Introduction

The Netherlands' robust ICT infrastructure has played a crucial role in promoting scientific discoveries and empowering researchers to lead pioneering research initiatives. In the coming decade, the surge in digitalization of research and the emergence of innovative ICT technologies will drive the demand for advanced computing capabilities. As various scientific disciplines increasingly rely on computing as an indispensable analysis and research tool, it is imperative to maintain a continuous cycle of investigation, experimentation, and enhancement of our digital computing research infrastructure and applications.

In this regard, SURF introduces the Experimental Technologies Platform (ETP)—an open and collaborative innovation environment. More precisely, it is a combination of human expertise and local hardware infrastructure. Experiments on the ETP can request consultancy services, hardware access, or both. Additionally, the scope of the experiments is not restricted to the current infrastructure. The ETP also strives to evaluate the feasibility of acquiring new hardware, requesting access to other experimental facilities, integrating external systems, or consulting external experts.

The aim of this call is to make the ETP available to early innovators, researchers, and engineers interested in performing collaborative experiments. Collaborating closely with the research community, our goal is to explore the newest ICT technologies and methodologies that will shape the future of scientific applications and workflows. Therefore, the ETP will encourage cross-disciplinary collaborations and knowledge sharing while supporting existing and future hardware-focused explorations.

Guide for applicants

Validity of the call for proposals

Applications can be submitted at any time, from the publication of this call for proposals until the closing of the call on 31 December 2024.

Eligibility

SURF Experimental Technologies Platform welcomes innovators, researchers, and engineers from all over the world, supporting their participation in developing and experimenting with emerging technologies and methodologies. The aim is to push the boundaries of the Dutch research landscape while contributing to the global state-of-the-art. In this regard, we encourage participants to collaborate with each other on projects, fostering a rich exchange of ideas and expertise, and contributing to the success and innovation of projects within the community.

Eligibility for conducting experiments in the platform is solely determined by the project's suitability and the availability of resources. However, the ETP retains the discretion to allocate or prioritize experiments based on various factors, including the presence of participants from the Netherlands and its impact on the Dutch landscape, the availability of resources, the feasibility of the project, the expected influence and outcomes, and its alignment with SURF's development objectives, among other considerations. 

The ETP committee will aim for a balanced distribution of projects among three categories of eligible experiments described below.

• Benchmarking: Projects that aim to evaluate the capabilities of hardware that is not currently available on national systems. This hardware includes FPGAs, graphics cards from AMD and Intel, smart NICs, data processing units, and others. Such evaluations can take the form of micro-benchmarking activities that assess the device's actual performance using low-level kernels.
  • If the hardware is not available on the local infrastructure, the ETP will evaluate the possibility of acquiring new devices or requesting access to external providers. The ETP could also coordinate requests fostering NDA agreements with vendors.
• Workflow design and end-to-end optimization: Projects that aim to facilitate the creation, implementation, assessment, and refinement of complex workflows while evaluating all components of the system and their interaction with each other and the environment, including specific application porting and optimization efforts. This goes beyond focusing on individual aspects and seeks to streamline and enhance the entire workflow process. Collaboration between engineers and researchers will be promoted to ensure no aspect of a complex workflow is overlooked. This commitment to optimizing workflows ensures that research and technology applications perform at their best.
  
• Architecture, provisioning, and orchestration: Projects that aim to study innovative system architectures towards composability or disaggregation of compute resources, or to develop efficient coordination mechanisms between different IT resources to enable the implementation of new applications and workflows. For instance, coupling Quantum computers with HPC systems to run hybrid workloads.

Resources available

The ETP is a combination of human expertise and hardware infrastructure. Applicants can request consultancy services, access to hardware infrastructure, or both. Moreover, as an open and collaborative lab, the ETP will evaluate the feasibility of acquiring new hardware, requesting access to other experimental facilities, integrating external systems, or consulting external experts. It is noted that the ETP does not allocate experiments by means of budget; access to local or remote facilities is granted according to the project timeline and specifications.

SURF Experimental Technologies Platform does not provide direct funding for projects. However, participants will benefit from proficient technical support and access to experimental facilities.

Consultancy

The ETP team comprises a group of system administrators and advisors with varied backgrounds including scientific computing, artificial intelligence, data processing, network engineering, and cloud provisioning, among others. The team is devoted to supporting the design and deployment of experiments but does not conduct research.

Infrastructure

The major difference between the ETP hardware infrastructure and the national compute system Snellius is the variety of hardware architectures available and the flexibility of configuration. Since it is not a production system, the ETP can deploy configurations personalized for different experiments at the hardware and software levels. Currently, the available hardware in our local facilities includes the following:

• CPUs from Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA.
• GPUs from Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA.
• Xilinx FPGAs.
• Google TPUs.
• NextSilicon compute cards.
• High-speed parallel file systems.
• LIQID composable infrastructure.

Besides the local hardware infrastructure, the ETP can evaluate the possibility of installing and hosting third-party hardware provided by the requestors, configuring couplings with external facilities, or requesting access to hardware vendors. Successful examples of partnerships include Cerebras and NextSilicon.

Application procedure

The ETP provides a lightweight formulary to request a project.

• Download and complete the application form.
• Save the application form, preferably in editable format (e.g., docx), and submit a ticket to SURF Servicedesk (select 'Create a ticket', and then pick 'Experimental Technologies Platform' from the services list).
• If the application is a continued (follow-up) application, you must also submit a report on the previous project. Reports of previous projects are taken to the assessment committee as additional information in the assessment of the follow-up application.

Conditions on granting

The following definitions apply to any approval of an application:

• By ‘system’ we mean the computer system to which access has been granted, including any related front-end machines, peripherals, data communication equipment, and the related software and support made available.
• By ‘user’ we mean the person to whom the computing time has been allocated, as well as those to whom this person allows access to the system under his or her own responsibility.

The user must accept the terms of use applicable to the system used, which contain rules on the correct use of the system, by signing a user agreement with SURF. This user agreement includes, among other things:

• The user will not use the system for any purposes other than the project for which access has been given.
• The user will make no attempt to obtain access to, or make use of, programs or files owned by others or to which no access has been expressly given.
• The user will adhere to the requirements and procedures of the computer center providing the system services.
• The user will immediately inform the computer center involved of any faults detected in system software, compilers, data communications, etc., as well as any observed malfunctions.
• The user is responsible for any misuse of his or her user name and account by third parties, and will therefore protect his or her passwords to the best of their ability against such misuse.
• The user is responsible for the consequences of any overrun in the allocated computing time.
• SURF and other institutions concerned can accept no responsibility for any loss or damage incurred by the use of the system or resulting from any faults therein.

Duration and starting time

The ETP acknowledges that experimental and innovative activities inherently lack precise timeframes or predictability comparable to production runs. Consequently, it is suggested to decompose applications into steps or milestones that are qualifiable, measurable, and time-constrained. In alignment with this approach, the ETP will prioritize activities organized within four-month periods.

Similarly, to the diverse nature of experimental infrastructures and experiments, determining specific starting points poses a challenge, as certain tools may be highly utilized while others experience lower demand. Consequently, the commencement of approved experiments will be determined on a case-by-case basis according to the availability of the requested resources.

Reporting and acknowledgment

NWO grants require you to include an acknowledgment in all publications resulting from this research project. For the exact wording, please refer to NWO.

In addition, we ask you also include an acknowledgment in all publications resulting from your project using the following text: "This work has made use of resources and expertise provided by SURF Experimental Technologies Platform (SURF–ETP), which is part of the SURF cooperative in the Netherlands, under project no. SURF–ETP–<XXXX>.”

Finally, a short, one-page project report is expected using the report form. 

Assessment procedure

Applications submitted in the current call undergo evaluation by the ETP committee, consisting of experienced system administrators and advisors from SURF, representing a range of SURF research services.

In the initial phase, an ETP advisor reviews the application, assessing whether it is admissible based on criteria such as completeness, appropriateness, potential impact, and alignment with the platform's scope. This evaluation is based on the conditions outlined in the "Guide for applicants" section. If corrections are needed, the application is returned to the applicant for clarification and adjustments. Admissible applications proceed to the next stage, where a system administrator evaluates the experiment's technical feasibility and issues a final decision.

Rejected projects receive a detailed rebuttal, providing insights and suggestions for improvement, encouraging the submission of a new proposal better aligned with the ETP objectives.

The entire assessment process is designed to be completed within three weeks from submission. However, the start of approved experiments is determined on a case-by-case basis according to the availability of requested resources, as specified in the "Conditions on granting" section.