CI Compass publishes “NSF Major Facilities Cloud Use Cases and Considerations,” requests feedback from cyberinfrastructure community
CI Compass began the new year by publishing the Cloud Topical Working Group (TWG) report “National Science Foundation (NSF) Major Facilities Cloud Use Cases and Considerations.”
The report explores the reasons and incentives for NSF Major Facilities to leverage cloud resources for their operations. The cloud offers an extensive range of services, including data storage, archival, processing, and data access that offer gains in scalability and availability. However, those considerations must be balanced against others such as cost.
The NSF supports over 25 Major Facilities (MFs) that serve as cornerstones for the science community, gathering colossal amounts of data each year. MFs have a number of resources they can leverage for their operations including their on-premises infrastructures as well as NSF-funded cloud (Jetstream 2), high-throughput computing systems (PATh), and high-performance resources available for example through ACCESS. The report focuses on the cloud, which provides solutions for hosting and/or archiving data and making it available to the wider community, which can be especially appealing for MFs. Within the report are case studies from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), IceCube Neutrino Observatory (IceCube), and the combined Seismological Facility for the Advancement of Geoscience (SAGE) and Geodetic Facility for the Advancement of Geoscience (GAGE) facilities, operated by the EarthScope Consortium. The case studies offer insights into how other NSF Major Facilities may approach and consider adopting cloud usage in different ways.
The CI Compass Cloud TWG has considered the many ways that MFs may explore pivoting data storage and archival practices to the cloud and have now published the findings for all to review and consider.
“While [the cloud] introduces a myriad of complexities, its advantages are manifold. By viewing cloud adoption as a flexible, case-by-case decision rather than an absolute ‘all-or-nothing’ option, MFs can make informed choices about the level and extent of cloud adoption, which has the potential to significantly amplify their capabilities, enhance research quality, and ensure efficient resources utilization,” the report abstract says. “This report encourages MFs to educate themselves on the fundamentals of cloud computing in order to better understand and leverage the cloud tools and computing model where they best fit MFs’ specific needs, optimizing benefits while effectively managing challenges and complexities.”
CI Compass and the Cloud TWG would like to invite the cyberinfrastructure community to provide feedback on the report.
"Each NSF Major Facility has unique data storage, archiving, computing and operational needs that must be considered as their researchers look for ways to move forward with integrating cloud computing," said Karan Vahi, computer scientist and Cloud TWG lead with CI Compass, and computer scientist in the Science Automation Technologies group at the University of Southern California Information Sciences Institute. "Through the Cloud TWG's engagements and research, we have presented our findings through this publication, and invite feedback from members of the cyberinfrastructure community on our next version and direction as a group."
Please contact cloud-discuss@ci-compass.org with any questions, feedback, and notes.
The full report can be found in the CI Compass Resource Library. To learn more about the Cloud TWG, including on how to join the Cloud TWG please visit the CI Compass Topical Working Groups page.
About CI Compass
CI Compass is funded by the NSF Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure in the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering under grant number 2127548. Its participating research institutions include the University of Southern California, Indiana University, Texas Tech University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Utah.
To learn more about CI Compass, please visit ci-compass.org.
Contact: Christina Clark, Research Communications Specialist
CI Compass / Notre Dame Research / University of Notre Dame cclark26@nd.edu / 574.631.2665
ci-compass.org / @cicompass
Originally published by ci-compass.org on February 19, 2024.
atLatest Research
- Notre Dame School of Architecture hosts annual summit for 100-Mile CoalitionOn Saturday (Dec. 7), the University of Notre Dame’s School of Architecture will host its second annual summit for the 100-Mile Coalition. Created by the school’s Housing and Community Regeneration Initiative, the coalition comprises community leaders from cities within a 100-mile radius of the University. The coalition seeks to bring together city and nonprofit organization leaders who are working toward solutions related to housing shortages, disinvested communities, failed infrastructure and stagnant economic growth, as well as talent and workforce retention.
- Tracing Intellectual Legacy: from Henri de Lubac to Gustavo GutiérrezWhen Gustavo Gutiérrez, O.P. passed away last month (October 22, 2024), Pope Francis sent a video message to be played at his funeral Mass which was livestreamed from Gutiérrez’s home country of Peru. Gutiérrez, a mestizo priest who spent most of his life pastoring a poor parish in the slums of Lima,…
- Pulte Institute joins global consortium using research to end povertyThe United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has awarded $75 million to a consortium of leading global institutions, including the Pulte Institute for Global Development at the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs, to enhance the effectiveness of poverty alleviation programs through research.
- Notre Dame surpasses 87 percent for undergraduate study abroad participationThe University of Notre Dame has once again received national recognition for its commitment to internationalization and global education in newly released rankings from the Institute of International Education. For the 2022-23 academic year, study abroad participation among Notre Dame undergraduates increased by more than 10 percentage points from the previous year — from 77 to 87.5 percent, according to new data published in the Open Doors report.
- Collaboration with Facilities Design and Operations helps Notre Dame grow its global presenceIf you work on Notre Dame’s campus, you can often hear the hum and rumble of a construction site nearby—maybe it’s a new dorm going up, an old building being renovated, or a parking lot getting a geothermal upgrade. This important and innovative work is hard to miss if you’re coming to campus every…
- From the Research Blog: "Ivo of Chartes, De adventu Domini (On the Advent of the Lord)"Cambridge, Corpus Christi, Parker Library 289. Ivo of Chartres, Sermo de sacramentis neophitorum, here ascribed to Hugh of…