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。 领导级计算计划旨在提供先进的计算能力，使所有科学和工程（SE）的变革性研究成为可能。 NSF目前的领先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2024年左右部署一个功能更强大的领导级计算设施（LCCF）。 该奖项将支持第二阶段系统和设施的概念设计。该项目设计方法将扩展TACC在设计/操作/评估周期中的最佳实践，该周期已用于成功部署世界上一些最大的计算系统，用于开放式科学研究。这一过程将有四个重点：科学的用户需求，未来的技术评估，替代设计评估，以及风险管理的成本，范围和进度。试验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抢先体验，并将为系统设计人员提供对这些技术有效性的定量见解。测试床合作伙伴将包括主要的云计算和技术供应商以及早期的exascale计算技术采用者。 此外，设计过程将以科学和技术参与小组确定的科学投入和技术驱动因素为指导。这些团队将由代表广泛专业知识和经验的杰出科学家组成，以指导第2阶段系统设计。 团队成员还将担任社区领导人，将同事聚集在研讨会，会议和其他参与场所，以进一步了解该过程。 此外，该项目将与科学软件社区，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 E发现。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

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.