COMPUTER LABORATORY

ANNUAL REPORT

1993/94

8CONTENTS

Section 1. Introduction

Section 2. Services

2.1 Mainframe services2.2 Microcomputer service and support2.3 Communications

Section 3. Other Activities

8 3.1 Sale of Equipment, Supplies and Services3.2 Outside Activities

Section 4. Future developments

Appendix A Equipment

Appendix B Organisation

Appendix C Costs

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Section 1 Introduction.

1993/94 was the twenty-fifth year of the Computer Laboratory's operation and by far the outstanding feature ofthis anniversary was the establishment of the Information Systems Policy Development Group (ISPDG) toprepare a strategic plan which, while aimed at the coming five year period, could well influence the shape ofinformation systems in College for the next twenty-five.

The ISPDG, which reports to the Computer Management Committee, undertook a major study of College's ISneeds with the assistance of eleven Working Groups which involved the participation of some 130 members ofCollege. This work, which was probably the largest such community project ever undertaken in College,imposed an enormous extra workload on all the participants but should result in a strategic plan which willpermit the evolution of College's IS facilities in a co-ordinated way over the coming five years.

Computer Laboratory staff played a major role in all the Working Groups and on the ISPDG itself and made asignificant contribution to the discussions where their broad experience of user requirements and specialisedtechnical expertise proved very valuable.

8 While the final plan was not completed by the end of the academic year, the very urgent needs of certain keyservices which were at risk of failure were recognised and a number of major changes were implemented infull consultation with the ISPDG to ensure as high a level of compatibility as possible with whatever long-term plans emerge. These interim developments included the replacement of the main academic machines,V AXl, UNIXl, and UNIX2, and the provision of a new DEC Alpha system for student administration.In addition to these systems which were fully operational in July, a number of other developments wereinitiated which will come into service during Michaelmas term. These include the installation of additionalprinting facilities in public user areas, the completion of network wiring in the Arts Building, and theinitiation of a programme for the commissioning of user machines and the training of new network users. Thenetwork developments was made possible by an allocation of money by the Deans while the overalldevelopment was facilitated by an increase in the Laboratory's baseline recurrent budget. Furthermore,to cope with the ongoing support implications of the additional influx of network users and of the extra printfacilities, approval was obtained for the appointment of three additional members of staff.

During the year, also, plans were initiated to improve the Laboratory's accommodation and reduce thedifficulties caused by the fragmentation of staff between Pearse Street and the East End which arose at the timeof the move to the O'Reilly Institute. It is now planned to concentrate the core staff and central facilities inthe Pearse Street area in Aras an Phiarsaigh and in the adjacent 200/20 I Pearse Street building and it is hopedthat this arrangement will be in place for the 1995/96 academic year.

8 In summary, while the year was the busiest in the history of the Laboratory, it was one of which held out great

promise for the future and raised hopes and expectations of dramatic and exciting developments over the nextfew years. It is to be hoped that the resources to meet these expectations can be found.

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Section 2 Use of Senices

In quantitative terms, the Laboratory's activity is again expressed in financial units in the following tables,which show how the cost of running the Laboratory relates to the principal services offered and to the maincategories of user served. These tables are based on actual recurrent expenditure as recorded in the Collegeaccounts but are analysed, in this report, under sub-headings for which the accounting system cannot makeprovision. It must be emphasised, therefore, that much of the analysis is based on estimates rather than onmeasurement. While usage measurement software is in place for most central academic machines, it is notfeasible, at present, to record most microcomputer activity or use of the network facilities by individuals.

TABLE 1 -OVERALL COSTS

Overall Cost of ServicesUser Mainframe Micro. Comms. Total

~ Academic 493065 271101 320431 1084597(23.78%) (13.08%) (15.46%) (52.32%)

Academic Svcs. 160480 92356 116917 369752

(7.74%) (4.46%) (5.64%) (17.84%)

Admin. 327560 168318 122843 618721(15.80%) (8.12%) (5.93%) (29.85%)

Total 981105 531774 560192 2073071(47.33%) (25.65%) (27.02%) (100.00%)

TABLE 2 -OVERALL COST-PAY v NON-PAY

Academic Academic Admin. TotalServices

Pay Costs~ -Central Colllputers 144479 95911 115311 355702

-Microcolllputing 197322 77995 153957 429274-Communications 127233 61834 68222 257289

Total Pay Costs 469034 235741 337491 1042266

Non-Pay Costs-Central Computers 348586 64568 212249 625403-Microcolllputing 73778 14361 14361 102500-Communications 193199 55082 54621 302902

Total Non-pay Costs 615563 134011 281231 1030804

Total Cost 1084597 369752 618721 2073070

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2.1 Central Computing

The following tables summarise use of the central machines which, for brevity, are identified by theirnetwork names. The machines themselves are described in Appendix A. V AXl, the academic VMSmachine, consisted of a V AX6230 unit until mid-July when it was replaced by a MicroV AX 3100 Model90. As both units use identical usage recording software, the figures below are based on a full year'sactivity. In the case of UNIXI and 2, however, which were also replaced in July by a Digital Alphamachine, costs are estimated on the basis on measured usage up to the time of replacement only as usagemeasuring software was not in place on the new unit initially.

TABLE J -USE OF CENTRAL SYSTEMS BY USER CATEGORY

System User CategoryAcademic Academic Admin. Total8 Services

VAXI 369208 2264 2457 373929Lll31 0 158216 0 158216AJJVAXn 0 0 325104 325104UNIX 1 61928 0 0 61928UNIX2 61928 0 0 61928

Total 493065 160480 327560 981104

TABLE 4 -ACADEMIC USE BY FACULTY

Faculty V AXI UNIX 1 UNIX2 Total

Arts (Humanities) 15887 65 0 15952Arts (Letters) 19351 96 71 19518

8 B.E. & S.S. 30467 12 263 30742Engineering 173162 20275 18274 211711Health Sciences 13986 89 2 14077Science 116354 41392 43319 201065

Total 369208 61928 61928 493064

The replacement of the academic V AXI and UNIX systems provided a modest increase in the capacity of theservices concerned. The major benefit of the replacement was a saving in operational cost due to the higherreliability and lower energy consumption of the newer equipment.

Other central server developments for general use included the installation of a CR-ROM Server for theLibrary accessible by users over the network and the installation of a Mail Server which provides improved E-mail facilities to the growing number of users with presonal computers directly connected to the network.

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In the administrative area, a Timetabling Information System was successfully implemented using a new DECAlpha AXP3000 machine and a new multi-user licence for the ORACLE software, on which most of theadministrative applications are based, was negotiated. The latter is seen as an important strategicdevelopment which determines the software environment in which College administrative informationsystems will operate for several years to come.

2.2 Microcomputer related Services

All microcomputer facilities were heavily used during the year including the new Hamilton Laboratory whichwent into service at the beginning of Michaelmas term in the O'Reilly Institute. Apart from the latter unit, noadditional central microcomputer facilities were commissioned during the year.

Additional microcomputer software was acquired including site licences for SPSS for Windows andMathematica. A substantial number of additional licences for Microsoft Office were also acquired and these

8 were used to make up-to-date versions of Word and Excel available on the central servers.

As mentioned later in Section 3, a significant number of microcomputers belonging to users were equipped fornetwork operation by the installation of network cards and communications software.

The sale of microcomputer equipment within College is mentioned in more detail in Section 3.1.

2.3 Communications

2.3.1 Internal Communications

Thanks to funding provided by the Deans, considerable progress was made in extending the scope of theinternal network. Major wiring projects were undertaken in the Arts Building, Law, and Chemistry and,while work did not commence until mid-summer, most of the cabling had been completed by the end ofSeptember. At the same time, it was possible to refund, as promised, those departments which had earlier

8 paid for approved wiring projects from their own resources.

Also during the summer, much progress was made in the connection of new machines to the network and inthe training of new users. This work, which was undertaken with the help of students employed on atemporary basis for this purpose, resulted in the commissioning of over 200 workstations and the provision oftraining for many of their users by the end of September.

In November, a 64 kbps channel was commissioned linking the Trinity Medical Centre in St. James's Hospitalto the central College network. This was implemented by multiplexing the data link on to the existing 2Mbps telephone connection which links the Ericsson telephone PABX LIM in St. James's to the centralCollege exchange. This has facilitated the provision of considerably improved computing facilities by thedepartments located there.

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2.3.2 External Networking

HEANET, in which College is an active participant, implemented a new national structure focused on a centralhub operated by an independent "Network Operations Centre" with dedicated full-time staff and currentlylocated in UCD. As part of this development, the speed of Trinity's link to the centre was doubled to 256kbps and the aggregate speed of the international lines linking the hub to the rest of the world was increasedfrom 128 kbps to 256kbps by the end of the year. In addition, College continued to operate an independentinternational connection provided by lEonet Ltd., a Trinity campus company, and currently uses this link formost Internet traffic. In keeping with the trend elsewhere, there was a big increase in demand for Internetservices by College users. In particular, the extension of the internal College network and the emergence oftools, such as MOSAIC, which facilitate use of Internet services like the World Wide Web have greatlyincreased the capacity for College users to generate network traffic. While comprehensive usage statisticsare not available, an indication of the growth may be seen from Trinity traffic via the lEonet link which totaled3.5 Gbytes in April, 8 Gbytes in July, and is, at the time of writing, approximately 12 Gbytes per month.This rapid growth can be expected to have significant cost implications during the coming year.

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Section 3. Other Activities

3.1 Sale of Equipment, Supplies, and Services

While sales remained buoyant in the Shop with a turnover of £855,284 compared to £762,039 in 1992/3,margins remained narrow. However, the possible loss-making situation anticipated in last year's report didnot arise. This may, in part, be due to the relocation of the Shop to a more central position in 200/201Pearse Street and to a more attractive layout which has facilitated the display of available equipment.Nevertheless, the market is changing rapidly and the financial viability of the unit must be kept onder review.

3.2 Outside Activities

8 The Laboratory organised the 1994 Irish Universities' Information Systems Colloquium which was held over athree day period in March and was attended by some 70 members of library and computing service staff fromuniversities in both Northern Ireland and the Republic.

The Director was invited to join the Executive Committee of the newly formed European Universities'Information Systems organisation (EUNIS), established to provide a forum where directors of university ISservices can share information and co-ordinate activities internationally.

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Section 4 Future Developments

As mentioned earlier, future development of the service has been under consideration by the InformationSystems Policy Development Group since early in the academic year. The final report of this group is notavailable at the time of writing but the main thrust of its thinking has been set out in its document"Development of a Policy on Information Systems in Trinity College Dublin -Interim Report to the Board ofthe College" dated June, 1994. The key recommendations are that:

1. A substantial expansion of resources is needed to provide the facilities needed to adequately serve the needsof College.

2. In the light of the high level of public acceptance and understanding of IT, the Laboratory should nowchange from a technology centered facility to a user oriented service.

It is not appropriate here to pre-judge the final recommendations of the Group other than to say that, from theLaboratory's perspective, the general direction and nature of the recommendations seem appropriate and are

8 welcomed. In particular, the need to present a less inhibiting image to users through the introduction of asingle "Help Desk" to replace the present multiple points of contact is regarded as very important. Theimplementation of the proposals will, however, present major challenges both to College as a whole inadapting to the new services and in providing funding and, in particular, to the management of the Laboratoryin changing the structure and character of the department.

Since its establishment, the Laboratory has had basic "back-up" arrangements in place to cater for majoremergencies which might disrupt the service. However, the key role which information systems now play inCollege and the widespread reliance on on-line systems for essential day-to-day activities suggest that thedevelopment of a comprehensive Disaster Recovery Plan should receive attention.

Computer Laboratory costs have always been allocated to user areas for statistical purposes and have formedthe basis of the tables in every Annual Report. This analysis is based partly on measured activity and partlyon estimates. The emergence of the Unit Cost system has given a new importance to these figures and it isnow highly desirable that an agreed basis of cost allocation be defined and a new system of "charging" put inplace which will result in costs that are seen to be equitable. Because of the complexity and scale of theLaboratory's activities, this is likely to be a major task.

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APPENDIX A

EQUIPMENT

The following equipment was in service on September 30th, 1994:

Digital DEC~stem-5000: Lffil

DECsystem-5000 Model 240 with 96 Mb of memory,10.6 Gb of disc storage, CD-ROM & Exabyte tape cartridge unit,Ultrix v4.2a software.

Digital MicroVAX3100:: VAXl. MicroVAX3100 M90 with 128 Mb of memory, 6 Gb of disc storage,CD-ROM, DAT magnetic tape drive. VAX/VMS software

Digital AlRha AXP3000: ALF2

Alpha AXP3000 Model 600; 192 Mb of memory, 5 Gb of disc storage,CD-ROM, DAT magnetic tape drive. OSF/1 v 2.1 software

Digital Aloha AXP3000: ADMINl

Alpha AXP3000 Model 600; 384 Mb of memory, 5 Gb of disc storage,CD-ROM, DAT magnetic tape drive. OSF/1 v 2.1 software

Digital MicroVAX 3100: ADVAXl

MicroVAX 3100 M90 with 128 Mb of memory, 3..2 Gbytes of disc storage,CD-ROM, D A T magnetic tape drive, V AX/VMS software

Digital MicroV AX 3100 ADV AX3

.MicroVAX 3100 M90 with 64 Mb of memory, 3..2 Gbytes of disc storage,CD-ROM, DAT magnetic tape drive, V AX/VMS software

Digital MicroVAX 3100 ADVAX4

MicroV AX 3100 MI0E with 32 Mbyte of memory, 1.25 Gbyte of disc storage,Exebyte tape drive, V AX/VMS software.

Digital DECserver-5000/25 OTTO

DECserver-5000/25 with 24 Mb of memory, 2.4 Gbytes of disc storage,TKZI0 magnetic tape cartridge, Ultrix v4.2a software

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LAN Servers:

Prompt 486-DX33 with 20 Mb of memory, 800 Mb of LANMANldisc storage, OS/2 vl.3 & LANmanagerv2.1 software.

Prompt 486-DX50 with 20 Mb of memory, 1 Gbyte of LANMAN2disc storage, OS/2 vl.3 & LANmanager v2.1 software.

Apple Workgroup Server 95, 33 MHz 68040 with MEITHEALmaths co-processor, 32 Mb memory, 1.5 Gb of disc storage.

MicrocomQuter and Terminal User facilities:

8 Arches: 15 x 386-33 based PCs16 x Apple Macintosh LC lIs1 x Apple LaserWriter1 x HP Laserjet III Printer1 x Apple Imagewriter1 x Epson LX-86 Printer4 x VT320 terminals

Arts Building:Beckett I: 29 x 386-33 based Pcs

2 x HP Laserjet IV printersBeckett II: 25 x Apple Macintosh LC Ills

2 x HP Laserjet IV printersRoom 4066: 17 x Apple Macintosh LCIIIs

2 x Apple Centras1 x 386-33 PC1 x Apple LaserWriter printers1 x VT320 Terminal

O'Reilly Institute/Harnilton Building:8 Hamilton Laboratory: 15 x 486 based Pcs1 x HP Laserjet III Printer

1937 Reading Room: 8 x Apple Macintosh LCIIIs1 x Apple LaserWriter

200/201 Pearse Street:Room A: 11 x Apple Macintosh ClassicsRoom B: 21 x VT320 Terminals

1 x DataProducts printerRoom C: 14 x VT320 Terminals

2 x Mannesmann Tally MT420 printersRoom D: 15 x Apple Macintosh LCIIIs

1 x Apple LaserWriter

A Prompt PC with Braille printer and VOTRAX voice output unit are located in the Disabled Students' Room

in the Arts Building.

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Communications

The Laboratory operates College's internal data network which consists of a fibre optic Ethernet backbonelinking most of the main buildings on the central site and internal distribution facilities connecting manyindividual workplaces to this net. Currently, this distribution network includes an extensive range ofrepeaters, bridges and terminal servers and the connected equipment, which includes all the Laboratory's unitsmentioned in this Appendix, ranges from computers and PC's connected directly to the network to "dumb"terminals which are attached via terminal servers. Additionally, users in locations not directly served by themain network can obtain access to terminal servers via College's Ericsson MD 110 Voice and Data telephoneexchange and users can dial-in from remote locations over the public telephone network via a number oftwelve modems.

The Laboratory is a member of HEANET which links the major HEA funded institutions and is connected to8 the central HEANET Network Operations Centre via a 256 kbps line and onward via the HEANET

international links. A connection to EIRP AC, Telecom Eireann's packet switched public network, is also inoperation.

In addition to the HEANET connection, an independent link to the Internet via JEnnet Ltd. a Trinity campuscompany, provides much of College's international data communications capacity.

Other direct lines link the Laboratory with off-site College locations including Pharmacy in Shrewsbury Road,the Library in Santry, and the Trinity Medical Centre at St. James's Hospital.

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APPENDIX B

ORGANISATION

The Computer Laboratory is supervised by the Computer Management Committee, a standing Committee ofthe Board which is chaired by the Bursar. It is advised by the Academic Users' Committee and theAdministrative Users' Committee which report to it and by ad hoc working groups which it sets up fromtime-to-time.

The Laboratory staff is organised as shown in Figure B.I. The functions of the main groups are as follows:

ACADEMIC USER SERVICES GROUP

e This Group, composed of programming staff, provides assistance to computer users by means of:-an advisory service-courses for users-publications such as the Users' Guide and Computer Laboratory Newsletter.

COMPUTER SERVICES GROUP

This Group is responsible for the running of the central computer equipment. It is staffed byoperations personnel who look after the running of the machines and perform the associated ancillaryfunctions, systems programmers who generate and maintain the central systems and network software,technicians who install and maintain network and microcomputer equipment, and a janitor who is responsiblefor security.

This Group is also responsible for the provision of specialised technical advice and support on both mainframe,microcomputer, and communications matters to the other two user oriented Groups in the Laboratory.

The Computer Shop which retails microcomputer equipment and supplies within College is also part of this

Group.

e INFORMAllON SYSTEMS GROUP

This Group is responsible for the regular operation of existing administrative and Library mainframecomputer applications and for the development of new ones.

Development of new projects is performed by Systems Analysts and Programmers who design theapplications and perform an ongoing supervisory role in the running of the more complex systems.

It should is expected that the ISPDG proposals will recommend major changes in both the committee structureand in the internal organisation of the department which are likely to be implemented in the near future.

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APPENDIX C

COSTS

The services provided by the Laboratory may be divided into those related to the central computer systems,microcomputers, and communications. The total cost of running the Laboratory is shown below under themain expenditure headings used in the College accounts. The cost of providing each of the three categoriesof service mentioned above was estimated by analysing all the categories of expenditure shown in TableC.l to estimate the fraction of each used to provide each service. For example, in the case of salaries, anestimate of the time spent by each individual member of the Laboratory's staff on each of the three activitieswas made and the individual's salary costs allocated accordingly. In the case of Central Machine Service, theexpenditure was further apportioned between the seven machines currently operated by the Laboratory.Allocation of the costs among the different categories of user is based on measured usage in the case of centralmachine activity and on estimates in the case of microcomputers and communications.

ACCOUNTS for Year Ended 30th September, 1994

:8 Income Actual Budget

General Sales 6103 18938 13000Net Sale of Goods 6104/6 4568 6076Brought Forward 6119 (4076) (4076)

Total Income 19430 15000

Non-Pay

Rentals 6163 62984 56000Purchases 6164 731095 711670Maintenance 6165 154381 194000Consumables 6166 21338 22000External Services 6167 30552 26000Insurance 6168 5378 5400Telephone 6169 8533 6000

8 Conference 6170 0 0Miscellaneous 6182 21684 24000Carried Forward 6198 14288 0

1050234 1045070

Net Non-Pay 1030804 1030070

Pay

Salaries 6121 1024124 1028000VVages 6131 18142 15000

1042266 1043000

Total Cost 2073070 2073070

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