Skirball Information Technologies

History:
Skirball Information Technologies was established in 1994 with the arrival of Director Ruben Abagyan to the Institute. Joshua Hart and Jon Weider joined the group later that same year. Tim Cardozo came aboard in 1995. The founding vision of the group included a commitment to a new generation of UNIX based integrated computer systems with a fast powerful Intranet. The system arms every biologist in the institute and throughout the Medical Center with seamless and trouble-free access to state-of-the-art facilites and up-to-date information within Skirball. From completely digital imaging to entirely Web-based electronic commerce, Skirball IT created a highly functional resource unique not only to NYU Medical Center but to the world.

IT Accomplishments and Statistics

Systems
• Automatic 24 hour software distribution and maintenance Over 1000 licenses deployed in a two-year period
• Automated backup and retrieval of Macintosh and workstation files Over 75 Gigabytes of retrievable archive
• Group communication tools (e-mail, Web pages) Over 3G per month transferred
• Mac OS X transition project Over 300 machines converted by end of 2003
• Mac OS Xplained Seminar series

World-Wide Web
• Establishment and development of Skirball Web Intranet (One of the most extensive Intranet at NYUMC) 3,000 MB exchanged per month
• Central, entirely Web-based directories phone book (live feed from SoMIT databases) ,Journals (communally updated), etc. 1000 uses per month
• Web-based IT trouble tracker and e-mail reminder system. cases filed
• Automatic Web authoring tools and site navigation Over 100 pages of information created and indexed
• Web-based shared facility sign-up system Over 2000 hours scheduled by users throughout the medical center
• Web-based Bioinformatics Resource Over 300 unique users