The Information Technology Division (IT) was created from the old Computing and Networks division (CN) with the addition of the Mac/PC Shop from Administrative Support division (AS) and the Web Office from Electronics and Computing for Physics Division (ECP).

The mandate was to:

• Provide computing infrastructure for the laboratory, including on-site and off-site networking, the CERN Program Library, database management systems and servers, services to support desktop computing and services for physics data processing.
• Provide applications-related hardware and software services in collaboration with the divisions concerned. This includes applications oriented towards experiments, the accelerator and technical sectors, and engineering.

In 2004 IT Division became IT Department. IT mission was twofold:

• to develop and deploy the Grid computing infrastructure for the LHC project, in collaboration with the LHC experiments, and to enable the successful transfer of Grid technology and services to other sciences and industry.
• to ensure that all CERN staff and users have access to the IT infrastructure, services and support that they need in order to accomplish their work in an efficient and effective way.

In 2009 the CERN management changed and adopted a new organizational structure. Information Technology (IT) and Physics (PH) Departments were grouped into the Research & Scientific Computing Sector.

Some IT groups were transferred.

• Controls group (CO) moved from the IT Department to the Accelerators and Technology Sector, Engineering (EN) Department.

• Administrative Information Services (AIS) group moved from the IT Department to the Administration & General Infrastructure Sector, General Services (GS) Department.

The IT Department provided the information technology required for the fulfillment of the laboratory's mission in an efficient and effective manner through building world-class competencies in the technical analysis, design, procurement, implementation, operation and support of computing infrastructure and services.

In 2016 with the appointment of a new Director-General, the CERN management reorganised some sectors. The Information Technology Department remained unchanged and part of the Research and Computing (RC) Sector.