Division of Information Technology - Overview

Full text: The Division of Information Technology continued its service-oriented activities in 2009. Our main duty was day-to-day support to all units in the Institute in IT related matters. One of our tasks was the acquiring, configuration and delivery of new computer equipment to our users. We automated the standard software installation task and decreased the delivery time for new and fully reconfigured computers to end users. We prepared the technical specifications for several bid and we verified thai the received bids complied with the specification. In addition to regular purchasing of computer equipment we supported the special software -related needs of EU projects. We purchased new licenses for: Computer Simulation Technology Studio Suite, Pulsar Physics General Particle Tracerm. Altium Designer. Autodesk Inventor. Autodesk AutoCAD Electrical, Altera Quartus II. Lahey/Fujitsu Fortran Professional. Code Gear Delphi, Steema Software TeeChart Pro, ANSYS Academic Research, Math Works Matlab, Keil PK51 Professional Developer's Kit, Corel Corporation CorelDraw Graphics Suite, Abbyy FineReader Professional, Adobe Acrobat Professional. We also renewed and increased the number of licenses for Microsoft and GFI products. We implemented a full high definition video conferencing system based on equipment from Lifesize. One-video conferencing terminal is placed in Swierk. another, enabling 4-way conferences, is located in Warsaw. This equipment is mainly used for teleconferences between our Institute and our partners in DESY and CERN. By the implementation of such a system we significantly improved the exchange of information and saved on travel costs. In addition the rooms housing the video conferencing systems were equipped with professional data projectors. We continued the modernization of the Local Area Network infrastructure. The first main achievement was a full replacement of cables and active network devices in the building where the Departments of Plasma Physics and Technology and Accelerator Physics and Technology are located. The network speed was upgraded to gigabit Ethernet in this LAN segment. The second achievement was the inclusion of the originally independent network of the ZdAJ Production Unit in the global LAN infrastructure in Swierk. Together with this task we migrated all ZdAJ users to the main computer domain. The migration included moving of their mailboxes located on external servers. In order to improve security and management of our desktop computers we implemented the following software: · Microsoft Windows Server Update Services for automatic distribution of updates and upgrades for Microsoft products; · ESET Nod32 business edition for protection against viruses: this software replaced Symantec antivirus products used in the past; · GFI MailSecurity for e-mail protection against viruses. Implemented at the end of 2006. the Scientific Activity Database continued its operation and was extended by several useful reports and fields containing important information. One of the main extensions was a development of the subsystem for financial bonuses for scientists by implementation of a scientific publication score system based on rating introduced by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. (author)