Canada’s HPC Research Future
Jonathan Schaeffer
Vice Provost and Associate Vice President (IT)
University of Alberta
On behalf of the WestGrid Executive Committee
http://www.westgrid.ca
Canada’s HPC Research Vision
Canada’s Research Vision – March 4, 2010
HPC Milestones
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1997: C3.ca created
1999: First CFI awards
2002: WestGrid 1 (Alberta and BC)
2005: C3.ca LRP for HPC; leads to National
Platforms Fund (NPF-1)
• 2005: WestGrid 2 (Western Canada)
• 2006: NPF-1 application successful; Compute
Canada formed
• 2010: NPF-2
Canada’s Research Vision – March 4, 2010
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Compute/Calcul Canada
• 61 institutions from across Canada
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ACEnet (Atlantic Canada)
RQCHP and CLUMEQ (Quebec)
HPCVL, SciNet and SHARCNET (Ontario)
WestGrid (Western Canada)
Canada’s Research Vision – March 4, 2010
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Over 1,100 PIs
Geoscience
Fluid Dynamics
COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE
Humanities
Security
Proteomics
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Enabling…
• Researchers can now address scientific issues…
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That are complex and difficult to solve
With more realism and less approximations
At levels of detail previously unattainable
With faster turnaround for the researcher to be
productive and the research to be relevant
o Using a technical support structure that increases
research productivity
• Research is competitive and only those with major
modern resources can answer today’s most
important questions.
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Success
• Creation of Compute Canada is a milestone
• Unprecedented HPC funding (for Canada)
• National collaboration at the Board, management,
administrative and technical levels
• Facilities being used to do exciting research
• A sense of community is slowly building
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… and Discussions
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Silo mentality still exists
User fees issue has not been resolved
Renovation costs are contentious
Central administrative leadership
Board representation is a sensitive issue
National initiative but not national in spirit
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NPF-2
• NPF-2 is coming soon
• Equipment in three of seven consortia is badly in
need of a refresh
• Danger of losing technical support people
• WestGrid is in line for some funding
• Planning for the next CFI proposal under way
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Storm Clouds
• CFI has been quite blunt that:
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CC is not as “national” as CFI would like
Too much money spent on renovations
Diluting money over multiple sites
Need to engage “non-traditional” disciplines
• NPF-2 will be an open competition
o No favored status as in NPF-1
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The Critical Issue
• Currently fund 29 data centers across Canada
o Everyone wants their “own” (shared) facility
o Leads to expensive duplication
o CFI insists this should change
• Asking WestGrid VP(R)s to lead the way by
supporting change
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Number of Data Centres Across Canada
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One facility per major site?
One per province?
One per consortium?
One per region?
One per country?
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• The WestGrid Executive agrees that consolidation
of Data Centres is important.
• However, support from all institutions is key to
ensuring the success of HPC in Canada.
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Are you Willing To…
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Let go of HPC facilities on your campus?
Use resources elsewhere in the province?
Use resources elsewhere in WestGrid?
Use resources elsewhere in Canada?
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Logistics
• Money flowing to another institution, possibly in
another province
o CFI
o Provincial
o Institutional
• Loss of “stature”
• Don’t forget: these data centres are expensive to
run (direct and indirect costs)
• Benefits of consolidation
• Less duplication => more resources for research
• Critical mass => larger research problems
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Summary
• NPF-2 is coming
• We must heed CFI’s warnings
• WestGrid-2 can show national leadership
• Which model do you support?
• What are the Universities’ expectations for
WestGrid? Compute Canada?
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Thank you!
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Canada Foundation for Innovation
NSERC
Provincial funding agencies
CANARIE and the provincial networks
Universities and research partners
Canadian research community
Canada’s Research Vision – March 4, 2010