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Home My WebLink AboutData Processing Center 021705 AM DATA PROCESSING CENTER , TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY Dr, Dick B. Simmons, Director I ,,/ "' . / Many of the theoretical and applied research projects at Texas A&M utilize the computer facilities at the Data Processing Center. The DPC pro- vides computational support to various research areas including space technology, activation analysis, transportation economics, highway design, electrical load flow and transient stability, agriculture, molecular structures, numerical analysis, linear programming, simulation, statistics, business ad- ministration and all branches of engineering. Of major importance is the use of the computer for administrative processing. On-line administrative systems have been very successful at Texas A&M. The following administrative systems presently operate on- line to the computer: student records, payroll records, Central Stores inven- tory control records, Feed and Fertilizer Control Service records and alumni records of the Association of Former Students. Other on-line systems in- clude a library circulation system and university fiscal accounting. Admin- istrative systems that are computerized include: budget, inventory, grade reporting, quiz grading for certain courses, physical plant operations, coun- seling and testing and class scheduling. Research An outstanding level of computer training and experience is provided to both undergraduate and graduate students. More than 110 courses at Texas A&M utilize the computer as an integral part of their coursework, providing training and instruction in computer usage to approximately 7,000 A&M students. A variety of computer languages are available in- cluding FORTRAN, WATFIV, WATBOL, SPASM, ANS COBOL, APL, ALGOL, PL/1, BASIC and Assembler Language. Texas A&M has one of the largest graduate computer science programs in the country and plans are cur- rently being finalized for an undergraduate computer science degree pro- gram to begin in 1973. Administration COMPUTER Academic The DPC employs approximately 80 people, including 33 profession- als. Personnel are organized into nine groups: Office Operations, Fiscal Group, Administrative Applications, Software Systems, Computer Opera- tions, Agriculture-Statistics, Power Systems, External Operations and the Digital Design Lab. The DPC operates as a separate entity with a 1971-72 fiscal year budget in excess of $1.5 million. USAGE AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY I ,I ~ .. i ! .. GENERAL FUNCTION AND ORGANIZATION , The Data Processing Center facilities are designed to accommodate the teaching, research, and administrative needs of the university. Approxi- mately 50 % of the machine time is used by research projects, 20 % by academic efforts, and 30 % is used for administrative processing. HARDWARE As one of the best equipped installations of its type in the country, Te~as A&M's Data Processing Center is proud of its equipment and services. The Center now hou'ses a "third-generation" IBM 360/65 computer, the largest IBM computer on any university campus in the Southwest. The main components of the system are being purchased. All of the peripheral equipment is leased. The main core memory of 524,288 bytes (characters) of storage has an access time of 750 nanoseconds while an additional two million bytes of Ampex Extended Core Memory has an access time of 1.4 microseconds. Attached to the system are 24 disk drives, 6 magnetic tape drives, four high-speed printers, and three high-speed card readers. A special hard- ware monitor was designed and implemented by the DPC Digital Design lab to monitor hardware devices and gauge the efficiency, level of the equipment. " A PDP 11/20 minicomputer with 8K core memory is also housed at the OPe. Minicomputer hardware and software interfaces provide for the following facilities: Calcomp plotting, Motorola optical card reading, paper tape to magnetic tape conversion and analog to digital conversion. SOFTWARE The operating system in use is OS MVT (Multiprog~am",ing with a Variable number of Tasks) with HASP. The system operates in a multi- programming environment, processing up to 7 batch jobs concurrently. On a normal day 2600 to 3000 jobs are processed by the Data Processing Center, HISTORY , The' Data Processing Center (DPC) is a centralized computing facility, t~at provides computational support and data processing services to the entire academic community of Texas A&M University and to other state agencies. Established as a part of the Texas Engineering Experiment Sta- tion in 1958, the Center has continuously expanded its services to keep 'pace with the growing university needs. The Data Processing Center is a progressive organization main.taining a computer facility that is among the finest to be found on any university campus. ,- .' z o w~ a: a: <C:J ;:0 eU: a:z <Co :J:(,J __ ______IlI.--- ) ) The majority of remote terminals are located on the A&M campus, however more distant connections include Austin, San Antonio, Stephenville, Texarkana and Galveston. External users have access to A&M's massive processing capability as well GS specialized systems and servfces available at the Center. Remote terminals are enabling the remote user typing messages on a connected to the system via telephone lines o communicate directly with the computer by console or loading computer cards remotely. ) ) REMOTE TERMINALS Approximately 45 remote terminals are connected to the 360/65 computer system. Terminal hardware includes IBM 2740's, IBM 2741's, IBM1030's, IBM 1050's, IBM 2770's, IBM 2780's, Sanders 720 Cathode Ray Tubes as well as Unitech and Teletype equipment. last year the number of terminals connected to the 360/65 more than doubled. - I - -. r I ~ :: ~ ~ ~ - i~ ~C2 ,~ - C - c::a . .... - ~ .... Z Z C ~ ~ a: -= i ~ - ~ 'Q l 8J ~ ~ I ! . t 1 . I t L t. ,. q.; Recent additions include a Former Student records system which uses four Sanders Cathode Ray Tubes to maintain and update records of 60,000 former students, A library circulation system automated the process of recording books in circulation. University fiscal accounting was recently placed on-line with an IBM 2770 terminal and a Sanders Cathode Ray Tube terminal. Automated on-line systems have proved more efficient, more convenient, and more reliable than previous systems. '- --- ~ i! .. ~ J1.. -~ Central Stores on-line sys- . tem is designed to effect inventory control as the sales bill is prepared. An on-line system for the Texas Commercial Feed and Fertilizer Control Service is used to maintain records of the sale and manufacture of com- mercial feeds and fertilizers. ON-LINE ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEMS The trend toward on-line processing has prospered in in- ternal endeavors as well as external ones at Texas A&M. Automation of administrative systems is currently widespread on campus. An on-line system is used by the Registrar to main- tain the student records system. Records may be queried and updated remotely using a Cath- ode Ray Tube terminal. Payroll records are maintained through a similar system. ~ ',,"n ......~,-~: ,I~, ',,-, :'\.::.' . REMOTE COMPUTING CENTER The Remote Computing Center (RCC) was the first remote facility. located on the second floor of the Cushing library, the RCC is designed especially for undergraduate users, however it is open to all users, The RCC operates with a high speed card reader and printer and 26 keypunches which are available to the users. Students keypunch and load their own jobs at the remote location. Student jobs are given high priority at Texas A&M. Most student jobs can be processed in Jess than a second, and they receive instantaneous turnaround. TEAGUE COMPUTING CENTER The Teague Computing Center (TCe) was opened in June 1971. It is located in the basement of the Olin E. Teague Research Center and is available to faculty, staff, and graduate students. The TCC has two high speed printers, a high speed card reader with a reader display unit, twelve keypunches, a reproducer and an interpreter- verifier. An IBM 2741 terminal for APl users is also available at the TCe. 1 ,,/ / l,_i ,\ ':1.:",- " ""1 , . , :\