The University of London Computer Centre (ULCC) was founded in 1968, and was the first
supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second ( FLOPS) instead of million instructions ...
facility established in London for the purpose of scientific and educational research by all of the colleges of the
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
. ULCC initially provided large-scale
CDC-based facilities, then from 1982 to 1991 a national
Cray
Cray Inc., a subsidiary of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, is an American supercomputer manufacturer headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It also manufactures systems for data storage and analytics. Several Cray supercomputer systems are listed ...
vector supercomputing service, and more recently a six processor, 4Gb
Convex
Convex or convexity may refer to:
Science and technology
* Convex lens, in optics
Mathematics
* Convex set, containing the whole line segment that joins points
** Convex polygon, a polygon which encloses a convex set of points
** Convex polytope ...
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 may refer to:
Names
* Janet (given name)
* Janet (French singer) (1939–2011)
Surname
* Charles Janet (1849–1932), French engineer, inventor and biologist, known for the Left Step periodic table
* Jules Janet (1861–1945), French psych ...
Internet Protocol
The Internet Protocol (IP) is the network layer communications protocol in the Internet protocol suite for relaying datagrams across network boundaries. Its routing function enables internetworking, and essentially establishes the Internet.
IP h ...
Service (JIPS), the largest of the JANET network centres, and various international links and relays on behalf of
UKERNA
Janet may refer to:
Names
* Janet (given name)
* Janet (French singer) (1939–2011)
Surname
* Charles Janet (1849–1932), French engineer, inventor and biologist, known for the Left Step periodic table
* Jules Janet (1861–1945), French psych ...
.
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
In library and archival science, digital preservation is a formal endeavor to ensure that digital information of continuing value remains accessible and usable. It involves planning, resource allocation, and application of preservation methods an ...
and
e-learning
Educational technology (commonly abbreviated as edutech, or edtech) is the combined use of computer hardware, software, and Education sciences, educational theory and practice to facilitate learning. When referred to with its abbreviation, edt ...
.
In 2009, after 40 years, ULCC moved out of its premises at 20 Guilford Street, which were custom built in the 1960s to house some of the earliest supercomputers in the UK. It is now based within the central university at Senate House.
In 2015 ULCC became part of
CoSector - University of London.
References
External links
CoSectorUniversity of London* Senate House Library Archives, University of Londo
{{Authority control
History of computing in the United Kingdom
History of telecommunications in the United Kingdom
University of London