The scientific research sector and mainstream IT are reaping the rewards of a two-way exchange of ideas. This paper plots this feverish sphere of intellectual transfer. The relationship between scientific computing and enterprise IT has become much closer since the ascent of the World Wide Web entered into public consciousness during the 1990s. Before then scientific computing was the fount of most innovations in IT, including the Internet itself, which initially evolved as a vehicle for exchanging information and ideas within research communities. Scientific IT was the driving force for progress in high-performance computing, data analysis, database management, and real-time process control, with the business community gratefully picking up the crumbs some years later.