IT's Ryan Kennedy to discuss Research Computing with IBM, Intel and NASA

Wednesday, 28 June 2017

IT’s new Academic Computing Team Manager, Ryan Kennedy, heads to Washington DC this week to represent the University of Reading at NEXT; a giant IT conference hosted by Nutanix. He will be speaking about how institutions can benefit from using a self-service approach to research computing. Audience members watching Ryan will include NASA, IBM and Intel.

Ryan is the Academic Computing Team Manager at the University of Reading, responsible for physical and technical infrastructure to support research across the University. In this role Ryan and his team look after multiple compute and storage clusters servicing the ever-expanding requirements of academics.

Ryan’s team is currently working creating a cloud based self-service portal for academics to request research computing. This new self-service system allows for quicker turn around on requests and will allow users to more easily see what is available to them. It also provides IT with a more efficient way to work, saving time and money. Ryan will be talking about this approach in Washington, educating huge companies on how they can use the same technology to improve their work.

 “I hope to show people new ways of working and how it can help both the users and the technical teams involved”, said Ryan, “I want to show off all the hard work my team has done on this and get it out there so others can benefit from it.”

NEXT takes place between 28 and 30 June at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, Washington DC. Ryan’s talk is titled ‘Self Service Everything’ will be taking place on 29 June at 15:05 (20:05 UK time). Sign up to watch the live stream!