The Supercomputing Institute offers computer time, disk allocation, software, and technical support on its core machines. Each core machine has a large number of fast processors, considerable disk space, fast input/output, and runs a version of the UNIX operating system. All Institute core machines can be used for serial and parallel codes written in C, C++, FORTRAN 77, and FORTRAN 90. For parallel codes, MPI and the easier-to-use OpenMP are available on all Institute core machines. However, OpenMP is limited to the number of processors on an individual node. The Institute provides numerous commercial and public domain software packages. To determine the system that is best for your use, please contact the Institute's user support staff by sending email to help@msi.umn.edu or calling 626-0802. You may also contact Dr. H. Birali Runesha, the Manager of the User Support Group at (612) 624-8857 or runesha@msi.umn.edu

The Supercomputing Institute currently provides supercomputing resource allocations and technical support for the IBM Power4, SGI Altix 3000, the Netfinity Linux Cluster, the BladeCenter Linux Cluster, and Calhoun (SGI Altix XE 1300 Linux Cluster). These are called the core machines.

Information regarding each core machine can be found at:

www.msi.umn.edu/general/coremachines.htm

Service Units (SUs) are charged for computer time and large disk usage on core resources and for large disk storage at the Scientific Data Management Laboratory (SDML). A service unit (SU) can be either a Computing Service Unit (CSU) or a Disk Service Units (DSU). The sum of CSU charges and DSU charges are added together as the total SU charge.

Currently, one service unit will provide a fixed number of hours of CPU time on each core machine as follows:

Netfinity Linux Cluster	12
IBM Power4	3.5
SGI Altix 3000	3.5
BladeCenter Linux Cluster	3.5
Calhoun	3.5

Disk service units (DSUs) will be charged when a group's usage has exceeded 500 GB of disk usage on a system for more than an hour. There will not be a charge for disk usage on scratch spaces. DSUs will be charged at the following rate:

1 DSU = 2400 GB hours for Core Resources
1 DSU = 7200 GB hours for the Scientific Data Management Laboratory

There is no service unit charge for software usage, technical support, or for other laboratory resources.

Allocations are available to faculty members at the University of Minnesota and other faculty researchers at accredited institutions of higher education in the state of Minnesota for their work and that of their students and research groups. All proposals requesting an allocation must be sponsored and signed by a faculty member of the University of Minnesota or other accredited institution of post-secondary education in the state of Minnesota.

Supercomputing resource allocations are awarded based upon a competitive review by the Supercomputing Resources Peer Review Panel. The review criteria for this program are available on the World Wide Web at:

www.msi.umn.edu/general/Programs/review.html

or from Barabara Opal at (612) 625-0012 or projects@msi.umn.edu. In addition, the criteria are stated on the allocation request form.

The deadline to apply for resources for a January to June allocation period is October 15 and the deadline to apply for a July to December allocation period is April 15. Proposals submitted subsequent to the deadlines are accepted, but have a lower priority.

Technical user support information including lists of available software for the IBM and SGI supercomputers can be found on the World Wide Web at:

www.msi.umn.edu/user_support/

In addition, you may obtain technical information and user support by contacting the Supercomputing Institute User Support Staff by phone at (612) 626-0802, via email at help@msi.umn.edu, or on the World Wide Web at:

www.msi.umn.edu/consult.html

Information pertaining to the use of the Supercomputing Institute's resources to start a research project, add new users to already existing projects and comply with reporting requirements for those participating in the Supercomputing Institute research programs is available on the World Wide Web at:

www.msi.umn.edu/general/Programs/obtain/resources.html

or from Barbara Opal at (612) 625-0012 or projects@msi.umn.edu.