University of London Computer Centre
Encyclopedia
The University of London Computer Centre (ULCC) was founded in 1968, and was the first supercomputer facility established in London for the purpose of scientific and educational research by all of the colleges of the University of London
. ULCC initially provided large-scale CDC-based
facilities, then from 1982 to 1991 a national Cray
vector supercomputing service, and, latterly, a 6 processor, 4 Gbyte Convex
C3860 supercomputer with a Convex C3200 front-end.
ULCC also became a major site for national and international network connections in the UK. It ran the Network Operations and Service Centre for the JANET
Internet Protocol
Service (JIPS) (the largest of the JANET network centres) and various international links and relays on behalf of UKERNA.
Since the closure of its supercomputer service in the 1990s, ULCC has focused on providing IT services across the educational and public sector, as well as undertaking research work in fields such as digital preservation
and e-learning
.
In 2009, ULCC vacated its historic premises of 40 years at 20 Guilford Street, a building that was custom built in the 1960s specifically to house some of the earliest supercomputers in the UK. It is now based within the central university at Senate House.
ULCC continues to develop innovative IT services for a wide range of organisations mainly in the UK but with increasing work from overseas.
External links
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
. ULCC initially provided large-scale CDC-based
Control Data Corporation
Control Data Corporation was a supercomputer firm. For most of the 1960s, it built the fastest computers in the world by far, only losing that crown in the 1970s after Seymour Cray left the company to found Cray Research, Inc....
facilities, then from 1982 to 1991 a national Cray
Cray
Cray Inc. is an American supercomputer manufacturer based in Seattle, Washington. The company's predecessor, Cray Research, Inc. , was founded in 1972 by computer designer Seymour Cray. Seymour Cray went on to form the spin-off Cray Computer Corporation , in 1989, which went bankrupt in 1995,...
vector supercomputing service, and, latterly, a 6 processor, 4 Gbyte Convex
Convex Computer
Convex Computer Corporation was a company that developed, manufactured and marketed vector minisupercomputers and supercomputers for small-to-medium-sized businesses. Their later Exemplar series of parallel computing machines were based on the Hewlett-Packard PA-RISC microprocessors, and in 1995,...
C3860 supercomputer with a Convex C3200 front-end.
ULCC also became a major site for national and international network connections in the UK. It ran the Network Operations and Service Centre for the JANET
JANET
JANET is a private British government-funded computer network dedicated to education and research. All further- and higher-education organisations in the UK are connected to JANET, as are all the Research Councils; the majority of these sites are connected via 20 metropolitan area networks JANET...
Internet Protocol
Internet Protocol
The Internet Protocol is the principal communications protocol used for relaying datagrams across an internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite...
Service (JIPS) (the largest of the JANET network centres) and various international links and relays on behalf of UKERNA.
Since the closure of its supercomputer service in the 1990s, ULCC has focused on providing IT services across the educational and public sector, as well as undertaking research work in fields such as digital preservation
Digital preservation
Digital preservation is the set of processes, activities and management of digital information over time to ensure its long term accessibility. The goal of digital preservation is to preserve materials resulting from digital reformatting, and particularly information that is born-digital with no...
and e-learning
E-learning
E-learning comprises all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching. The information and communication systems, whether networked learning or not, serve as specific media to implement the learning process...
.
In 2009, ULCC vacated its historic premises of 40 years at 20 Guilford Street, a building that was custom built in the 1960s specifically to house some of the earliest supercomputers in the UK. It is now based within the central university at Senate House.
ULCC continues to develop innovative IT services for a wide range of organisations mainly in the UK but with increasing work from overseas.
External links