Academic computing
The Department of Finance has a comprehensive range of academic computing resources for researchers needing high performance computing:
- Desktop workstations
- eResearch
- Finance software server
- 4TB of secured storage
- FTP for research collaboration
- High performance computing facility
Desktop workstations
The standard set up is available to all Academic staff and PhD students in the Department:
- Dell Precision T5400 workstation
- Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor
- Integrated Broadcom® 5757 Gigabit Ethernet
- 4GB Quad-Channel memory
- 256MB nVidia Quadro Video Card
- 24 inch Widescreen LCD monitor (for Staff) 19 inch LCD Monitor (for PhD)
- 2 x 73GB SAS Hard Disk drives (15,000 rpm) with RAID 0
- 16x DVD +RW dual layer drive
- Vista-ready, Windows XP installed
Support
- Dell-provided Gold Class technical support. Maximum 4-hour response time
- Three-year warranty
- IT staff maintain one “Mirror” – an exact copy of the SOE with base software install – to replace any or all failed components of a PhD/Academic computer
Software
- See the list of academic software available for finance staff and researchers
eResearch
Additional computing support is available for data-intensive research and to enable research collaboration with colleagues within or beyond the Department.
Dell Precision 670 and 690 workstations (secifications below) are available in a room equipped with a printer and desk space for up to three users. Users may also connect to the Research room via remote desktop.
These machines have a copy of all software available in the Department.
The Research room can be used by all academic staff and PhD Students. Research Assistants and Visitors may apply to for permission to use the Research room, via their Supervisor/Host.
The specifications for these workstations are as follows:
- Dell Precision 670 minitower
- Intel® XeonTM Processor
- 4GB memory
- NVIDIA 64Mb video card
- 19-inch LCD monitor
- 4 x 73GB Ultra320 SCSI Hard Disk drives (15,000 rpm) with RAID 5
- 48x CD and 48XCD-RW
- Dell Precision 690 Minitower
- Dual-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor
- 4GB Quad-Channel memory
- 256MB ATI FireGL Video Card
- 20 inch LCD Monitor
- 4 x 146GB SAS Hard Disk Drives (15,000 rpm) with RAID 5
- 16 x DVD +/- RW Drive
Finance software server
The Finance Software Server is a Windows 2003 64bit edition Terminal Server, accessible via Remote Desktop. The server allows Academic staff and PhD students to run the following installed software in a high performance environment:
- EViews
- Microsoft Office Professional 2007
- Excel
- Word
- Access
- SAS
- Stata
4TB of secured storage
All staff have access to a personal folder on a networked storage server. This space is provided for research data, which is not included in the regular backup of staff files on desktop computers. The storage server is copied to tapes stored offsite.
FTP for research collaboration
Academic staff can copy files to a Department-hosted FTP server and nominate research collaborators who can access the files. FTP access is available from anywhere in the world.
High performance computing facility
Accounts with the University High Performance Computing Facility are available for finance researchers. HPC is a UNIX-based system, running SAS, MATLAB, C, and a range of other software. Access is via a command line interface, with FTP transfers of data and scripts.
Through the University HPC, it is also possible to access VPAC. The Department of Finance has supplied VPAC with a licence for MATLAB’s distributed computing engine.