Funds are requested to help the Caltech astronomy department computing facility make the transition from a mainframe-based configuration to one based on the workstation-server model. NSF funds are to be used to purchase a main server and several peripherals. The proposed configuration will benefit the smaller groups, mainly optical and instrumentation groups, many headed by younger members of the faculty. These groups have the resources to buy one or two workstations but not expensive peripherals like high quality tape drives, printers etc. More importantly, in a distributed computer system, maintenance, including regular upgrades of common software like IRAF, PROS, AIPS, Figaro, and public libraries, becomes difficult. A properly equipped central server provides an ideal solution to both these problems.
