1. HPC System Acquisition and Service Provision
Request for Information
José L. Muñoz
Deputy Office Director
Office of CyberInfrastructure
(OCI)
9 September 2005

2. Agenda 9:00am Background Crawford 9:30am Introduction Muñoz
10:00am Panel I Ahalt
Acquisition Models
11:00am BREAK ALL
11:15am Panel II Heisey
HPC Vendor Perspective
12:15pm LUNCH (on your own) ALL
1:00pm Panel III Davis
Benchmarking/Purchase Options
2:00pm Wrap-Up/Discussion ALL

3. Purpose of RFI Distribute information Gather information
Answer questions
Promote dialog between potential RPs and potential vendors
Information is being recorded and will be made publicly available
Please identify yourself when speaking

4. Registered Demographics
Universities
Case Western Reserve U.
Cornell Univ.
Georgia Inst. Of Technology
Indiana University
Louisiana State Univ.
NCSA
Ohio Supercomputer Center
Purdue
PSC
SDSC
TACC
Univ. of NC
Univ. of Utah
USC
Vendors
Cray
DELL
Hewlett Packard
IBM
Intel
Linux Networx
Rackable Systems
SGI
Sun Microsystems
Other
Argonne National Lab
CASC
DOD HPCMP
Hayes Consulting
NCAR
ORNL
Raytheon

5. Background
NSF anticipates releasing one or more solicitations for the acquisition of high-performance computing (HPC) systems and support of subsequent HPC services. 
Prior to the release of the solicitation(s), NSF invites interested parties to provide input on possible models for the acquisition and service support process. 
Providing such input will not affect an organization's eligibility to respond to any subsequent solicitation(s).

6. Background
NSF intends that its acquisition and support of HPC systems and services will be driven by the requirements of the science and engineering communities
including their most computationally challenging needs. 
Science and engineering communities will be involved in defining the requirements that guide NSF’s HPC investments. 
Acquisition metrics will include levels of performance on benchmark codes that represent the types of problems for which the system will be used. 
The research and education community must have access to a stable and robust production quality HPC environment
hardware reliability and the dependability of system software will also be factors in the selection process.

7. Acquisition Context
One or more HPC systems will be acquired from one or more hardware vendors with funds supplied by NSF. 
One or more resource providers (RPs) will manage and operate the system(s), including providing basic user support and services.

8. Possible Acquisition Models
1. NSF conducts an open competition to identify an RP or RPs.  Proposals … include a description of a competitive process that the RP will use to acquire a system with funds provided by NSF.  Once RPs have been identified, each executes the process it proposed to select the system and the vendor from whom the system will be acquired.  The final award to an RP will include funds for the acquisition, through a sub-contract to the vendor, of the system identified.
2. NSF conducts an open competition inviting proposals from RP-vendor partnerships for the acquisition, management and operation of an HPC system.
3. NSF acquires a system directly from a vendor through an open competition and initiates a second competition for an RP site.

9. Other Topics for Discussion
Metrics that might be used to define performance and reliability requirements in an acquisition process
Selection criteria that might be used as a basis for proposal evaluation
The strengths and weaknesses of acquiring an HPC system as a one-time purchase and/or of acquiring an HPC system in phases that meet a specified performance curve
Strengths and weaknesses of alternatives such as leasing HPC systems.