Holger Haas

© dkfz.de

At the DKFZ, both the need for Information Technology (IT) and its use have increased strongly over recent years. This is due to several influencing factors. First, our everyday work relies increasingly on IT such as communication technology and office applications and, second, the needs of science are continuously changing and evolving. Examples include matters of mobility and communication, international collaborations, bioinformatics projects with high demands on data transmission and data storage capacities, processing of data from laboratory instruments such as microscopes and cell sorters or from large medical systems, professional presentation of scientific results and others.

The task of the Information Technology Core Facility is to ensure optimal use of Information Technology at the DKFZ, to advise staff from all departments in selecting IT tools for their specific needs in a general context, to implement and operate central IT services and to support individual solutions in planning and operation. This is done on a service-oriented basis. Since all essential strategic and operative functions and tasks at the DKFZ are substantially supported by IT, there are high demands on the availability and security of IT systems.

The working groups within the Information Technology Core Facility specialize on individual aspects of IT.

• The working group "Software Systems" provides software on server systems and applications for client systems. This includes central services like user account management,  software distribution and licence management, access- and resource management for file services , maintenance and administration for ms-sql server, webserver and several other software platforms.
   
• The working group „Databases“ is responsible for providing database development and support.
  
  
• The focus of the working group “Web Application Development” is on the technical support of the DKFZ’s Internet and Intranet services.


• The working group “Desktop Services” runs the service center for user enquiries and works on matters relating to the desktop environment such as notebooks, Windows and MacOS, and operates the high-quality printing center.


• Advice on graphics and graphics processing is provided by the working group "Graphics".


• Central servers, printing services, data storage and scientific computing are the responsibilities of the working group "Central Servers".


• The working group “Networks” takes care of the physical data network and security services.