The Institute for Astronomy (IfA) computing section provides an array of IT infrastructure and services in support of research, teaching and learning, and administrative services. These include development and maintenance of the Institute’s central computing and networking systems; hardware and software support for the large number of individually owned workstations, PCs, and laptops throughout the Institute; video conferencing; VoIP; and consultations for equipment purchasing.

Technology Highlights:

• The IfA locations on three islands (Hawaii, Maui, and Oahu) are now connected at 10-gigabit-per-second bandwidth.
• IfA’s connections to the observatories on Mauna Kea and Haleakala, currently at 1-gigabit-per-second, are expected to be upgraded to 10-gigabit-per-second by August of 2013. Observatories on Mauna Kea are currently interconnected by the IfA-managed Mauna Kea Observatories Communications Network (MKOCN) at 1-gigabit-per-second. These connections are expected to be upgraded to 10-gigabit-per-second at the same time.
• For CPU-intensive computing, Linux servers — each with up to 12 cores and total storage capacity of up to 100 terabytes — are accessible with an user’s account on IfA public computers.

IfA has recently invested in a Polycom Video Switch, which supports high-definition conferencing with up to 90 simultaneous connections.

IfA is currently working with the UH IT Infrastructure group to convert our phone system at the Manoa facility to VoIP, which will help fix the problems we are having with aging (and an insufficient number of) phone lines.

Further details are available to internal users.