PERCU Results in a A Reawakened Relationship for NERSC and Cray
William Kramer · 2007
NERSC is DOE’s Flagship High Performance Computing Facility supporting 1,000s of users and 100s of computationally challenging projects. This paper provides a brief overall of NERSC usage and then discusses the processes NERSC used to evaluate and acquire NERCS-5 our latest computational system – the world’s largest Cray XT-4. NERSC uses the PERCU methodology (Performance, Effectiveness, Reliability, Consistency and Usability) to assess systems – not just before purchase but throughout their life. Combined with the Sustained System Performance (SSP) and Effective System Performance (ESP) metrics, NERSC is able to assure its client community and stakeholders that is will provide highly productive and cost effective systems. This paper also discussed the configurations and planned evolution of the NERSC-5 systems.