2011-02-01:

PRACE: Preparatory Access to Europe's largest high-performance computing systems

The Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE) allows researchers from across Europe to apply for time on Europe's largest high-performance computers via a central peer-review process. Calls for proposals for computer time on PRACE machines are issued regularly.

Preparatory Access allows researchers to apply for code scalability testing and also support for code development and optimisation from PRACE software experts. Preparatory access allows researchers to optimise their codes before responding to regular project calls. Standard production runs are not allowed as part of preparatory access.

Preparatory access calls are rolling calls, researchers can apply for resources all year. There are no closing dates.

The maximum allocation that can be applied for depends on the type of testing and development that is requested, but varies from 50 000 to 250 000 core hours. The maximum length of the access period varies from two to six months.

The following machines are available:

• JUGENE: IBM Blue Gene/P (GCS, Jülich, Germany), 294 912 cores
• Curie: Bull Bullx cluster (GENCI, CEA, France), 92 160 cores, based on Intel Nehalem EX (available January 1, upgraded in 2011)

Process

Proposals for Preparatory Access are technically peer reviewed by recognised experts from the PRACE computer centers providing computer resources and PRACE partners. Assessment of proposals is undertaken using a light-weight procedure with evaluations of the applications communicated at least every two months.

How to Apply

Proposals must be submitted via the PRACE website at: http://www.prace-ri.eu/hpc-access.

All open calls are listed at http://www.prace-ri.eu/Calls-for-Proposals

About PRACE

The Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE) is an international non-profit association with its seat in Brussels. The PRACE Research Infrastructure (RI) provides a persistent world-class High Performance Computing (HPC) service for scientists and researchers from academia and industry. The PRACE leadership systems form the apex of the performance pyramid and are well integrated into the European HPC ecosystem. The preparation and implementation of the PRACE RI receive EC funding under grants RI-211528 and FP7-261557.