Computing Laboratory and Resources

The computing lab at MRRC is comprised of a heterogeneous computing environment that includes several workstations utilzing all three platforms: Windows, Mac and Linux. Most of the imaging data analysis is carried out on 24 dedicated, dual processor, high memory workstations running RedHat Linux. These computers are used to program pulse sequences, analyze data, and develop and test new analysis algorithms. All of the imaging data is housed in the data center located at the MRRC. The data center houses several servers, which are built with fault tolerant design and can currently store over 14 terabytes of imaging data. The high capacity fileserver is capable of providing secure storage for all data generated by the supported projects at the MRRC. The servers are regularly backed up on a disk-based backup solution over a Gigabit Ethernet Backplane. Some of the key features of the data center in the MRRC are high availability, reliability, scalability, and speed. Computers and software are upgraded and patched on a regular basis and the computing environment is highly secure and HIPAA compliant. Access to the computers is password restricted and available only to the members of MRRC. The shared workstations in the computing lab are utilized for image data analysis including spectral fitting, image segmentation, and metabolic modeling. In addition, a wide range of commercial and in-house-developed software packages for MRI and MRS analysis are available for use on all workstations. The computing facilities in MRRC are managed by an experienced IT manager.