Purchasing and Adding New Hardware and Software to the Network

Adding Computer Hardware You Own

Addition of ANY and ALL equipment to the Ethernet and to any of the Martinos Center machines, whether permanent or temporary, requires clearance in advance from the IT group. The laboratory is obligated to notify the MGH network manager, and coordinate the addition of equipment, which may require some time. If you are purchasing a new computer that will be attached from the network, it will speed the process to notify the System Administrators far in advance so they can obtain an IP address for it before it arrives and review the specs on your device for compatibility.

Adding Software You Own

All software used at the Martinos Center or at MGH must be properly licensed and utilized in strict accordance with the license agreement. Anyone making or using copies of any software in violation of this policy is subject to "corrective action", possibly including termination of employment.

The center buys annually a large number of Matlab licenses for a network license server at the Center. Any UNIX, Windows and OSX machine on the network can use these licenses. For machines not on the Center network, you can buy a standalone license from Harvard Enterpise Licensing. The pricing is available here.

The center has a site license for McAfee antivirus. If you do have any anti-virus software running on your Windows computer, please contact the systems administrators as soon as possible. Check out our McAfee AntiVirus FAQ entry.

For Microsoft Office and other Microsoft products, individual licenses for each install can be bought from PCConnection at an academic discount. Pricing for the Office Suites is described on our Office FAQ entry. For Adobe (Photoshop, Acrobat, Illustrator), Endnote, and Apple software, an individual license must be bought for each installation from Harvard Enterpise Licensing. The pricing is available here. Contact Janice White about buying these products.

More information about getting software at Partners can be found on the Research Computing -- Getting Software page.

Buying New Computers

For Windows and Linux workstations our preferred vendor is Dell. Sample configs and instructions on how to get a quote from Dell are on our Quotes page. For Apple workstations, the best deals are from Harvard Technology Services. Any other special computer buys, please contact the IT group first before making any purchases

When your Computer Arrives

The first thing you need to do is register the computer with the Center IT Group so we have all the information we need to be able to help you in the future. This can be done by filling out the registration form found here.