Investing in PIC
While access to PIC base capability resources will be allocated to projects at no additional cost, there are opportunities to make programmatic investments that will result in those projects being given priority in the allocation process.
The PIC base capability is designed and provisioned to support programmatic investments.
PIC Resources |
Base Capability |
ComputeHigh Performance Computing Nodes |
Nodes can be added to the Constance cluster at any time. Projects may use any “color” of funding to buy nodes. Once purchased, the node will remain associated with the purchasing project for its lifespan. PIC will support nodes for a period of 4 years and provide CPU hours equivalent to what the purchased node provides. As it is possible to exhaust CPU hours before the 4-year time period has ended, PIC will monitor usage and inform projects when their burn rate is far ahead of linear usage. Each quad that is purchased is translated into 3.25 million CPU core hours on Constance. Single node purchases may also be made. Buy-ins are dedicated for 4 years, WFO supports “remand-in-place.” More details can be found in the PIC Buy-In section. |
DiskData Storage |
Programs can buy bricks of disk storage hardware to be hosted in the PIC cluster. As of January 2016, a $40,684 investment buys about 200 terabytes of storage. Contributed storage hardware will be operated for 4 years. More details can be found in the PIC Buy-In section. |
CloudBuy-in |
Basic Cloud Allocation includes a quota based on 3 percent of the base cloud capability. Basic allocations will increase/decrease over time, depending on the overall size of the institutional computing base capability.
Dedicated Allocation provides a dedicated allocation of cloud resources. Cloud computing can support greater diversity in computing options. However, buy-in costs will vary as needs shift from the core options. Buy-ins are dedicated for 4 years, WFO supports “remand-in-place.”
*Costs may be additionally burdened depending on type of work. For more details about Cloud Buy-in, visit the Institutional Cloud Computing FAQ. |