Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center

March 25, 2014

Research Computing in Massachusetts

• Hundreds of independent groups

• Diverse institutional cultures

• Frequent collaboration across organizations and disciplines

www.mghpcc.org2

DNA samples -> Treatment Strategies (UMass, MIT, Harvard Medical)

ATLAS/LHC(BU, Harvard)

Medical imaging analysis(BU, Harvard, Children's Hospital)

Ocean floor (UMass, WHOI, MIT)

Computational Nanotechnology (Northeastern, Harvard)

Bicep2 / Gravity Waves(Harvard)

Understanding Evolution(UMass)

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

www.mghpcc.org3

The MGHPCC Data Center and Consortium

4

A partnership between 5 universities….

The Commonwealth, and industrial sponsors

Three Works in Progress

• Regional HPC Data Center

• University/Industry/Government Research Collaboration

• Regional economic development

5

MGHPCC Data Center

www.mghpcc.org6

10 MW for compute / 15MW total

8 Acres and a 40MVA power feed for expansion

Green, low cost power

Communication Crossroads

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

www.mghpcc.org7

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

www.mghpcc.org8

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

www.mghpcc.org9

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

www.mghpcc.org10

Research Collaboration

• Seed Grant Program (for promising cross-university projects)

• Jointly owned computing infrastructure

• Multi-university research initiatives

• State/University/Industry research initiatives

www.mghpcc.org11

Catalyst for Local Economic Development

www.mghpcc.org12

Cisco Network Academy

Science in the Cloud

Smart Meter Project

Community Meeting and

Classroom space

Scholarship Fund

Transform 8 acres

downtown

“Anchor Tenant” for the Innovation District

Hands-on Construction Engineering Classroom

Clean Energy Innovation WorkshopEducation

Opportunities Workshop

Innovation District Task

Force

Educators Conference

Part of a Larger Strategy

www.mghpcc.org13

MGHPCCTransform 8 acres downtownAttract positive attention to the city“Anchor Tenant” downtownLocal education partnershipsCommunity meeting space

Policy and ProgramsTax IncentivesRecycle idle propertyUrban renewal planFaçade ImprovementIncentives for market rate housingRenovate affordable housingCreation of an innovation districtPromoting a creative economy

Public InfrastructureRestore Rail ServiceCanal walkLibrary renovationPark renovationsPublic parking renovationSkateboard park

Commercial ActivityNew businessesArtist StudiosNight Life

Holyoke Arts & Innovation District