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This article explores the history and development of funding policy for infrastructure at NSF, including the establishment of supercomputer centers, the introduction of the Metacenter concept, and the formation of partnerships for advanced computational infrastructure. Lessons learned from the NSF experience are also discussed.
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The Interplay of Funding Policy for infrastructure at NSF Richard S. Hirsh
History - 1 • Pre-history • 1970s: Academic Computer Centers decline • late 70s - early 80s: Studies of academic needs (Lax Report, December 1982) • Start-up & establishemnt • late 1983: NSF starts Centers Program • June 1986: Five NSF Centers operational • First Renewal • May 1989: Four Centers renewed for five years
SAN DIEGO SUPERCOMPUTER CENTER PITTSBURGH SUPERCOMPUTING CENTER CRAY X-MP 48 CRAY X-MP 48 1987 NSF Supercomputer Centers Configuration NATIONAL CENTER FOR SUPERCOMPUTING APPLICATIONS CORNELL THEORY CENTER IBM 3090/400 CRAY X-MP 24
History - 2 • MetaCenter & Expansion • 1992: Metacenter concept announced • 1993: Blue Ribbon Panel on High Performance Computing • 1994: Metacenter Regional Alliances • 1995: Task Force on Future of NSF Supercomputer Centers • Partnerships for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (PACI) • 1997: PACI Program initiated
Metacenter - 1995 Cray YMP Cray 2 TMC CM2 Convex C3 TMC CM5 NCSA Intel Paragon Cray C90 SDSC PSC Cray C90 Cray T3D CTC nCUBE2 TMC CM2 IBM SP-1 Kendall Square KSR1 IBM ES9000
History - 2 • MetaCenter & Expansion • 1992: Metacenter concept announced • 1993: Blue Ribbon Panel on High Performance Computing • 1994: Metacenter Regional Alliances • 1995: Task Force on Future of NSF Supercomputer Centers (Hayes Report) • Partnerships for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (PACI) • 1997: PACI Program initiated
History - 3 • Terascale Computing Initiative • 1999: Workshops on need for high-end (Terascale) systems • 2000: TCS • 2001: DTF (TeraGrid) • 2003: ETF • Cyberinfrastructure
Lessons Learned from the NSF Experience • Community input is essential for policy formation • Always expect that the architects of the infrastructure will expand your original vision – Don’t be prescriptive • As the primary supporter NSF could create guidelines for its grantees; the initial goals for participants were uniformly NSF’s – we were not “federating” already existing facilities