Newsletter No. 417

No. 417, 4.5.2013 7 1967 T he University purchased its first computer, the IBM 1103, in 1967. One of the most modern machines in those days, the IBM 1103 was installed in the temporary office of the University Computing Centre located at On Lee Building on Nathan Road, Mong Kok. The computing power of the system was measured in kHz. This means it was thousands of times slower than the smartphone which is measured in MHz or GHz. Today the University has a Student Information System designed for 130,000 users and is able to handle 5,000 students during course registration, and 10,000 during grade-book release. 大 學於1967年添置第一部電腦，是其時最先進的IBM 1103型，設於 電子計算機中心的臨時辦公室，即旺角彌敦道安利大廈。該部 電腦的運算速度是以千赫（kHz）為單位，現在一部智能電話則以兆赫 （MHz）甚或吉赫（GHz）為單位，運算速度相差數千倍。相對於大學現 今為十三萬師生和校友而設的中大學生信息系統，可同時間讓五千名學 生註冊和發放一萬名學生的成績，科技發展的迅速真令人嘆為觀止。 2013