University-wide Virus Protection Programme Update
As mentioned in the CSC/ITSU Digest Issue 10, the University has provided a budget for a central antivirus site license. A tender was issued accordingly. Trend Enterprise Solution proposed by Netband Technology Far East Ltd. was chosen and product information can be obtained from their website www.trendmicro.com. Our site license includes protection for all computers in the University, as well as for staff and students’ home computers.

CSC/ITSU arranged an antivirus training program on 8 Sept 99 and invited all departments. The training included a product introduction and a tutorial for software installation and configuration. Following this training programme, the implementation will start in mid-September and finish in October.

Through this Digest, we will keep you informed of the progress of the implementation and the availability of the home user license. More information can be read at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/avcentre.

1999 CUHK Notebook Computer Special Purchase Programme
Through the joint efforts of the Student Unions of the four Colleges, the Dean of Students' Office of New Asia College, the Business Office and the Computer Services Centre / Information Technology Service Unit, a special purchase programme for notebook computers has been finalized. This special purchase programme aims at encouraging students and staff to fully exploit the teaching and learning resources being deployed by the University and to develop their competence in IT.

Through a limited time offer, full-time students and staff of CUHK will be entitled to purchase Toshiba notebook computers from Chevalier (OA) Limited at highly discounted prices. The notebook computers offered in this program include the newest general-purpose models, high-power models and an extra light-weight model.

For details, please visit http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/price/special.

Information Technology Training Programmes
To welcome our new staff members and students, CSC/ITSU organized and conducted a series of information technology training programs. An Orientation Program for students was held in the week of Aug 31- Sep 4 and attracted more than 330 students who became acquainted with the campus computing facilities. Also, we assisted the Teaching Development Unit in holding two computer sessions for new faculty staff and teaching assistants to inform them of computing facilities on campus.

There will also be many other seminars in the coming months. Please check for information and register online at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/csc/training

Researchers Invited to Use New Supercomputer
In order to accommodate the ever increasing volume of data intensive research work in the University, the CSC/ITSU recently installed a high performance supercomputer, a Sun Enterprise E6500, in addition to the existing Silicon Graphics Origin 2000 supercomputer. The E6500 has ten 336MHz UltraSparc CPUs, 30 gigabytes of memory, and more than 10 terabytes of usable disk storage. It performs high-speed data retrieval as well as data mining and data analysis. GCG, SAS Enterprise Miner and FinDex are available for research. Staff conducting certain types of data-intensive research programmes may apply for access to the supercomputer.

Details can be read on-line at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/csc/compenv/dics

Financial Data eXplorer Available
Financial Data eXplorer - FinDeX - provides access to historical financial databases through a regular WWW browser. It is the product of a joint project of the Computer Services Centre / Information Technology Service Unit, the School of Accountancy and the Department of Finance of The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

By means of FinDeX , the financial databases on the server can be accessed and processed using a Web browser in a more intuitively simple way than using a conventional method such as programming in C language, FORTRAN or SAS. The available financial databases include Standard and Poor's Compustat, CRSPAccess from the Center for Research in Security Prices, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago, and PACAP from PACAP Research Center, College of Business Administration, The University of Rhode Island.

Read details at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/csc/compenv/dics/FinDex/

New Face for CSC/ITSU Homepage
As you click into the homepage for the Computer Services Centre / Information Technology Service Unit, you will notice a different layout. There are several new features we hope you will enjoy.

For example, our sitemap gives you a handy, straightforward list of our information on the Web. We have added a search function so that you can easily find what you need. But please note that some our links have been changed due to the restructuring, and if this causes you any inconvenience in re-setting your bookmarks, please accept our sincere apologies.

We hope you will make a point of visiting our webpage regularly to keep informed of news and for handy reference to CSC/ITSU data, as well as to register for our courses etc. Visit us at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/csc