Qualified Free Access to Advanced Compute Resources with NSF's Jetstream2 and ACCESS
Taylor: With ACCESS, there are different levels, based on the kind of computing the user might need to be doing. Basically there are four tiers. The higher the tier you'll have, the more credits and more compute time and power you can get.
One of the biggest draws for our users is that there's no cost to users. You don't have to pay anything. But at that point you've earned it: You really do have to spend time and effort talking about your project and applying for what you plan to do.
Once you have applied for an allocation, assuming that you are approved, you are then awarded credits; virtual credits, which you exchange for your use of resources. Again, setting up your allocation is all under the ACCESS program.
Assuming that you are approved, you are then awarded credits; virtual credits, which you exchange for your use of resources.
I also want to mention that Jetstream2 is actually four separate kinds of resources: standard compute, GPUs, large memory, and storage. Users can allocate credits toward some, or all, of these different options, depending on what their work calls for.
Grush: So the credits available to you from your ACCESS award you apply as you go, so to speak, for use of your desired Jetstream2 resources?
Taylor: Yes. You exchange your credits toward your use of resources. Once you have an active allocation, and you've exchanged credits toward Jetstream2 resources, that's when you can get started actually using Jetstream2 resources.
It's also notable that there's a variety of resources available from other resource providers as well, that your credits can be used for, as the full resource catalog shows.
For those who are looking into Jetstream2, there's ample information on how to get started on the "Get Started" page of our website.
For those who are looking into Jetstream2, there's ample information on how to get started on the "Get Started" page of our website.
Grush: David, today, who is Jetstream2 positioned to serve?
Hancock: The National Science Foundation has a broad mandate for science and is serving many agencies and institutions — not just NSF-funded research. Jetstream and Jetstream2 have been targeted at researchers,
educators, and engineers from the hard sciences;
those in fields like physics or chemistry; and some representative of the other disciplines, like biology or sociology.
With the rise of high-end interactive tools and innovative field work in research and education programs, as well as experimental labs with workstations that connect to a central infrastructure or science gateway, we may be serving individuals who are using advanced computing resources through a web portal and browser that's catered specifically to their domain or educational need.
Still, as inviting as that sounds, I don't want say we are offering "user-friendly" interfaces because an interface cannot be friendly… but through Jetstream2 we are providing an on-ramp to the national infrastructure that's a lot easier to use and trying to meet people where they are, technically. So we have, I think, a real innovation — while also bringing cloud computing paradigms and cloud-native technologies into the research and education ecosystem.
Through Jetstream2 we are providing an on-ramp to the national infrastructure… while also bringing cloud computing paradigms and cloud-native technologies into the research and education ecosystem.
Grush: As HPC and research technologies become more pervasive in higher education — in undergraduate as well as graduate programs — will research and education programs have access to the advanced compute resources they'll need? Will Jetstream2 be able to help?