WebSphere, Linux the right prescription for UNC pharmacy school.
About a year and a half ago, the school's progress had started to become affected by several error-prone manual processes that had slowed down turnaround time on valuable research, said UNC professor Alex Tropsha, the director for the Laboratory for Molecular Modeling.The problem was compounded by the fact that over the years, the university had gained access to much larger data sets, Tropsha said. Each data set needed to be developed into a computer model that a chemist would then use to make predictions and develop new components for biological activity. The structures also had to be translated into a numerical format so that a matrix could be created for future analysis.
Until IBM WebSphere and Linux came along 16 months ago, those cumbersome tasks were conducted manually by one of the graduate students attending the school.