Physicists put huge computing grid through its paces

UK particle physicists have started the next phase of testing for the world's largest computing grid.

The tests aim to improve the grid being built to process data from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), currently being built at Cern in Geneva.

The latest test has seen particle physics grid sites in the UK exchanging data at high rates for sustained periods for the first time. The researchers are part of the GridPP project, the UK contribution to the international effort to build the LHC Computing Grid (LCG).

The CCLRC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire has been exchanging data with Cern at rates of up to 650Mbps, and other UK sites at rates of up to 480Mbps - a thousand times faster than a standard home broadband connection.

The service phase of the test began earlier this month and will take three months. During this period, particle physicists working on the experiment will test the grid by sending trial jobs, deploying new software and transferring data between sites.

The LHC experiment is expected to begin operating in 2007, producing up to 1500Mb of data per second for 10 years.

Nearly 200 sites worldwide currently contribute 13,000 processors to the LCG, which will be used to distribute and process the huge amounts of data from the LHC.

By 2007, this will have increased 10-fold as the grid gears up for full-scale operation.

The UK is currently the biggest single contributor to the LCG infrastructure, with more than a fifth of the grid's processing power at its 16 sites.

RAL hosts the UK's leading computer centre for the LCG project - known as the UK's Tier-1 site, with Edinburgh, Imperial College and Lancaster all known as 'Tier-2' sites.

Jeremy Coles, GridPP's operations manager, said in a statement: "This is the first time Tier-2 sites in the UK have been directly involved in an LCG service challenge. The experiences gained through those contributions greatly help all GridPP and LCG sites in preparing for SC4 and ultimately for deploying a production grid ready for the start of the LHC era."