The ZCU

The Zoology Computing Unit is comprised of the shared computing resources of the Zoology department, including hardware, software, and the two staff positions ("wetware"). There are 3 computer rooms to provide faculty and graduate students with access to UNIX, Macintosh and IBM-compatible ("Wintel") computers. In addition there are 2 21-seat labs: one of Wintel machines used for teaching undergraduate and graduate courses, and a Macintosh lab that is open to all Faculty of Science undergrads. The ZCU manages the computing equipment in those 5 rooms plus that in the departmental administrative offices. The ZCU runs the main servers (mail, web, file, print, domain name, etc.) and administers the 4 local area networks to which departmental computing equipment, both ZCU and private, is attached.

The Services

The ZCU provides free access to e-mail (with @zoology.ubc.ca e-mail addresses), the web, and internet newsgroups for all grads, faculty and staff in Zoology. These free services are available only via network connections. Hands-on and dial-in access to departmental computing facilities require a ZCU membership which is currently $100 for 12 months, and is normally paid by the thesis supervisor. Printing charges are extra, and there are currently no set quotas for any resource.

The ZCU, and other departmental facilites like it, exist for reasons of economy of scale, customization and convenience. Shared resources make sense when they are not cost effectively owned by an individual, either because of outright expense or because they are only infrequently needed by a given individual. Such resources include hardware, software, and people. The same goes for quantity rather than quality of a resource. For example, the ZCU machines are often used as "overflow" from labs in which there are not as many computers as people. It is more convenient to have shared resources available locally than at a university level. Customized hardware/software selection, file and printer serving, mailing lists, course tools and intranet features, further reduce the overheads facing departmental computing users.

Historically the ZCU took an active role in assisting and advising graduate students in the data acquisition, data analysis and communication aspects of their work, through both courses and one-to-one consultation. Personal consultation and troubleshooting services were also available at no cost to individuals and their non-ZCU equipment. But the great increase in size and complexity of the departmental computing infrastructure, plus budget realities that prevent hiring additional staff, have forced discontinuation of those services.

The Staff

Alistair Blachford (alistair@zoology.ubc.ca, 822-2645) is the manager of the ZCU, Richard Sullivan (richard@zoology.ubc.ca, 822-3882) is core systems administrator, and Andy LeBlanc (andy@zoology.ubc.ca, 822-6527) is the lab systems administrator.