ITaP is now offering no-hassle data storage in the same way its community cluster program helps faculty members do research using high-performance computing — that is, without having to worry about running a computer system.

Faculty can purchase trays of highly reliable, high-performance scratch disk space for research use through ITaP. Participants purchase disk media. ITaP provides the infrastructure, five years' warranty support and systems administration.

“This is really intended for people who need high-speed, reliable storage connected to hundreds of clients,” said John Campbell, associate vice president for information technology, who leads ITaP research computing.

A summary of storage options and prices is on ITaP's Web site.

In addition, ITaP is taking orders for its latest community cluster, named Coates, which was built in July.

The Coates project also is an opportunity for departments or individuals purchasing computing equipment for use outside the cluster to take advantage of price breaks available in a group purchase, Campbell said. The combining of orders during purchasing attracts significantly better prices from vendors.

Through the community cluster program, ITaP pools funds from grants, faculty startup packages and institutional sources to make more computing power available than faculty and campus units could afford individually for major engineering, science and social science research projects. ITaP installs, administers and maintains those systems, including security, allowing researchers to concentrate on doing their research.

More information about the community cluster program is on ITaP's Web site.

Writer: Greg Kline, science and technology writer, ITaP, (765) 494-8167, gkline@purdue.edu

Last updated: Sept. 18, 2009

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