Expand the capability and capacity of NCAR supercomputing facilities
The trend of dramatic increases in power and cooling requirements for replacement computing systems was identified by CISL staff six years ago. In 2007, Congress directed the EPA to study data center efficiency. The study recommends three sets of guidelines for computing facilities to implement: "improved," "best practice," and "state of the art." CISL continues to be actively engaged with the management of high-end facilities and has implemented many of the recommendations from all three categories in the Mesa Lab computer room. CISL is planning a new supercomputing facility that will fully meet "state of the art" specifications.
Providing computing facilities to meet NCAR's needs is fundamental to NCAR's strategic goal to "Provide robust, accessible, and innovative information services and tools," and to the related strategic priority of "Enhancing capability and capacity of NCAR supercomputing." We continue a two-pronged approach to meeting this challenge.
This chart shows how efficiency has
improved at the Mesa Lab computing facility over the last six years.
First, we have solidified and prepared the NCAR Mesa Lab computing
facility infrastructure to operate at capacity for the next two years.
With the installation of the POWER6 system bluefire, the Mesa Lab
computing facility is now successfully operating at nearly 100%
capacity. Bluefire uses liquid-based cooling on the processors and for
air passing through the cabinet; this is an EPA "state of the art"
recommendation. These incremental improvements have greatly enhanced the
energy efficiency of the Mesa Lab computing facility. The chart shows how
efficiency has improved over the last six years. The facility energy
efficiency is calculated by dividing the computer systems' power consumption
by the total power consumed.
Having implemented many of the EPA recommendations, we still experience significant constraints on both electrical and cooling capacity. CISL's second initiative is to continue planning the construction of a new facility. In August 2008, NSF, UCAR, and NCAR agreed on a multi-step process to pursue the initiation and approval of this construction project. NCAR, UCAR, and the University of Wyoming are proceeding with the release of a request for information (RFI) for architecture and engineering services.
In FY2009, NSF will establish a formal process for review and approval of the development during its major phases. NSF, NCAR, UCAR, and the Wyoming partners will work together to finalize business plans, milestones, and timelines within the framework NSF establishes.
This work is supported by NSF Core funding.