Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center

1. Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center March 25, 2014

2. Research Computing in Massachusetts Ocean floor (UMass, WHOI, MIT) Medical imaging analysis(BU, Harvard, Children's Hospital) • Hundreds of independent groups • Diverse institutional cultures • Frequent collaboration across organizations and disciplines Understanding Evolution (UMass) ATLAS/LHC(BU, Harvard) Bicep2 / Gravity Waves(Harvard) DNA samples -> Treatment Strategies (UMass, MIT, Harvard Medical) Computational Nanotechnology (Northeastern, Harvard) 2

3. Origins of the MGHPCC • Interest in institutional cooperation • Financial advantage • Opportunities that single institutions cannot address • Importance of university research to the Massachusetts economy • Meaningful impact on research competitiveness by state government • Recognition that… • Computing is fundamental to the university research mission • Incremental on-campus expansion is not a viable long term approach 3

4. The MGHPCC Data Center and Consortium A partnership between 5 universities…. The Commonwealth, and industrial sponsors

5. Three Works in Progress • Regional HPC Data Center • University/Industry/Government Research Collaboration • Regional economic development

6. MGHPCC Data Center 10 MW for compute / 15MW total 8 Acres and a 40MVA power feed for expansion Green, low cost power Communication Crossroads 6

7. Governance • Structure • Non-profit service corporation owned by five universities • Owns the facility and employs facility operations staff • Oversight • Research mission and direction –  Research Vice Presidents • Operational direction and goals – CIOs • Day to day issues and opportunities • Research – Faculty working group • Operational – Business and IT working groups 7

8. Operational Goals • Convenient access to research computing resources • Give the appearance of being local to every campus • Efficient data sharing among geographically separate research teams • Low Operating Cost • Measure, benchmark, and optimize 8

9. Operational CollaborationOperation and User Support • Build on on existing resources • Dedicated MGHPCC Staff focuses on facility operation • User support comes from existing research computing groups • Evolving Collaboration • Staying out of each others’ way • Learning from each other • Unified networking plan • Coordinated vendor dialog • Acquisition and operation of jointly owned resources • Larger scale solutions to common problems 9

10. Operational Collaboration Business • Five institutions with multiple funding agencies • Each institution composed of many smaller institutions • Different approaches to cost recovery and financial incentives • Astute comparative shoppers 10

11. Research Collaboration • Seed Grant Program (for promising cross-university projects) • Jointly owned computing infrastructure • Multi-university research initiatives • State/University/Industry research initiatives 11

12. Catalyst for Local Economic Development Scholarship Fund Hands-on Construction Engineering Classroom Science in the Cloud Educators Conference Cisco Network Academy Transform 8 acres downtown Innovation District Task Force Community Meeting and Classroom space Smart Meter Project Clean Energy Innovation Workshop Education Opportunities Workshop “Anchor Tenant” for the Innovation District 12

13. Part of a Larger Strategy MGHPCC Transform 8 acres downtown Attract positive attention to the city “Anchor Tenant” downtown Local education partnerships Community meeting space Commercial Activity New businesses Artist Studios Night Life Policy and Programs Tax Incentives Recycle idle property Urban renewal plan Façade Improvement Incentives for market rate housing Renovate affordable housing Creation of an innovation district Promoting a creative economy Public Infrastructure Restore Rail Service Canal walk Library renovation Park renovations Public parking renovation Skateboard park Holyoke Arts & Innovation District 13