What is NXCT?

NXCT - National X-ray Computed Tomography (NXCT) is the UK’s National Research Facility for lab-based X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT). NXCT was funded by a £10 million investment from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) which built on the existing facilities at the Universities of Manchester, Warwick, Southampton and UCL, it has created world-leading XCT capability. Diamond Light Source?

What is NXCT at the Henry Moseley X-ray Imaging Facility?

The Facility at Manchester has been at the forefront of X-ray imaging since 2008 when it was established by Regius Prof. Philip Withers. Based in the Henry Royce Institute it currently hosts ten different X-ray CT scanners which cover scales from metre size objects and resolutions down to 50 nm.

The Unique, and Dynamic IT needs of the Facility

On a day-to-day basis the Facility provides:

• Access to academia and industry for state-of-the-art X-ray instruments
• Technical support for new and existing instrument clients
• Education and training on instrument use
• Expertise to design complex experiments
• Expert results analysis

In addition to the X-ray rigs, the Facility has a large computer suite which enables comprehensive 3D analysis. As a state-of-the-art research facility its IT requirements are dynamic and often require bespoke solutions to support niche scenarios. As well as day to day operations IT is needed which supports:

• Access to the lab equipment for clients across the globe
• Collaboration with clients
• Storage of and access to often highly sensitive data
• Manipulation and analysis of large data volumes

Services Provided by Research IT

Research IT is the Facility's primary provider of IT services; in 2021, we assisted with the design and installation of a bespoke package of IT services that included:

• Dedicated on-premise IBM Spectrum Scale (GPFS) data storage hosted on three Dell Power EDGE Servers and two storage arrays operating on RedHat Enterprise Linux O/S.
• A secure server room with four racks and 40 kW of cooling to support current capacity and cater for growth.
• Fast networking.
• More than 20 high-performance workstations located in the Digital Imaging Laboratory all with high specification cores and GPUs operating on Windows 10/11.

Subsequently, we continue to provide dedicated IT services to the labs including:

1. Maintenance of the GPFS data storage solution.
2. Procurement, build, test and support of the workstations.
3. Software selection, testing, installation and certification.
4. Third party access to instruments.
5. Liaison with UoM IT security & compliance policy makers on behalf of the Facility.
6. Designing and costing IT services to support grant application bids.
7. IT consultancy.
8. Day to day IT support and administration.

Speaking of the services provided by Research IT Nicola Wadeson (Facility Manager and Principal Instrument Scientist) said

“We have a great working relationship with Research IT; they understand our goals and have helped us design IT solutions that support day-to-day operations, allowing us to continue growing and providing quality services to our clients.”

If you have bespoke Research IT requirements, please contact the Research IT team, who will be delighted to hear from you.