1. 1 Cardiff University Advanced Research Computing Suppliers Briefing Dr Hugh Beedie (INSRV and ARCCA CTO) Dr Chris Dickson (SRIF3 HEC Programme Coordinator)

2. 2 Cardiff University Supplier Briefing Purpose –Inform Suppliers of CU requirement and vision –Supplier to outline Technology Roadmap and Service capabilities

3. 3 Morning Session 11:00 to 11:40 –Presentation from CU staff (30-35 minutes) –Questions from supplier (5-10 minutes) 11:40 to 12:40 –Presentation from supplier (45-50 minutes) –Questions from CU staff (10-15 minutes) 12:40 to 13:00 –Closed session for CU staff (20 minutes)

4. 4 Afternoon Session 14:00 to 14:40 –Presentation from CU staff (30-35 minutes) –Questions from supplier (5-10 minutes) 14:40 to 15:40 –Presentation from supplier (45-50 minutes) –Questions from CU staff (10-15 minutes) 15:40 to 16:00 –Closed session for CU staff (20 minutes)

5. 5 An Overview: Past, Present and Future Dr Chris Dickson

6. 6 Cardiff University History Founded by Royal Charter in 1883

7. 7 Cardiff University Mission and Vision Mission: To pursue research, learning and teaching of international distinction and impact Vision: To be a world class university and to achieve the associated benefits for its students, staff and stakeholders

8. 8 Cardiff University Scale and Scope 26,000 Students –21,000 Undergraduates –5,000 Postgraduates –35,000 Applications for 4,500 Places 5,500 Staff –2,500 Academic & Research 28 Academic Schools –15 Schools RAE 5, 7 Schools RAE5*

9. 9 Cardiff University Standing A member of the Russell Group of leading research universities Research Excellence –7 th UK University Ranking Research Assessment Exercise 2001 –Most Recent RAE

10. 10 Cardiff University Standing 1 Cambridge 2 Imperial College 3 Oxford 7 Cardiff 8 Manchester 10 Southampton 14 Edinburgh 15 Bristol 16 York 21 Birmingham

11. 11 Advanced Research Computing Current Applications High Speed Cluster –Galaxy Formation –Gene Sequencing –Mantle Simulation –Molecular Simulation –Orthodontic Modelling –Protein Sequencing Gigabit Cluster –Gravitational Waves Shared Memory –Computational Fluid Dynamics –Environmental Engineering –Star Formation Condor –Protein Structure Determination –Radiotherapy Simulation

12. 12 Advanced Research Computing Current Schools Architecture Biosciences Business Chemistry Computer Science Dentistry Earth, Ocean and Planetary Sciences English, Communication and Philosophy Engineering History and Archaeology Mathematics Medicine Optometry and Vision Sciences Pharmacy Physics and Astronomy Psychology

13. 13 Cardiff HEC Strategy World class facility for the university Adopt a more coordinated approach University investment –New organisation - Advanced Research Computing @ Cardiff (ARCCA) –Staff accommodation and machine room SRIF3 investment in equipment and supporting infrastructure

14. 14 Offices and Machine Room Machine Room –Area 175 sq m –Ground Floor –False Flooring & Ceiling Power, Cooling, Network Power –Separate Bus-Bar + Meter Cooling –Separate Bus-Bar + Meter –Rack-based Cooling –Room-based Cooling Security –Key Card Access –Closed Circuit TV Fire + Water Damage –Smoke Detection –Water Detection –Automated Shutdown Office space for >12 staff

15. 15 ARCCA Vision –To build and sustain a position which takes the university to the forefront of leading research universities in the UK and internationally in this field –To work very closely with all of the relevant academic schools and administrative directorates

16. 16 ARCCA Objectives –To transform the University’s approach to advanced research computing –To bring together the advanced research computing community –To introduce and encourage the use of new techniques and technologies –To encourage and enable new user communities and new applications –To encourage new and interdisciplinary research using advanced research computing techniques

17. 17 ARCCA Organisation –Director (TBC) –Chief Technology Officer (Hugh Beedie) –Application Specialists –Infrastructure Specialists –e-Research facilitation –Administrative Assistant

18. 18 Timeline

19. 19 Tender Requirements Dr Hugh Beedie

20. 20 Cardiff’s Journey Separate research projects with project- based HEC facilities Some collaborations (e.g. Helix) Strategic decision to provide University level solution –SRIF3 grant –ARCCA organisation –Select strategic partner

21. 21 Partnership State of the art of your technical offerings now and in Autumn 2007? Form factor, heat management, power consumption and management? HEC landscape over the next 3-7 years ? How, over 3-7 years, you can help us to achieve our ambitions to offer "best-in-class" research computing capabilities and services on a par with world-leading campus-level centres? Innovative and leap-frogging steps you can help us to take whilst at the same time being able to offer a service to today's "classic" HEC users.

22. 22 Why Should You Partner Cardiff ? Research quality (7 th in UK) Condor leader (1500PCs by end 2006) Completing and coordinating the HEC service spectrum Current breadth of academic involvement WeSC involvement and NGS partner Serious ambitions for –More Interdisciplinary work –Wider research applications –New techniques

23. 23 The HEC Spectrum HPC Tightly Coupled Supercomputers NUMA Machines £ Million+ HTC Loosely Coupled Small Clusters Campus Pools £ Thousand £ H Thousand Large Clusters SMP £ H Thousand £ Million

24. 24 Tender Outline Lot 1. 2048 Core/512 Node Cluster with 4 Head Nodes, Interconnect Fabrics and Cluster S/W. Lot 2. Shared Memory Systems (8, 16 and 32- way SMP machines). Lot 3. 50TB+ Disk and 200TB+ Tape Storage Services for ARCCA facilities. Lot 4. (Optional). Specialist Hardware (FPGAs, accelerators, etc) with associated software Lot 5. (Optional) Other software tools (compilers, applications, application profiling & system management tools, other software, etc)

25. 25 Reference Design

26. 26 Lot 1- Head Nodes 16 cores / 4 nodes 100% of nodes –CPUBest value for money –RAM4GB per core / 16GB per node –HDD1TB per node –NIC 10GbE per node with TOE –NIC 4Gb dual-port fibre-channel 100% of nodes with –High Speed – Low Latency Interconnect

27. 27 Lot 1 - Cluster Nodes 2048 cores / 512 nodes 100% of nodes –CPUBest value for money –RAM2GB per core / 8GB per node –HDD72GB per node –NIC 2xGbE per node 50%, 75%, 100% of nodes –High Speed – Low Latency Interconnect Cluster Management and Job scheduling

28. 28 Lot 2 - Shared Memory Nodes 8, 16, and 32 way All systems –CPUBest value for money –RAM2GB per core –HDD1TB per system –NIC 2xGbE per system

29. 29 Lot 3 - Disk Storage 50TB+ Disk Storage –Usable storage space –RAID 0, 1, 5 ??? –Hierarchical Storage Management FC disk, SATA Disk, Tape Storage ? Currently using Tivoli –Connected to Head Nodes Via 4Gb dual-port fibre-channel Via existing SAN switch

30. 30 Lot 3 - Tape Storage 200TB+ Tape Storage –Usable storage space –Hierarchical Storage Management Disk Storage Currently using Tivoli –Connected to Head Nodes Via 4Gb dual-port fibre-channel Via existing SAN switch

31. 31 Lot 4 - Specialised Hardware R & D - Innovative Computational Methods Computational Accelerators Field-Programmable Gate Arrays Programmable Graphics Processors Cell Processors

32. 32 Lot 5 - Other Software Tools We invite you to comment on the following –Extra Cluster Management Tools –Extra Cluster Diagnostic Tools –Other Development Tools Optimised Compilers & Libraries –Intel, Portland Debuggers –Parallel Debuggers –Applications And Libraries Profiling tools

33. 33 Support Issues We invite you to comment on the following –Spares stock vs guaranteed replacement time –Development/test nodes X 8 –Numbers of technical cluster support staff Location Skill sets –Single point of contact and responsibility Including direct access to 3 rd party tech support

34. 34 Any Questions ? Procurement contacts: Beedie@cardiff.ac.ukBeedie@cardiff.ac.uk Primary contact Dickson@cardiff.ac.ukDickson@cardiff.ac.uk Secondary contact

35. 35 Notes