Scientist workplace program
The Scientist Workplace Program (WAP) was initiated in 1990 as a counterpart to the Computer Investment Program (CIP) from 1984. Workstation computers used by scientists at universities , like microcomputers for teaching, should be financed jointly by the federal and state governments . The definition was: "The researcher workstation (WAP) serves to improve the quality of computer-assisted activities and to reduce the time required for this through direct access to a computer at the workplace".
The program expired in 2007 as a result of the federalism reform. As part of the follow-up program “Large Equipment in the Federal States” based on the Basic Law ( GG ) Art. 143c, WAP applications are still possible under changed conditions.
background
Universities are a matter for the federal states and are therefore financed by the federal states. However, from 1970 to 2006, on the basis of the Basic Law Art. 91a according to the Higher Education Funding Act (HBFG), the federal and state governments each half financed the expansion and construction of universities as a joint task. According to the HBFG, this also included the procurement of large devices for training and research if the costs for the individual device including accessories exceeded 150,000 DM (from 1997 only increased to 250,000 DM for universities).
A single workstation computer could therefore not be procured as a large device from the HBFG. The introduction of the WAP made it possible to consider several networked workstation computers together with a server - referred to as a cluster - as a large device in order to enable procurement within the framework of the HBFG, i.e. H. funded with federal funds to enable. Criteria for clusters of workstation computers were developed by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
The WAP was a long time coming, but it was still a successful program. Between 1991 and 2007, 2,569 WAP applications with 54,301 workstation computers were approved in the amount of € 389.1 million.
WAP cluster
The computers were usually set up in the work rooms (office, laboratory, etc.) of the scientists. University networks were still being set up in 1990 by the computer centers ; It was therefore expressly recommended that "due to the uniform framework conditions at institute or department level, local networks ( LANs ) of workstation computers (clusters) that have access to higher-level networks via the university network should be set up". The aim should be the "shared use of resources and information", "by merging several computers into a cluster, a synergy effect had to be achieved".
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Planning Committee for University Building: Decision on the co-financing of workstation computers for scientists (PDF; 292 kB) of June 28, 1990, including DFG criteria for WAP clusters.
- ↑ DFG: Notes on WAP applications in the program "Großgeräte der Länder" ( RTF ; 259 kB), February 2010.
- ^ DFG: Information Processing at Universities - Organization, Services and Systems (PDF; 436 kB); Recommendations of the Commission for IT Infrastructure for 2011–2015, Bonn 2010, as well as previous recommendations of the Commission for computer systems.