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ACI-REF

IMG_5170Research Computing is a member of the Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Research and Education Facilitator (ACI-REF) program. ACI-REF is a consortium that embraces the condo model of computing. Just as condominiums in the real estate market are optimized through timesharing, computer condominiums provide users with shares of large cluster-based computer resources. And just as real estate condominiums include turnkey management and maintenance services, computer condominiums are fully administered and supported by their host IT organizations.

RC and five other higher education institutions will embark on a two-year $5.3M pilot project funded by the NSF to “[forge] a nationwide alliance of educators to empower local campus researchers to be more effective users of advanced cyberinfrastructure (ACI). . . [and] work with the ‘long tail’ of ACI users—those scholars and faculty members who traditionally have not benefitted from the power of massively scaled cluster computing.” Each institution will implement the Internet2 Innovation Platform, consisting of these three components: A 100 GE (or multiple 10 GE) connection to Internet2’s Advanced Layer2 Service; implementation of a Science DMZ; use of Software Defined Networking.