Research Computing Services
Research Computing Services (separated in August 2007 from the former Manchester Computing at the University of Manchester), provides the focus for the University of Manchester's activities in supercomputing or high-performance computing, grid computing or e-science and computational science. Research Computing Services provides facilities, services, expertise and training in these fields for both academic and commercial customers. Research Computing Services also has an active research and development programme to identify, develop and evaluate new research computing technologies and services.
The University of Manchester has been home to many supercomputers, starting from the 1948 Manchester Baby - the world's first stored program computer. Recent supercomputers have included a Cray T3E, SGI Origin and Altix systems, and several large clusters.
Research Computing Services and it's predecessors (Manchester Computing etc) have been providing (high performance) computing services nationally in the UK since the 1970's. Manchester Computing operated the UK's 1998-2006 national supercomputer service CSAR with SGI and CSC Ltd. It currently operates other national computer services in the UK, including the Access Grid Support Centre (AGSC) and, as part of consortia, the UK National Grid Service (NGS) and North West Grid.
Research Computing Services is a part of several research centres including E-Science North West (ESNW), and the UK's National Centre for e-Social Science (NCeSS).