The Changing Roles and Responsibilities of a Computer

The Changing Roles and Responsibilities of a Computer Centre Terry Hewitt (terry@wthassociates. com)

Agenda �A brief history of UMRCC, MC, MIMAS, Research Computing and IT Services at the University of Manchester, � Focus on HPC & Grid Computing � Flowers Report � Review evolution of the roles and responsibilities of a computer centre in a University, � Commoditization of IT Services � That there are some disadvantages of this (c) 2013 Terry Hewitt 23 December 2021 2

� Personal View � Promotion & changing my responsibilities � Interleaved with my history � Represents work of ~1, 000 people � Representative of YOUR favourite Computer Centre/IT Service � Now I’m old I’m entitled to � Be irrational � Make sweeping generalizations � Finally be correct in what I assert! � i. e. , no proof is needed! (c) 2013 Terry Hewitt 23 December 2021 3

At the moment � Contractor at STFC � Establish/run the Hartree Centre � www. stfc. ac. uk/hartree � hartree@stfc. ac. uk � Hartree Centre Mission � Drive the adoption of “HPC” in UK industry � Delivering step-change improvements in scientific capabilities � Develop world-class “HPC” technology & skills in Daresbury Laboratory (c) 2013 Terry Hewitt 23 December 2021 4

Where did I find this text? � A modern computer can store and process a very large amount of information, it can perform arithmetical and logical operations very rapidly and can communicate directly or indirectly with other computers and similar devices. � … The use of computers is of importance for many different purposes: the efficiency of much of industry is becoming increasingly dependent upon computer control; their use is equally important for the efficient organisation of commerce and business management and for predicting statistical trends. � …. � In almost every field of science and technology physical problems as a matter of normal procedure are represented in model form by mathematical equations and the associated logical language. In most cases these models are intractable by formal analysis, so that one either has to introduce further approximations which make the model less realistic, or one is forced to numerical techniques requiring the use of computers. (c) 2013 Terry Hewitt 23 December 2021 5

�Hartree Centre Business Case The Flowers Report – 1965 (c) 2013 Terry Hewitt 23

Recommendation ii � The proposals of the Working Group are designed to meet the growing need for digital computing facilities for research. � The group recommend that there should be regional computing centres at the Universities of � London, � Manchester and � Edinburgh � with very large computers to which research workers from other Universities and research institutions would have access. � They recommend better computing facilities for individual Universities and research establishments which would be compatible with the proposed regional computers. The system would thus form an integrated whole. (c) 2013 Terry Hewitt 23 December 2021 7

Recommendations �iii � Spend £ 20 M with Universities � Spend £ 3 M

Recommended Structure (c) 2013 Terry Hewitt 23 December 2021 9

Timeline � 1966 Computer Board � 1969 UMRCC established at UMIST � 1972 UMRCC moves to Kilburn Building � 1974 University sets up Computer Graphics Unit � 1974 -1978 Terry UMRCC user from Bangor! � 1978 Terry joins Computer Graphics Unit (CGU) � 1985 CGU joins Computer Science � 1987 Terry becomes director CGU � 1990 CGU moves to UMRCC (c) 2013 Terry Hewitt 23 December 2021 10

HPC Services since 1948 Sun Cray CS 6400 Meiko (80 PE) KSR IBM SP

Professor Black & CDC 7600 (c) 2013 Terry Hewitt 23 December 2021 14

Before JANET (c) 2013 Terry Hewitt 23 December 2021 15

1979 ish CGU (c) 2013 Terry Hewitt 23 December 2021 16

1985 ish � 1985 Computer Board/JISC � Visualization Support Officer � GKS-3 D � 1985 EPSRC - KRT 3 PHIGSPLUS � 1992/1993 � ITTI Project – Graphics Training Materials � First Web server at Manchester � 1995 CGU -> Manchester Visualization Centre � 1998 -2006 CSAR (c) 2013 Terry Hewitt 23 December 2021 17

MIMAS �As well as HPC “Data services evolved (c) 2013 Terry Hewitt 23 December

1998 -2006 �HPC Service for UK Academia & Industry � University of Manchester �

BEFORE e-Science!!!! � 1999 Metacomputing prize at SC’ 99 �Probing the universe via an

2001 �Tony Hey starts e-Science Programme �JISC starts to fund “Research” �IT Services start to commoditize � E. g. , buying Microsoft Exchange for email � Staff start to loose programming/development skills (c) 2013 Terry Hewitt 23 December 2021 22

National Services �ESNW � jointly with C Goble, Computer Science �NCe. SS (Hewitt, Cole) � led by P Halfpenny, Social Sciences �NW-GRID (Hewitt, Brooke) �Service Focus in all of these (c) 2013 Terry Hewitt 23 December 2021 23

NGS & AGSC �Leadership of the UK National Grid Service �Hosting one of the core nodes � > 3, 000 processors, � 36 TB of "data-grid" capacity � Oxford, Leeds, RAL, Edinburgh, Daresbury �Access Grid Support Centre � ~50 Nodes in UK Juelich, Germany ARSC, Alaska Institute of Aeronautics, Beijing ANL, Chi cag o Power. Point Manch ester ANL, Chicago (c) 2013 Terry Hewitt Juelich, Germany 23 December 2021 24

Reality. Grid - Worldwide Resources �Study of defect dynamics in liquid crystalline surfactant systems using lattice-Boltzmann methods � Main Collaborators � University of Manchester � Argonne National Lab � San Diego Supercomputer Centre � Pittsburgh Supercomputer Centre � NCSA (Illinois) � CALTECH � Daresbury (c) 2013 Terry Hewitt 23 December 2021 25

Some Projects around 2000 � Hierarchical Graphics Systems (EPSRC) � JISC � HPC Training & Education Centre � ITTI Graphics & Visualization Training Materials � University/UMIST MEIKO Parallel Processing Service � Video Facility (NTI/JTAP) � National Visualization and Multimedia Support Officers � Super. JANET pilots � Videoconf/collaborative working � Superjournal � Visualization in Parallel (EPSRC + AVS Inc/NASA) � EU projects: SMART, INDEX, E=MC 2, RC-NET � WANDA (BT) (c) 2013 Terry Hewitt 23 December 2021 26

� 2004 UMIST & University of Manchester merge � 2005 Manchester Computing splits to � MIMAS � Research Computing � IT Services � 2008 Terry leaves Manchester � 2010 -2013 Research Computing restructured � 2013 Research Computing re-invented (c) 2013 Terry Hewitt 23 December 2021 27

Points to notice �Main funding � Development of services funded by �Computer Board �JISC � Funding to Computer Centre (NOT Computer Science) �University allowed us to do this work because � Mission to support other Universities � Benefit to user service (c) 2013 Terry Hewitt 23 December 2021 28

�Commoditization of IT Services �PROs � Good for users � Better ROI �Cheaper software �Staff with less expertise, i. e. , cheaper �CONs � Change in role of staff – stifles innovation in services � Lose out in medium/long term (c) 2013 Terry Hewitt 23 December 2021 29

� Future services will NOT properly support our users � If IT Services/Computer Centres are NOT actively involved � This role is NOT research in Computer Science � We should see a migration from �Research in Computer Science � Developments of prototype services in IT Services/Computer Centre �Adoption by computer industry �Industry provides a cost effective solution This is • The Flowers Report • The Hartree Centre • Good idea (c) 2013 Terry Hewitt 23 December 2021 30