Letter of Justification

Overview

This Letter of Justification for the purchase of an Undergraduate Laboratory in Mathematics and Computer Science (LIMACS) is for the approval and signature of the Vice President of Information Resources, as required by University Policy.

A brief description of the use of this equipment.

This equipment will form the core computing resources for undergraduate instruction in Computer Science and Mathematics at the University of Miami. Classes will be taught in the laboratory room; homework will be assigned to be carried out on this equipment.

A brief discussion of why this particular equipment was selected.

The Silicon Graphics operation system, IRIX, combines the power of Unix with the ease of use of a Macintosh. For our undergraduate students, this would insure success at the introductory level as well as sophisticated understanding at the advanced level.

Silicon Graphics has developed a remarkable suite of software tools and development environments. This will illustrate for our students the modern view of the software development process and give them a head start on their careers.

We believe Silicon Graphics hardware to be superior to other vendors in terms of data bandwidth, processor upgrades, multimedia capabilities, network and open system integration and reliability. This allows us a reasonable certainty that the machines will remain useful and state-of-the-art for at least 4 years, with great flexibility in the employment of this resource.

The agreement with SGI includes as a crucial component the establishment of SGI's Varsity Program at the Department of Math and Computer Science. This program provides access to software and software support ( C, C++, Pascal, Fortran) and operating system, a desktop conferencing environment and a large suite of program development tools. Competing vendors could not offer so comprehensive a program.

Justification per "Paragraph 5"

• The proposed computer or software has been benchmarked against typical computational loads or system needs that it will be subject to in proposed usage.

  We are currently running an Indy-class server in the 200 MHz R4400 version and have borrowed an Indy 133 MHz R4600PC to benchmark. We are comfortable with the performance level available now and for several years forward.

• Multiple vendor offerings have been considered.

  We have compared the SGI offering to IBM P-Series running AIX, Sun Sparc 5 running Solaris, DEC Alphas running DEC Unix, Macintosh power macs running System 7.5 and PC's running Microsoft software or Linux. We found SGI superior in hardware capabilities, software state-of-the-art, software support and price.

• An adequate software and software support plan exists.

  The software and software support plan is provided by the Varsity Program, which is a crucial part of the agreement with SGI, and is to be put in place as part of the agreement with SGI, prepaid for three years.

• A plan exists for integrating the new computer system or software acquisition into the overall computer architecture of the department, school or other University component, sponsoring the acquisition.

  The new computers run standard Open System software components, i.e. Unix and TCP/IP, are hence fully compatible with the existing base of computing in the Department of Math and Computer Science. We intend to create the laboratory as a client network to the existing SGI Challenge S, which will act as software server, administrative lead dog and internet gateway.

• The proposed computer system or software acquisition will satisfy the computing requirements of the department, school or other University component which is sponsoring the acquisition, for a period of four to seven years.

  The current machines are state-of-the-art, and should remain at the top half of their class for two years. They will likely remain of acceptable performance for two further years, however our plan is to reevaluate department needs at the end of the third year, upgrade and retarget these machines according to the reevaluation, planning for an additional two to three years of service from the platform. We consider this to demonstrate exceptional longevity, given the speed of computer technology growth.

• The economic support plan which demonstrates an ability to satisfy reasonably predictable operating and site preparation costs.

  Hardware and software support is prepaid for three years. We currently have system administrators on staff, and their responsibilities are widened to include administration of the laboratory. The laboratory will be in room CC 426, the Hertz Laboratory, which is already a class room, and has already has the supporting infrastructure: power, air conditioning and networking access. We will purchase tables, several small networking hubs, and security devices including electronic locks on the laboratory doors and chains to secure the computers to the tables. The prices have been estimated and carefully considered in the buying decision.

• An impact analysis relative to the work load and operating costs of other department, school or University computing resources.

  Work load will be reduced on several University computers, since classes which were taught on these resources will now be taught in the laboratory. Work load might also be reduced on University personnel, since the department's system administrators are now more involved in meeting the computing needs of undergraduates. However, work load on the computer networking might increase, since Unix machines are capable of a highly distributed working style. We view this highly distributed style as good; however, it could be drastically curtailed if necessary to ration the burden of this laboratory on campus networking resources.