Central to the whole of the plan presented is the concept that the SRC should provide an integrated and co-ordinated service for interactive computing for engineers.
The Technical Group recommends that the general plan and the resources required for it should be approved by Council and that the Director of the Rutherford Laboratory should be responsible for the implementation and management of the programme.
The implementation of the programme proposed by the Technical Group over the next five years involves various discrete actions but these need to be seen in the overall context of an integrated plan designed to meet the anticipated needs of the engineering community in the universities and polytechnics for SRC supported work.
The Technical Group therefore recommends that an Engineering Computing Facilities Committee should be appointed by the Engineering Board which would:
The Committee should include representatives of individual subject committees as well as independent members with experience of computer systems.
A users' sub-committee should also be appointed to provide a recognised channel through which the views of the community itself can be made known.
The programme proposed by the Technical Group covers the establishment of central facilities for use by universities and polytechnics and the provision or enhancement of local minis in individual institutions.
The central facilities proposed are:
The facilities at UMIST were provided primarily for the support of researches being undertaken by the Control Centre at UMIST while those at Edinburgh were provided primarily for the support of researches in computer-aided design and artificial intelligence being undertaken by various groups within the university. A grant mechanism for support of the facilities was quite proper in these circumstances but the Technical Group does not consider that it would be appropriate to the management and operation of central facilities in that:
The Technical Group considered two ways in which the operation of these particular facilities could be undertaken. One method is that they are operated by the university under contract to the SRC. In this case the University would be responsible for the staff. The second method would be for SRC staff to be used with the facilities housed in buildings rented by the SRC from the Universities.
The Technical Group recommends that the SRC should discuss the detailed arrangements with the Universities concerned.
The use of local minis would most likely be wholly within individual institutions. The mechanism for the provision and support of these facilities was not discussed but the equipment should be loaned to individual institutions and withdrawn when use of it is no longer justified in terms of the researches supported by the SRC.
The same arrangements should apply in respect of terminal equipment.
All equipment should remain the property of the SRC.
The facilities recommended by the Technical Group are specifically intended to help meet the computing needs of those programmes or projects which are supported by the Engineering Board using the normal criteria for SRC research grant support. The allocation of time on the central facilities and/or the provision or enhancement of local minis will need to be determined by subject committees as an essential part of the resource requirements of researches for which SRC support is sought.
A detailed mechanism will need to be developed whereby requests made by university and polytechnic groups are fully discussed with the Rutherford Laboratory before formal grant applications are submitted to the SRC. The procedure should be designed to ensure that a proper assessment of the computing content of proposals is made and that applications are not submitted to the SRC where adequate facilities are available through central university services. The Director of the Rutherford Laboratory would advise subject committees of the assessments made when the grant applications are formally considered. He would also advise them at the same time of the availability of resources. The Director should also have discretion to make facilities available to university groups, within defined limits, to enable prospective users to obtain experience before submitting formal applications.
An annual audit should be made of the management and use of facilities provided through the central service. This function should be the responsibility of the Engineering Computing Facilities Committee and the Rutherford Laboratory should be responsible for providing the information required by the Committee.
The initial allocation of terminal equipment will need to be considered on a concerted basis and might be undertaken by the Engineering Computing Facilities Committee in consultation with subject committees.
