Introduction to NeSC: The Gateway to UK e-Science

1. Introduction to NeSC:The Gateway to UK e-Science Dave Berry, Research Manager HEPix Meeting, May 2004

2. Outline: The UK e-Science Programme • The UK e-Science Programme • A quick recap • The National e-Science Centre • Role and mission • The e-Science Institute • Some NeSC projects • Focus on Data management

3. UK e-Science Budget (2001-2006) Total: £213M Staff costs - Grid Resources funded separately Source: Science Budget 2003/4 – 2005/6, DTI(OST)

4. e-Science Institute Globus Alliance HPC(x) Grid Operations Centre Digital Curation Centre Open Middleware Infrastructure Institute The e-Science Centres CeSC (Cambridge)

5. The EUropean dimension: EGEE • Enabling Grids for E-Science in Europe • A European-wide production quality Grid • Total budget: €32M • 50% production, 30% development, and 20% dissemination and training • Approach • Bind national and regional Grid infrastructures • Initially based on LHC Computing Grid Applications EGEE Geant network

6. The EGEE Consortium Total of 70 full partners covering entire EU and beyond Additional funding from NSF (USA)

7. UK GridPP (part of EDG/EGEE) • 17 Universities • Rutherford Appleton Laboratory • European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) • Multiple Projects: • UKQCD • BaBar • LHCb • VOMS at Manchester • Resource Broker at Imperial College • 4 Regional Computing Centres (inc. ScotGrid)

8. Outline: The National e-Science Centre • The UK e-Science Programme • A quick recap • The National e-Science Centre • Role and mission • The e-Science Institute • Some NeSC projects • Focus on Data management

9. NeSC Roles • Help coordinate and lead UK e-Science • Community building & outreach • Training for UK and EGEE • Help establish the UK’s international role • The focus for presenting UK e-Science • Run the e-Science Institute • Research visitors and events • Undertake R&D projects • Reliable middleware (OGSA-DAI, SunDCG, …) • Engage industry (IBM, Sun, Microsoft, HP, Oracle, …) • Stimulate the uptake of e-Science technology

10. eSI Events held in our 2nd Year(from 1 Aug 2002 to 31 Jul 2003) We have had 86 events: • 11 project meetings • 11 research meetings • 25 workshops • 2 “summer” schools • 15 training sessions • 12 outreach events • 5 international meetings • 5 e-Science management meetings (though the definitions are fuzzy!)

11. eSI Workshops • Space for real work • Crossing communities • Creativity: new strategies and solutions • Written reports • Scientific Data Mining, Integration and Visualisation • Grid Information Systems • Portals and Portlets • Virtual Observatory as a Data Grid • Imaging, Medical Analysis and Grid Environments • Open Issues in Grid Scheduling • Data Provenance & Annotation • e-Science Workflow Services • GeoSciences & Scottish Bioinformatics Forum Suggestions always welcome!

12. eSI Industrial Involvement • 133 delegates from 64 companies including not only: • IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Sun, Hewlett-Packard but also: • Apple, Astra Zeneca, BAE, Cisco, Honeywell, Motorola, Organon, Pfizer, Siemens, …

14. eSI Research Visitors • Collaborate with UK research and development • Engage in and develop eSI event programme • Build bridges with your community • Visit for anywhere between one week and six months • Link up with regional e-Science centres

15. Outline: NeSC Projects • The UK e-Science Programme • A quick recap • The National e-Science Centre • Role and mission • The e-Science Institute • Some NeSC projects • Focus on Data management

16. NeSC Projects • More than 35 projects: • Astronomy, Particle Physics, NeuroInformatics, BioInformatics, Middleware, Fundamental CS, Collaboration, Fabric Management, Wearable devices, … • Particular emphasis on scientific data management • Over £20,000,000 funding in total

17. Data Services • GGF Data Access and Integration Services (DAIS) • OGSA interfaces to query and update relational databases, XML databases and flat files. • Ongoing work to integrate with data streams • The foundation for: • Replication: Data located in multiple locations • Federation: Composition of multiple sources • Provenance: How was data generated? • OGSA-DAI software • Shipped with Globus Toolkit v3.2

18. BinX file describes binary file structure BinX – accessing legacy binary data simulations • The Problem: • Many binary data files • Applications must “know”the data format • Binary data formats are machine-specific BinaryData File BinaryData File BinaryData File • The Solution: • Write a “stand-aside” format description in XML • Provide a library to • Interpret the description • Provide file access across different machines • Build higher-level services BinX Library e-ScienceApplication

19. The Virtual Observatory • International Virtual Observatory Alliance UK, Australia, EU, China, Canada, Italy, Germany, Japan, Korea, US, Russia, France, India How to integrate manymulti-TB collections ofheterogeneous data distributed globally? Sociological and technological challenges to be met

20. Information on our Web Site • National e-Science Centrehttp://www.nesc.ac.uk/ • Mission, Foundation, Locations, Staff, Resources • Register interest, Mailing lists, NeSCForge • Regional associations and Collaborations • News, Notices • Presentations and Lectures http://www.nesc.ac.uk/presentations/ • e-Science Institutehttp://www.nesc.ac.uk/esi/ • Events (Future and Past) • Visitor Programme • UK e-Science • Map and Index of Centres http://www.nesc.ac.uk/centres/ • Technical Papers http://www.nesc.ac.uk/technical_papers/ • Index of >100 Projects http://www.nesc.ac.uk/projects/ • Task Forces http://www.nesc.ac.uk/teams/ • General Information • Glossary, Bibliography, • Who’s who • E-Science job vacancies

21. Questions? www.nesc.ac.uk