HPC Special Interest Group
The HPC Special Interest Group was formed in 2005 in response to the significant funding for University-level computing funded primarily by the SRIF-3 funding round. Members are drawn primarily from Computing Services in the Higher Education sector with representation from related organisations such as the National Grid Service and funding bodies. The main Terms of Reference are, briefly:
- To act as a lobby stressing the value of mid-range HPC provision
- To ensure that HPC provision and research methodologies are closely aligned, promoting the academic agenda in addition to system management and support
- To collect, disseminate and promote best practice in HPC provision, management and support
- To coordinate and publicise training opportunities in the areas of HPC system support and usage within the UK
- To act as a link between National HPC provision and local University/campus level provision
- To act as an outreach vehicle promoting the use of HPC across all academic sectors
- To facilitate communication between academic and industrial/commercial HPC providers/users
- To secure the role of HPC as a vital research service across all academic disciplines
- To demonstrate the value of HPC facilities in higher education and to ensure that these facilities can be delivered with best possible value for money
More details are in the Terms of Reference document. An important aspect of the SIG are specific Focus Groups that cover particular areas of interest such as Research Facilitation, Scheduling and the integration of visualisation with HPC
The HPC-SIG's 2010 report summarises the results from what we believe is the first comprehensive survey undertaken to describe the activities, measure the range and evaluate the impact of HPC facilities in UK universities.
We also have affiliations to the UCISA Infrastructure Group, the Campus GRID SIG, the NGS Collaboration Board and the Higher Education Data Centre Manager's forum. More details of these affiliations are available from the Members Area.
Meetings are held typically four times a year at differing locations across the U.K.