Computing at the EUI

The primary aim of the Information and Communication Technology Service (ICT) is to support the European University Institute (EUI) and its community in pursuing teaching and research at the highest university level.

The ICT serves this ever-growing community of Professors, Researchers, Fellows, Visitors, administrative staff and trainees, whose numbers are further increased by new summer schools and innovative postdoctoral programmes, by implementing the hardware infrastructure, the software services and the necessary support.

Ever since it opened in 1976, the EUI has continued to expand: one of the consequences of such constant enlargement is that the Institute campus is now composed of a dozen buildings scattered around the central nucleus of the Badia.

The challenge for the ICT has been to guarantee all electronic and functional interconnections between all the buildings on this spread-out and relatively disjointed campus; a challenge that is met by implementing new facilities and equipment such as the recent (January 2011) extension of the 1Gb fibre optic network to all sites.

Among the many IT facilities available, the following stand out:

• More than 700 PCs are installed throughout the entire EUI campus (with standard base configuration) while most critical functions are provided by servers organised in cluster for fault-tolerance (see Hardware Specifications , Standard Software for Staff  and Standard Software for Researchers );
• For specialised and large-scale computational applications, special servers are maintained on which a wide selection of mathematical and statistical programs are installed (see Parallel & Remote Computing );
• Several computing laboratories, located in the buildings, are open to EUI users - mainly researchers - on a first-come-first-served basis. They are equipped with the standard software suite for general use as well as for specialised research applications, including mathematical modelling, symbolic editors, simulators, semantic modelling, etc. Network laser printers/photocopiers/scanners are likewise available in several places in and around computer rooms (see Computer & Internet Points , Research Software  and Network Printers );
• All premises are linked by 1.000 Mbps (1 Gbps) LAN via fibre optic lines while telephones are based on VoIP infrastructure;
• Various security technologies are implemented on a large scale, including pervasive anti-virus and spyware checking, automatic system updates (patches), encrypted communications, single sign-on infrastructure, continuous network access control, DMZ and firewall;
• All EUI members are automatically issued a personal computing account, which permits access to all of its services, including personal E-mail address; use of EUI PCs with the standard client software configuration described above; Wi-Fi connectivity; VPN access from outside, use of the EUI Intranet, and data resources furnished by the Library or other external providers (see Accounts Overview , E-mail , Getting Connected , VPN  and E-Resources );
• Other IT facilities directly run by the ICT or in joint effort with other Services are Personal Webpages , Forum , Seminar Rooms and Video-conferencing  and Housing database .