Towards an HPC Complementary Computing Facility

TL;DR

This paper proposes a design for a complementary computing facility to HPC centers, aimed at supporting high energy physics workflows and providing essential services beyond traditional HPC capabilities.

Contribution

It introduces a conceptual design for a facility that complements leadership HPC centers by offering additional services tailored to HEP needs.

Findings

Identifies gaps in current HPC services for HEP workflows.

Proposes components needed for a supportive complementary facility.

Highlights importance of tailored services for effective HEP computing.

Abstract

This Letter considers the design for computing facilities that are complementary to the leadership class High Performance Computing (HPC) facilities. This design envisions a future where funding agencies are allocating greater resources for leadership class facilities and these facilities will provide a significant part of the total compute cycles for HEP Experiments. While a leadership class facility (LCF) may provide cycles and advanced architectures, the facility does not necessarily provide all of the services needed to help HEP users make the best use of the HPC facility, as well as the services needed to provide computing for workflows that are not a good fit for the HPC facilities. This Letter outlines some of the necessary components of a facility designed to provide those services and capabilities.