Jetstream, the expansive NSF-funded cyberinfrastructure project intended in large measure to serve the long tail of science will officially launch tomorrow (9/1/16). A central idea is to make Jetstream attractive to communities who have not been users of traditional HPC systems, but who would benefit from advanced computational capabilities. Among those groups are researchers in biology, atmospheric science, observational astronomy, and the social sciences.

Jetstream will provide the following core capabilities:

• Use Virtual Machines interactively – when a researcher or student logs into Jetstream they will have access to a library of public Virtual machines pre-configured to do a variety of important scientific tasks (including a generic Linux VM into which any application developer or user can add software of their own choosing. You can use a pre-created VM and then save a personalized version to your private library. In general when a researcher or student logs into Jetstream they will see views of the public library and their own private library.

• Researchers and students can move data to and from Jetstream using Globus Transfer.

• Use virtual desktops. Intended for researchers and students at institutions with limited local network access or local cyberinfrastructure, virtual desktops will let a researcher or student access Jetstream from a tablet or laptop device over a cellular network connectionless.

• Publish VMs with a DOI. Researchers and students will have the ability to bundle up an analysis they have done as part of a research project, store it in IU’s digital archive, and have a DOI associated with it. So you can publish your analysis, with a DOI, in support of your scientific research! (“Note: this is a service that IU is offering in support of Jetstream; it’s not available as a general VM publishing service but perhaps it’s a reason you should consider Jetstream for your research.”)

“Today’s researchers and educators require easy access to a rich portfolio of computing and data-intensive resources, tools and expertise to advance science and engineering frontiers. Jetstream users will benefit from cloud capabilities which are integrated into the national research infrastructure,” said Irene Qualters, head of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure at NSF.

The Jetstream cloud is a collaborative effort led by Indiana University’s Pervasive Technology institute. Other partners include: University of Texas (Austin) Texas Advanced Computing Center; University of Arizona; University of Chicago Computation Institute; Johns Hopkins University; University of Texas at San Antonio; and Cornell University.

In addition ‘collaborating’ partners are Jackson State University, the National Snow and Ice Data Center, the Odum Institute at the University of North Carolina and the University of Hawaii. Vendor partners include Dell and Mathworks. (For more information about the Jetstream systems, see HPCwire article, Jetstream: Targeting the Long Tail of Science)

Indiana University is also launching two other resources along with Jetstream: 1) Big Red II+, which will complement the capabilities of Big Red II by providing an environment dedicated to large-scale, compute-intensive research; and 2) the Diet proof-of-concept testbed, a joint collaboration between Data Vortex Technologies and the School of Informatics and Computing Center for Research in Extreme Scale Technologies (CREST), will explore uses and implications of the innovative Data Vortex system area network .