[Beowulf] Cloud / HPC

[Hearns, John]

> I've taken to saying I work in "Computing" as a distinct field from "IT".  The difference being that Computing is about using computers for calculations/analytics rather than as a tool for doing something else.


Ashley, you are hitting a nail on the head there.
Throughout my career, I have worked with scientists, doctors and engineers on getting the best from computing systems.
People on this field are distinct from Corporate IT who are concerned with business efficiency and business continuity.
Not to say of course that Computing does not contribute to business efficiency - far from it, it may even be at the core of business.
But Corporate IT types tend to see the world a bit differently.

Here is an anecdote - when I joined a major teaching hospital in London, having worked on the first PACS in the UK, I was keen to give my input on the
Procurement of their first PACS system - which holds large amounts of medical imaging data - at the time on CD jukeboxes (ahem).
At a meeting someone from IT asked how this system was to be backed up - my reply that you don't back up huge volumes of data like that,
but make two copies was a bit of a surprise.


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