Planning for the Leadership-Class Computing Facility

近四十年来，NSF在科学研究的转型中发挥了核心作用，并在使用高性能计算（HPC）推进发现方面发挥了领导作用。领导级计算程序旨在提供先进的计算能力，使所有科学和工程（S&amp；E）的变革性研究成为可能，否则是不可能的。NSF目前的领导级计算投资是对德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校德克萨斯高级计算中心（TACC）的Frontera项目的支持。Frontera是两阶段方法的第一阶段系统，最终将在大约2024年部署更强大的领导级计算设施（LCCF）。该合同将支持第二阶段系统和设施的概念设计。项目设计方法将扩展设计/操作/评估周期的最佳实践，TACC已经成功地为开放科学研究部署了一些世界上最大的计算系统。这个过程将有四个关键：科学用户需求、未来技术评估、替代设计评估，以及成本、范围和进度的风险管理。测试平台在设计过程中具有突出的特点，将为用户提供对未来计算硬件的早期访问，并将为系统设计人员提供对这些技术有效性的定量见解。测试平台的合作伙伴将包括主要的云和技术供应商，以及早期的百亿亿次计算技术采用者。此外，设计过程将以科学和技术参与团队确定的科学投入和技术驱动因素为指导。这些团队将由具有广泛专业知识和经验的杰出科学家组成，以指导第二阶段系统的设计。团队成员还将担任社区领导，在研讨会、会议和其他参与场所召集同事，进一步了解这一过程。此外，该项目将与科学软件社区合作，包括图书馆和社区代码提供商，以确保该项目优化第二阶段计算技术的选择，以实现未来的变革性s&p；E发现。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

NSF has played a central role in the transformation of scientific research and as a leader in enabling the use of High-Performance Computing (HPC) to advance discovery for almost four decades. The leadership-class computing program is intended to provision advanced computational capabilities to enable transformative research for all of Science and Engineering (S&E) that would not otherwise be possible. NSF's current leadership-class computing investment is the support of the Frontera project at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin. Frontera is the Phase 1 system of a two-phase approach to eventual deployment of a much more capable Leadership-Class Computing Facility (LCCF) in approximately 2024. This award will support the conceptual design of a Phase 2 system and facility.The project design approach will extend best practices in the design/operate/evaluate cycle that TACC has used to successfully deploy some of the largest computing systems in the world for open scientific research. This process will have four keystones: science user requirements, future technology assessment, alternative design evaluation, as well as risk management for cost, scope and schedule. Testbeds feature prominently in the design process and will provide users with early access to future computational hardware and will offer system designers quantitative insights into the effectiveness of these technologies. Testbed partners will include major cloud and technology vendors as well as early exascale computing technology adopters. In addition, the design process will be guided by science inputs and technology drivers identified by science and technology engagement teams. These teams will be composed of distinguished scientists representing a broad range of expertise and experience to guide the Phase 2 system design. The team members will also serve as community leaders to bring together colleagues in workshops, meetings, and other engagement venues to inform the process further. Moreover, the project will engage with the scientific software community, including library and community code providers, to ensure the project optimizes the selection of Phase 2 computing technologies to enable transformative S&E discoveries for the future.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.