CSCS resources currently distribute compute time through the following allocation schemes:
Preparatory Projects:
These projects are intended for users who are new to CSCS to allow them to port and test their codes before applying for a Production Project.
Existing users who wish to port and test a new code or application may also apply for a Preparatory Project.
These projects consist of a limited and finite amount of compute resources. They are allocated for 3 months - a maximum extension of 3 months may be granted based on CSCS' evaluation of the request. Data produced during a Preparatory Project will be kept for a maximum of 3 months after the end of the project.
Preparatory Projects are allocated a total of 12000 cpu hours over 3 months.
Please, send your preparatory project in pdf format to projectoffice(at)cscs.ch
Production Projects:
These projects are aimed at the production work for a specific scientific project.
Starting from May 1st, 2010 production projects can be submitted at any time. However there will be only two allocation periods on April 1st and on October 1st. All projects will be subjected to a technical and feasibility assessment by CSCS experts (two per project) and to a scientific review which will be carried out by reviewers from an international pool. Based on the scientific reviews, a panel of scientific experts will meet twice a year to select projects and make an allocation recommendation.
Projects are granted access based on scientific merit and technical feasibility. Allocations are valid for one year.
The first allocation period started on April 1st for all the projects submitted within November 23rd, 2009.
The second allocation period starts on October 1st for all the projects submitted within June 30th, 2010.
The online portal for submission is always opened.
All projects submitted after the deadlines will go through the reviewing process and if ranked positively both technically and scientifically will start at the next allocation period unless some resources become available earlier.
Please note that new users can apply only after completion of a Preparatory Project, in which you are expected to successfully port your code, define the necessary benchmarks, produce preliminary data sets, etc.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The Project proposal should be no longer than 5 A4 pages and must contain the following information:
✴ Abstract
✴ Scientific goals and objectives
✴ Background and significance
✴ Research methods, algorithms, and code
✴ Benchmarks of the systems which are representative of the data set to be studied in the project
✴ Benchmarks showing the scaling behavior of your code
✴ Resources justification
✴ Parallelization approach
✴ Project plans: tasks and milestones
Please, note that all these sections are mandatory. If your application lacks of any of them your proposal will be rejected.
The allocation request must be given per year, that is the total number of CPU hours you require for the whole year.