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AC3 Atlantic Canada Computing Consortium. Mark Whitmore Memorial University of Newfoundland. Founding. 1999 Memorial-based CFI project Memorial, UPEI, UNB, St. Francis-Xavier Memorial center + remote development systems. Statement of Intent on HPC Atlantic Canada Computing Consortium: AC3
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AC3Atlantic Canada Computing Consortium Mark Whitmore Memorial University of Newfoundland
Founding • 1999 Memorial-based CFI project • Memorial, UPEI, UNB, St. Francis-Xavier • Memorial center + remote development systems
Statement of Intent on HPC Atlantic Canada Computing Consortium: AC3 DRAFT August 29, 1999 MUN, UPEI, St. F-X and UNB agree to work together with the general goal of developing a research infrastructure in HPC and visualization for the benefit of the Atlantic Canada research community, within the overall framework of C3.ca. We intend to:
Cooperate in the establishment of HPC infrastructure, including CFI-related funds and future applications to the CFI • Develop policies of sharing, bartering and otherwise providing access to HPC resources, including hardware and human • Pursue cooperative offerings of advanced training and grad level courses in the computational science and HPC • Establish an advisory board with one rep. From each university and other organizations to carry out these intentions
AC3 Membership • Memorial, UNB, St FX, UPEI • NRC • Institute for Marine Dynamics (St. John’s) • Institute for Marine Biosciences (Halifax) • Dalhousie, U. de Moncton, Saint Mary’s • …
Current Systems • Memorial CVC • 28 cpu Onyx 3400 with visualization, 5 Octane SE’s, new central area, 3 remote platforms, DEC Alpha 4100 • NRC, Operation ONLINE, 3 other universities • University of New Brunswick: ACRL • 16 cpu IBM SP • Dalhousie • 8 cpu IBM SP • Saint Mary’s • 10 cpu SUN Enterprise 4500
Sample Research Interests • Soft Matter Condensed Matter Physics • Memorial, Dalhousie, UPEI, St FX • Oceanography • Memorial (2 campuses), Dalhousie • CFD • NRC, Memorial, Dalhousie, ?? • Astronomy and Astrophysics • Saint Mary’s • Bioinformatics • UNB, Dalhousie, Genome Atlantic • Quantum Chemistry • Everywhere – there’s no escape
Challenges • Geography • We’re big! • Four provinces, two (or three) islands, 12 universities with 14 campuses • Costs of travel, networking • Money • No match for CFI, (no OIT or ORDCF, little industry) • Operating funds • Renewal funds • Personnel – critical masses • Provincial mandates
Needs and Opportunities • Operating support • Complementary systems and software • Community of technical people (TASP) • Regional applications (CFI, AIF-like)? Virendra, do we have something here?? • Ease of access to national and international systems • Organizational structure that addresses the needs of researchers for access to and effective use of HPC resources as the top priority • Local systems for HQP development