The GWDG is a corporate facility of the Georg-August University of Göttingen and the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. It serves the purpose of a data processing and IT competence center for the Max Planck Institutes and a data processing service center for the University of Göttingen. The main scientific task lies in applied computer science. Additionally the GWDG supports the education of skilled personnel for information technologies. The operation of mainframe computers (parallel computers), the provision of special purpose systems and the service support for the GÖNET connecting the scientific institutes in Göttingen are among the tasks assigned to the GWDG. The GWDG connects the GÖNET to the nationwide scientific net X-WiN and the Internet. Serving as a competence center the GWDG advises and supports the attended to institues in all questions concerning scientific data processing.