Sharing ICT Resources: Best Practices in the US

1. Sharing ICT Resources – Discussion of Best Practices in the U.S. Mary E. Spada Program Manager, Strategic Initiatives Argonne National Laboratory/University of Chicago Advisor, Strategic Partnerships San Diego Supercomputing Center/University of San Diego eInfrastructures (Internet and Grids) - 15 April 2004

2. Session Objective • Discuss best practices for resource sharing on the U.S. side eInfrastructures (Internet and Grids) - 15 April 2004

3. Community Framework eInfrastructures (Internet and Grids) - 15 April 2004

4. Selected US Examples eInfrastructures (Internet and Grids) - 15 April 2004

5. Revisiting the Range of Challenges • Technical • interoperability, production, services • Logistical, legal • licensing policies, Intellectual Property policies, training, authority, authentication, accounting, security, etc • Ideological • cultural and administrative domains • International • sharing resources across national boundaries • Users • “Means to an end” - need/expect performance • Throughput and results are the primary metrics eInfrastructures (Internet and Grids) - 15 April 2004

6. Best Practice Candidate Technical Interoperability Logistical Security Training Not yet fully “baked” Users meeting expectations Ideological Administrative International Best Practices -TeraGrid • TG should not (yet) be considered a fully operational facility. eInfrastructures (Internet and Grids) - 15 April 2004

7. Best Practices -TeraGrid • TG has begun to develop policies and procedures to share resources • Common logins -> file sharing -> addressing commonly allocated resources. • Details still under development/discussion • Discussions currently taking place regarding the establishment of some type of Service Level Agreement (SLA) to provide a basis for resource sharing among the nine sites eInfrastructures (Internet and Grids) - 15 April 2004

8. Best Practices -TeraGrid • NSF “Dear Colleague” letter pertaining to TG explicitly prioritized sharing/coordination among 9 sites including: • Shared development • Common platforms and resources • Integrated user support • Cooperative outreach • Coordinated allocation process • Operation of common backbone network eInfrastructures (Internet and Grids) - 15 April 2004

9. Best Practices - TeraGrid • Above the technical, below the policy lies TACTICS • User engagement • Example: Applications Working Group - 70 applications eInfrastructures (Internet and Grids) - 15 April 2004

10. What can other efforts illustrate? • GEON • a scientist-centered cyberinfrastructure… • Using a scalable and interoperable network, the project provides geo-scientists with a growing array of tools including data integration mechanisms, computational resources and integrated software for analysis, modeling, and visualization. • Excellence in addressing technical and user challenges • BIRN and other BioGrid • Excellence in addressing legal and idealogical challenges • Resource sharing in a highly sensitive environment eInfrastructures (Internet and Grids) - 15 April 2004

11. Next steps • TeraGrid • All Hands Meeting (mid-May) • Opportunity to structure international cooperation discussion? • Form a TG International Resource Sharing Working Group • Possibility for DEISA linkage? • Revisit Collaboration Mechanism #5 • Funded major Grid and middleware projects to include specific international components • Specifically, consider that 5% of PROJECT X resources were “reserved” for “foreign” projects. • Candidates for PROJECT X: • TeraGrid, GEON, DEISA, EGEE, Access Grid, Diverse BIOGRID efforts? • …?? • What needs to happen next? • Don’t overlook other efforts (GEON, BIRN/BIOGRID, NEESgrid…) eInfrastructures (Internet and Grids) - 15 April 2004