Application areas

Computers are used in almost every occupation. It is now difficult to find examples of where computer technology does not play a role. This page deals with some example applications where a range of computers are used.

Microcomputer (PC)

• PC
  • Small business, desk top publishing, home computing
  • Hardcopy text processing (Home Office, Wordprocessing, Desktop publishing )
    • Home publishing, small business (MS Publisher 97)
      CPU: 486DX running Win95 or NT Workstation
      RAM: 8 MB (Win95), 12 MB (WinNT)
      Hard Disk: typical 116MB (CD includes 140MB clip-art
      CD-ROM
      VGA monitor, keyboard, Mouse
      Internet access: Modem (28.8kbps)
      Printer: Inkjet (colour) or Laser (black & white).
    • Professional publishing (Pagemaker)
      
  • Multimedia
    • Business (Multimedia)
  • Computer aided design
    • Configuration
  • Accounting
    • Home accounts (MS-Money)
      
    • Small accounting bureau (run from single PC)
      
  • Electronic Office (MS-Office97, eMail)
    • CPU: 486 +
      CD-ROM, keyboard
      sVGA (800 x 600) at 256 colours
      MS Intellimouse
      OS: Win95 or Win NT
      RAM: Win95 = 8-12MB (16 for MS-Access) to run apps individually more for simultaneous running.; Win NT = 16MB (more to run simultaneously)
      Hard Disk: Professional ed: 73-191 MB required (121MB typical); Standard ed. 60-167MB (102MB typical).
      Modem: 28.8K.
      Printer: Laser.
• Laptop
  • salesperson, journalist.
  • Whakapapa Medical Center
    • direct database links to medical records, ACC forms
    • bedside computing on ward rounds
    • supply instant information when visiting immobile patients
  • Foreign fishing trawlers
    • produce mandatory satellite position reports
    • comparable to Challenger's ( spaceshuttle ) positioning system
    • connects to Inmarsat C network
  • [138]Computerworld NZ Nov '95
• Transportable
  • Construction engineers (for multiple sites)
• Palmtop
  • Bread delivery/orders, Stock taking/Stock control.

Midrange (Minicomputer, Server)

• Engineering
• Office automation
• Accounting
  • Accounting practice (Win95 based)
    Server:
    Client:
    Note: Text based accounting software would require significantly lower specifications.
• NZ Health Information Service

Mainframe

• Insurance Companies
• banks
• airline reservations
• Example: data warehouse
  Telecom plans huge data warehouse (Mar 1997)
  • Silicon Graphics Origin 2000 (introduced October 1996).
  • Operating system : Unix
  • 12 CPU's
  • 2GB memory
  • 800GB Hard Disk
  • Software: Oracle Version 7.3 database
  • Other Origins sold to Team New Zealand for the America's Cup and to Land Transport.
  • Jackson R (1997, Mar 10)

Supercomputer

• Example: Web based betting
  NZ TAB web based betting system.
  • 2 x Silicon Graphics Origin 2000.
  • 5000 users per day (Apr 99).
  • One server drives the database and betting engine that registers bets and updates odds
  • Other runs a web server to generate web content on the fly from the database and takes punters bets
  • Silicon Graphics Advert (1999, Apr 12)

Microcomputer (PC)

• Workstation

Scientists and engineers in

• Mechanical Computer Aided Design (CAD)
• Electrical CAD
• Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
• Science and Research
• aerospace,
• magnetic resonance imaging
• Computer Assisted Engineering

Midrange (Minicomputer, Server)

Mainframe

Supercomputer

US government agencies for tasks such as;

• worldwide weather forecasting,
• oil exploration
• weapons research.
• Example: Climate and oceanographic prediction
  NZ NWA.
  • Silicon Graphics Cray T3E.
  • Distributed memory parallel processing system.
  • Used for numerical modelling of climate and oceanographic prediction, prediction of tides, currents and pollution flows, fisheries biomass and modelling for predicting fishery stocks and calculating quotas.
  • Law, G (1999, Apr 12)
• Example : Climatic change simulation

• Computer simulation showing the effects of greenhouse gasses on the climate.
• The illustration is from the National Center for Supercomputer Applications in the United States.
• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is studying the earth's long-term climate change.

• [3]Computerworld '93

• Example: SDSC: A National Laboratory for Computational Science and Engineering
  • SDSC's mission is to advance scientific research through computation, serve as a national focal point for development in key enabling computational technologies, and support the transfer of these technologies to industry to enhance U.S. economic competitiveness. Thousands of researchers around the country in all major scientific disciplines collaborate with SDSC.
  • More specifically, SDSC
    • Conducts research in scientific applications and enabling computational technologies with partners from academia, government, and industry.
    • Provides access to the highest performance computing and visualization resources.
    • Develops tools to integrate computing resources and enhance researchers' productivity.
    • Develops undergraduate and K-12 curricula and educational programs to spread expertise in the use of high performance computational tools.
    • Integrates computational technology into commercial research, design, and manufacturing processes through partnerships with industry.
  • Administration & Funding
    • In operation since 1986, SDSC is affiliated with UCSD and administered by General Atomics. It receives policy guidance from a consortium of 27 leading universities and research institutions. It has an annual budget of $25 million, approximately 60% of which comes from the National Science Foundation. The remaining 40% comes from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Institutes of Health, NASA, the State and University of California, and industrial partners.
  • CRAY T3E
    • In late 1996, SDSC installed a CRAY T3E configured with
      • 256 processors--each with 128 MB (16 megawords) of memory. Each processor is a DEC Alpha 21164 (300 MHz clock). A total of 240 processors are available for use in parallel jobs.
      • 300 GB of disk, multiple HIPPI and FDDI network interfaces, and four GigaRing channels that provide a total of almost 4 Gb/s of I/O bandwidth.
      • The T3E has a peak performance of more than 150 Gflops--eight times the performance of the CRAY T3D system it replaced. Unlike the T3D, which used SDSC's C90 as a front end, the T3E is a self-hosted system.
      • The T3E runs the UNICOS/mk operating system.
  • INFORMATION REPOSITORIES
    • Researchers can also make use of SDSC's archival file storage systems. The NSL UniTree system provides 100 GB of disk cache and long-term storage for up to 20 TB of data in robot-managed tape libraries. By April 1997, SDSC will replace UniTree with the High Performance Storage System (HPSS). This state-of-the-art hierarchical storage management system, which also plays a key role in SDSC's data-intensive computing research, will provide 1 TB of disk cache and up to 120 TB of storage in two IBM Magstar tape libraries controlled by a 23-node IBM SP2 system.
  • downloaded from http://www.sdsc.edu/ March 1997.

• Use large machinery and heavy raw materials, sited near ports, main rail routes.
• Examples: Ship building, Steel works

Microcomputer (PC)

Midrange (Minicomputer, Server)

Mainframe

Hybrid

• Use light raw materials and produce light goods. Sited near main roads, airports.
• Example: Clothing manufacturing, electronic equipment (such as computers)

Microcomputer (PC)

• Laptop
  • Example: NZ Dairy
    • issued to managers
    • function as portable offices
    • facilitate reading of key performance data
    • equipped with network docking stations.
    • [138]Computerworld NZ Nov '95
• Powerful desktop

• Computer aided design configuration
• Example: PDL Electronics
  • CAD used to design electronics chasis

Midrange (Minicomputer, Server)

Mainframe

Hybrid

Microcomputer (PC)

Midrange (Minicomputer, Server)

Mainframe

• large mail order houses
• Large retail outlets
• Example: "Woolworth's opts for $2.5 million IBM Upgrade."
  • Woolworths is upgrading to a six year old IBM 4381/14 processor with an ES/9000 9121/14 . New peripherals include a 9345 DASD (Data Access Storage Device) and a rack mounted tape system."
  • [3]Computerworld '93

Hybrid

• Terminal and computers interface to purchasing, inventory control, accounting, personnel, branch management, credit card management software modules.

• [142] ITAsia May'95

Microcomputer (PC)

Midrange (Minicomputer, Server)

• Process Control Systems

Mainframe

Hybrid

Microcomputer (PC)

Midrange (Minicomputer, Server)

Mainframe

Supercomputer

• Example: Auckland University buys SGI supercomputer
• Auckland University's science and engineering departments will take delivery in May 1996 of a Unix based Silicon Graphics Power Challenge system. (Nov '95 lead supercomputer market with 37% global share and is installed in 128 of the worlds top 500 supercomputing sites.
• 16 processors with a peak performance of 6G flops (Floating point instructions per second)
• Retail price around $2.5 million.
• Used for a wide range of research projects. For example the department of mathematics, which studies the evolution of the universe, requires building detailed models of star clusters.
• (Keenan, 1995)

Hybrid

Microcomputer (PC)

Midrange (Minicomputer, Server)

Mainframe

• Special effects in movies

Hybrid

• Example: Special Effects in Movies. (Mar 1995)

A NZ production company, Weta recently purchased a mainframe computer for the production of special effects for the movie "The Frighteners" made up of the following configuration. (Prices are in $NZ)

Silicon graphics Onyx machine (mainframe)

• capable of 3 workstation-sized screens being directly attached to it
• 2Gb main memory
• 150Gb Hard disk storage (35 striped disks)
• 8 200mhz Mips symmetrical processors (expandable to 24)

plus 10 SGI Indigo workstations, each with

• 500Mb memory
• 40Gb local disk storage
• High speed FDDI communications.

Value:

• Hardware NZ$2 million
• Software NZ$2 million
• Extras put the total spending at more than $6 million.
  • [87] NZ Computerworld (Mar 95)

[Rev: 14/04/99] Jun-97 © 1997-99 V/2-Com (Verhaart), P O Box 8415, Havelock North, New Zealand.