Storrs HPC facility

Operational changes to the Storrs High Performance Computing (HPC) facility will be effective July 1.
The HPC service on the Storrs campus, which was originally implemented as the Hornet cluster, was first stood up by the School of Engineering as part of the Booth Engineering Center for Advanced Technology (BECAT), where it was well positioned to meet local needs. Usage of the service increased tenfold over six years as these capabilities were increasingly leveraged by the School of Engineering as well as the broader university research community. While it was certainly successful and the activity gratefully received capital resources through the Office of the Provost’s academic plan investments, operating revenues were historically assembled ad hoc, and this jeopardized its ability to sustainably meet researchers’ needs. The Office of the Provost has charged ITS with full management and oversight of the facility and committed permanent operating funds for HPC starting in fiscal year 2018. This funding will enable ITS to effectively deliver a reliable, robust, and up-to-date service that is supported by professional staff. It also enhances the institution’s ability to leverage its strategic investments in existing computational and storage technologies and positions us for future investments as researcher activities shift to alternate technologies, such as GPUs. HPC is germane to many of the strategic research areas identified by the University, and as a centrally delivered service, I am committed to evolving and enhancing it for the collective benefit and success of our research community. For more information, visit hpc.uconn.edu.