT in their research, and have done so for many years.
This includes the collection of data from experiments, routine data analysis, computer modeling and simulation, preparation of papers and reports, and so on. Increasingly, use is made of the Department's Web site for the rapid dissemination of preliminary research findings. Increasingly, research methods are moving away from 'wet' experiments to computer-based experimentation, which increases the dependence on rapid communication with colleagues at other universities and laboratories in the UK and overseas. IT support and services within that context. The Department has set up four teaching laboratories equipped with computers.