Events

Upcoming events from BCS Oxfordshire

Discrete Linear Dynamical Systems

Markus-Lyapunov_Play-670

Professor Joël Ouaknine, University of Oxford

Thursday 16th May 2013 – 7:30pm

Oxford e-Research Centre, 6 Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3QG

In his talk for us last year on real-time systems, Prof. Ouaknine gave his audience a deeper understanding of a complex topic, which was very well received. For his return visit, expect more of the same, this time on Discrete Linear Dynamical Systems, which are simple mathematical models used in a wide range of fields. These give rise to many deep and interesting decision problems, relating to everyday computer-science concerns. This talk will also discuss some of the fascinating links which have recently emerged with other parts of computer science and mathematics, inspiring some of the best minds in these fields around the world. Expect to be challenged and enlightened in equal measure.

About Professor Joël Ouaknine

Joël is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of St John’s College. He was awarded a BSc and MSc in Mathematics from McGill University, and received a PhD in Computer Science from Oxford in 2001. He subsequently did postdoctoral work at Tulane University and Carnegie Mellon University, and more recently held a visiting professorship at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Cachan, France. In 2009, he was awarded an EPSRC Leadership Fellowship, enabling him to focus (almost) exclusively on research for a period of five years.

Joël was the 2010 recipient of the BCS Roger Needham Award, given annually “for a distinguished research contribution in Computer Science by a UK-based researcher within ten years of his or her PhD”. His research interests include the verification of real-time, probabilistic, and infinite-state systems (e.g. model-checking algorithms, decision problems, complexity), logic and applications to verification, linear dynamical systems, automated software analysis, concurrency, and theoretical computer science. 

Event Information

The meeting is on Thursday 16 May 7.00 for 7.30 and ends around 9.00.

It will be held at the Oxford e-Research Centre, 6 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3QG.

Sandwiches and light refreshments are available from 7.00pm.

Meetings are open to non-members and free.

Published: May 13, 2013 – 8:44 pm | By grohling | Also posted in BCS Oxfordshire | Comments Off

[Event Summary] A Contractual Approach to Manage Security Risks When Outsourcing

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The audience was pleased to welcome Dr Sam De Silva for his second visit to speak for us.

He gave many interesting insights into how to negotiate a good IT outsourcing contract which is commercially a successful arrangement for both customer and outsourcing supplier.

He spoke about the due diligence needed on both sides, identifying the standards and legal aspects that need to be conformed to. This included the need to drive to define the right level of detail in the contract. Using his extensive experience he gave lots of good examples of how to document not too much or too little detail to create a manageable long term relationship. As a lawyer he was keen to highlight important items to be agreed before the contract is signed and itemised in the contract particularly from a security view point to ensure the customer and the customer’s clients are protected.

Key aspects of the talk covered:

  • Due diligence
  • Defining the contract and Service Level Agreements
  • Negotiation
  • Legal and standards requirements, at this point he also touched on negotiating contracts with suppliers in other countries
  • Risks and Benefits of outsourcing
  • Cost savings or not. (He discussed the idea that you may actually choose to enter into a contract which does not save you money) e.g. the specialist skills provided by the supplier provide compelling benefits in other areas. Ensuring security of your file servers being one very good example.
  • Transitioning to the new outsourcing arrangement
  • Maintaining the relationship

At the end of the talk Sam opened the event up to questions from the audience. There followed a good interactive discussion around many of the points from the talk particularly the challenges that new technology and the cloud bring to setting up contracts of this nature.

Video Available

Published: May 8, 2013 – 8:39 pm | By grohling | Also posted in BCS Oxfordshire | Comments Off

Bristol Branch – Restoring the world’s oldest working digital computer

15/04/2013 – 19:30
15/04/2013 – 21:00

Speaker: Kevin Murrell

Venue: City of Bristol College

Please register for this event here.

7:00pm Refreshments, 7:30pm Main Talk

The recently restored Harwell Dekatron Computer is a typical project conducted by the Computer Conservation Society. Starting with the author’s vague memories of the machine being a museum display in the early 1970s, and a chance observation in 2006, the CCS began a project to find the remains of the computer and determine whether it might be restored.

A combination of luck, perseverance and vintage-technology know-how made the project possible, and this 1950s relay and valve computer has now been restored to full working order. It is now on public display and shown working, and is being used again in education with a new generation of programmers.

Kevin Murrell has been a member of the Computer Conservation Society for many years, initially as chair of the DEC working group and now as society secretary. Kevin divides his time between his own business supplying systems to the health service, acting as a trustee to The National Museum of Computing, and in his spare time, still tinkering with his collection of PDP8 mini-computers.

Published: April 9, 2013 – 8:02 pm | By grohling | Also posted in Other Branches | Comments Off

Visit to MINI Plant Oxford

Mini_100

Press_releaseApril 25 and May 1, 2013 @ 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm

BMW Mini Plant, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX4 6NL

 

First Tour Full, Second Tour arranged for May 1. Please visit second tour page for details.

100 Years of Car Production in Oxford

We have a special guided tour of the Mini production plant as 2013 marks the 100th year of car production in Oxford. Each car is individually produced to the customer’s precise specification using advanced engineering and computing technology.

Registration is required. Please visit the tour page for more information.

Follow the MINI convoy as it travels to eight former classic Mini production locations across Europe starting 13 March 2013.

Published: March 15, 2013 – 7:25 pm | By grohling | Comments Off

A Contractual Approach to Manage Security Risks When Outsourcing

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Dr Sam De Silva, Partner, Manches LLP
Thursday 7th March 2013 – 7:30pm
Oxford e-Research Centre, 6 Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3QG

171_Sam-DeSilvaMany businesses consider outsourcing because of cost savings, improved quality of the outsourced services and the opportunity to focus on its core competencies. One challenge in outsourcing which needs to be considered is the security risks. To a certain extent, such risks result because some parts of the customer’s IT infrastructure and processes are now under the control of a third party, the outsourcing service provider. The purpose of the session is to provide an outline of how the outsourcing contract between the customer and service provider can be used to manage such security risks.  Key issues in the contract which should be addressed to ensure that security risks are managed include: (1) addressing security in transition arrangements; (2) structuring and drafting the security requirements appropriately; (3) ensuring the customer has sufficient security audit rights; and (4) managing the risks of the service provider using shared environments.

About Dr. Sam De Silva

http://www.manches.com/people/sam-desilva

Event Information

The meeting is on Thursday 7 March 7.00 for 7.30 and ends around 9.00.

It will be held at the Oxford e-Research Centre, 6 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3QG.

Sandwiches and light refreshments are available from 7.00pm.

Meetings are open to non-members and free.

Published: February 24, 2013 – 11:42 am | By grohling | Also posted in Archive | Comments Off

Oxford Brookes-Oxford University “Bridging the Digital Research Divide”

21 March at St John’s College, Oxford

The event is intended to improve the dialogue between practitioners, researchers and policy-makers in the broad area of ‘digital economy’ developments.

If you’d like to attend, click here to complete the registration form. Number are limited, so please do this soon.

Published: February 24, 2013 – 11:00 am | By grohling | Also posted in General Interest | Comments Off

[Event Summary] Visit to European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts

DSCF1032-Welcome

The visit to ECMWF was scheduled to start with a short introduction about ECMWF, the Computer infrastructure used at ECMWF and a guided tour to the computer hall where all the supercomputers used by ECMWF reside.

Manfred Kloeppel started by introducing ECMWF as an independent intergovernmental organisation currently consisting of 37 Member and Co-Operating states. Established in 1975, ECMWF’s original goal defined by a Convention is to provide medium-range weather forecast to member and co-operating states twice daily and up to 10 days ahead. Each day, more than 300 million observational data elements are collected round the clock by a variety of Earth observing systems, including satellites, automatic and manned stations, aircrafts, ships, weather balloons and buoys. The production of a medium-range weather forecast (up to 15 days ahead) consists of four key requirements: a state-of-the-art data assimilation and analysis system, sophisticated weather prediction models, a constantly updated database of global weather observations and ultra-powerful computers.

DSCF1028-pullECMWF is not known to the general public because their key customers are the government’s environment department such as the Met Offices of Member and Co-Operating states. ECMWF will typically provide the numerical forecast data to the UK Met Office (or equivalent of the Member or Co-Operating states) and the UK Met Office will apply their weather forecast model to ECMWF’s data and then disseminate the results to the general public via news weather reports, Met Office website etc. Some Member or Co-Operating states do not have their own weather forecast model so they will then just circulate ECMWF’s numerical forecast in their appropriate medium.

Isabella Weger, Head of Computer Division spoke into detail about the need for high compute power to process complex data algorithms being applied to 300 million varieties of data from different sources to come up with the 15-day medium-range forecast.

ECMWF’s High Performance Computing Facility (HCPF) currently consists of two identical IBM Supercomputer 1600 clusters. Each one is based on 272 IBM pSeries p6-575 compute servers interconnected by a low latency high-speed network. The HPCFs have a ~17,400 total number of processes, 330 TFlops Peak Performance and a Sustained performance of ~20TFlops.

ECMWF’s forecast products are disseminated over Regional Meteorological Data Communications Network (RMDCN). The main aim is to provide a network infrastructure for both the connections between ECMWF and its Member and Co-Operating States. The Supercomputers have a 50% resource allocation to Research, 25% for Operational forecasts and another 25% allocated to Member States for any activities they wish to perform.

Published: February 24, 2013 – 10:27 am | By grohling | Also posted in Archive, BCS Oxfordshire | Comments Off

IT Challenges from Mars

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Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

Dr Helen Walker, Satellite Operations Group,

STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

Thursday 24th January 2012 – 7:30pm

Oxford e-Research Centre, 6 Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3QG

 

Abstract

ESA’s Mars Express satellite was launched in 2003, and has been in orbit around Mars for almost 10 years. There are seven instruments on the satellite all with different needs and priorities, and the environment on Mars is continually changing (with for example changing seasons and illumination). The software has to allow science to be executed, power to be conserved, and data downlinked. There is a mixture of techniques employed and options will be discussed. The talk will include some of the results from the various missions to Mars.

Dr Helen Walker

Dr Helen Walker is part of the Satellite Operations Group at STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. She has around thirty years experience of astronomical satellites, both as researcher and planning specialist. For five years she helped ESA plan science observations on the Mars Express satellite and now works with the four Cluster satellites. She is also Test Team Leader for the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) which will fly on the James Webb Space Telescope.

Event Information

The meeting is on Thursday 24 January 7.00 for 7.30 and ends around 9.00.

It will be held at the Oxford e-Research Centre, 6 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3QG.

Sandwiches and light refreshments are available from 7.00pm.

Meetings are open to non-members and free.

Published: January 16, 2013 – 9:12 pm | By grohling | Comments Off

Visit to European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts

weather

Thursday, February 14, 2013 @ 2:30 pm – 5:00 pm

European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecastsimage

The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is an independent intergovernmental organisation supported by 34 States. It provides weather services with medium-range forecasts of global weather (up to 15 days ahead), monthly forecasts, and seasonal forecasts. ECMWF’s computer system at its headquarters in Reading, Shinfield Park, is one of the largest for meteorology worldwide and contains the world’s largest archive of numerical weather prediction data. It runs the world’s most sophisticated medium-range prediction model of the global atmosphere and oceans. The National Meteorological Services of Member States and Co-operating States use ECMWF’s products for their own national duties, in particular to give early warning of potentially damaging severe weather.

ECMWF was established in 1975, in recognition of the need to pool the scientific and technical resources of Europe for the production of medium-range weather forecasts and of the economic and social benefits expected from it.

The ECMWF strategy puts the early warning of severe weather as its principal goal. This is particularly important as severe weather is predicted to become more frequent and more intense in some parts of the world under climate change. ECMWF can contribute to the development of strategies to mitigate and adapt to climate change. In particular, ECMWF’s emphasis on the provision of reliable predictions of severe weather can be seen as a key contribution to help society adapt to the dangers and threats associated with global warming. Also scientists and researchers around the world use ECMWF’s forecast products to monitor the environment and analyse climate change.

ECMWF’s monthly and seasonal forecasts provide early predictions of events such as heat waves, cold spells and droughts, as well as their impacts on sectors such as agriculture, energy and health.

Event Information

The meeting is on Thursday, February 14, 2013 @ 2:30 pm – 5:00 pm.

It will be held at:
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts
Shinfield Park
Weather Centre (S-bound),Reading,Wokingham RG2
UK

Booking Required

Meetings are open to non-members and free but reservations are essential. Please see the event page for more information.

Published: January 16, 2013 – 8:58 pm | By grohling | Comments Off

Hertfordshire Branch – The German Enigma, The Turing Bombe and the Bombe Rebuild

Date: 12 December 19:30 -21:00

Venue: Lindop Building, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hertfordshire AL10 9AB

FOC Event for both BCs and Non BCS Members

Speaker: Alan Wray, retired ex-BTM, ICT, ICL, now Fujitsu.

The breaking of Enigma was critical to the outcome of WW2. Alan’s talk will cover the development, adoption and operation of the Enigma; the outstanding contribution of the Polish Cipher Bureau; the basic design and operation of the Bombe and how it fitted into the overall breaking of Enigma at Bletchley Park. He will cover key dates and players in this fascinating story and include a little about the Bombe Rebuild, now complete and working at Bletchley Park.

Alan Wray spent much of his working life in various managerial roles in BTM, ICT, ICL (now Fujitsu). In his retirement he was a volunteer on the Bombe rebuild. He made all the electrical coils and non-inductive resistors, helped with relay assembly, commissioning and testing and occasionally fielded inquisitive visitors.

For more information http://www.herts.bcs.org/future.htm

Booking Ref: https://events.bcs.org/book/430/

Published: December 10, 2012 – 8:53 pm | By grohling | Also posted in Other Branches | Comments Off

What’s happening to the car industry? Driving Jaguar Land Rover Growth with CAE and HPC

BCS Project Management Specialist Group

18:00 on Tuesday, 11th December 2012 at BCS London.

Jaguar Land Rover design, engineer and manufacture luxury sports saloons, sports cars and premium 4x4s in the UK, which sell in 177 countries. The complexity, timescale and cost associated with automotive engineering and safety testing demands an advanced IT environment.

This presentation provides an overview of the development and deployment of a state-of-the-art Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) and High Performance Computing (HPC) IT ecosystem that underpins JLRs move from physical to virtual car product development, reducing the time to market, engineering costs and environmental impact of the product life cycle.

Andy Searle holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Diploma in Management Studies. He is a strategic technical leader and subject matter expert with 25 years of experience in Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) and High Performance Computing (HPC) with 22 years experience working for Jaguar, Land Rover and Ford in CAE and HPC virtual simulation.

Andy is responsible for the JLR IT technical strategy and architecture for the CAE and HPC ecosystem including HPC clusters, high performance and scalable storage, submission and scheduling, engineering workstations, applications, tools and licences for virtual simulation for the JLR Product Development vehicle programmes and cycle plan.

Members and non-members are welcome.  Book via our website www.proms-g.bcs.org.

Don’t forget – a buffet and festive drinks will be provided after the presentation – an ideal networking opportunity for you an your colleagues.

Published: December 5, 2012 – 7:11 pm | By grohling | Also posted in Other Branches | Comments Off

History of Naming on the Internet

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Roy Arends, Head of Research, Nominet UK
Thursday 6th December 2012 – 7:30pm
Oxford e-Research Centre, 6 Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3QG

This talk highlights the growth and shows the motivation to evolve and overcome early day ad-hoc naming schemes, all the way up to the modern domain name system. The data used (old network maps and host tables) predates the current internet, which evolved from the early ARPANET. The talk will also cover current developments and do some future gazing. There is a lot going on currently that will be included.

Event Information

The meeting is on Thursday 6 December 7.00 for 7.30 and ends around 9.00.

It will be held at the Oxford e-Research Centre, 6 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3QG.

Sandwiches and light refreshments are available from 7.00pm.

Meetings are open to non-members and free.

Published: December 2, 2012 – 9:44 pm | By grohling | Also posted in Archive | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off

What’s happening to the car industry? Driving Jaguar Land Rover Growth with CAE and HPC

BCS Project Management Specialist Group

18:00 on Tuesday, 11th December 2012 at BCS London.

Jaguar Land Rover design, engineer and manufacture luxury sports saloons, sports cars and premium 4x4s in the UK, which sell in 177 countries. The complexity, timescale and cost associated with automotive engineering and safety testing demands an advanced IT environment.

This presentation provides an overview of the development and deployment of a state-of-the-art Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) and High Performance Computing (HPC) IT ecosystem that underpins JLRs move from physical to virtual car product development, reducing the time to market, engineering costs and environmental impact of the product life cycle.

Andy Searle holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Diploma in Management Studies. He is a strategic technical leader and subject matter expert with 25 years of experience in Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) and High Performance Computing (HPC) with 22 years experience working for Jaguar, Land Rover and Ford in CAE and HPC virtual simulation.

Andy is responsible for the JLR IT technical strategy and architecture for the CAE and HPC ecosystem including HPC clusters, high performance and scalable storage, submission and scheduling, engineering workstations, applications, tools and licences for virtual simulation for the JLR Product Development vehicle programmes and cycle plan.

Members and non-members are welcome.  Book via our website www.proms-g.bcs.org.

Don’t forget – a buffet and festive drinks will be provided after the presentation – an ideal networking opportunity for you an your colleagues.

Published: December 1, 2012 – 7:11 pm | By grohling | Also posted in Other Branches | Comments Off

Formula One – The Red Bull Way

A Message from BCS (Coventry):

The Formula One talk by Steve Nevey has been rescheduled for the 21st of November at Coventry University.  No need to book – full details are on the BCS Coventry website:
coventry.bcs.org  

This event is hosted by Coventry University in their new Engineering and Computing Building, which lies between Gosford Street and Gulson Road.  It has a hexagonal facade and can be found between the Lanchester Library (turretted building) and the Student Centre (curved blue roof).

Note, the nearest public car park is the Gosford Street Long Stay car park, under the raised ring road (no parking is available on Gulson Road).

Published: November 15, 2012 – 9:12 pm | By grohling | Also posted in Other Branches | Comments Off

SECURITY and INNOVATION – an oxymoron?

Neil Passingham, Technical Solution Director
(Innovation & Cloud Security), Hewlett-Packard

Are these two terms contradictory or is there room for innovation in a security-sensitive environment? In a world of major step-changes in technology, criminal activity, capability, motivation etc, should security practices change? Is there a resistance to change inherent within security management circles? Are we asking enough of the right questions? Neil will suggest approaches to combining innovation and security, with real-life examples and insights from academia and service delivery.

Event Information

The meeting is on Thursday 15 November, 7.00 for 7.30 and ends around 9.00.

It will be held at the Oxford e-Research Centre, 6 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3QG.

Sandwiches and light refreshments are available from 7.00pm.

Meetings are open to non-members and free.

Published: November 13, 2012 – 6:40 am | By grohling | Also posted in Archive | Comments Off