Scientists, engineers, and other US researchers may apply until Oct. 15, 2009 (12:00 midnight local times) for free allocations of high-performance computer time and storage resources that are available through the National Science Foundation (NSF) Office of Cyberinfrastructure's (OCI) TeraGrid for the allocation period of Jan. 1, 2010 through Dec. 31, 2010. Allocation requests of any size may be submitted via "POPS," the system for TeraGrid allocation requests. To apply for an allocation, visit https://pops-submit.teragrid.org/.

Each quarter, a panel of computational experts known as the TeraGrid Resource Allocations Committee (TRAC) evaluates requests primarily on the appropriateness of the proposal for TeraGrid resources. At the September 2009 TRAC meeting, 125 requests were reviewed. More than 310 million processor hours of compute time and nearly 1 petabyte of data storage were awarded.

TeraGrid resources currently exceed 2 petaflops of combined computing capability and more than 30 petabytes of online and archival data storage from 11 resource provider sites across the nation. TeraGrid, the NSF, and the TeraGrid Science Advisory Board are currently preparing for a successful transition to the next phase of the NSF-supported cyberinfrastructure, called eXtreme Digital (XD), which involves a phased transition to a suite of resources and services that exceed the current aggregate computational power on TeraGrid. For more information, see http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503282.

While the evolution of HPC systems is widely accepted, March 2010 will see the end of service of seven systems at five TeraGrid sites. Eighteen existing systems, including TeraGrid's two largest that were funded under NSF OCI's Track 2 Program--specifically Ranger at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), and Kraken at the National institute for Computational Science (NICS) will remain. With continuity of service as a shared goal, TeraGrid will provide transition documentation, training, consulting, and application support services before, during, and after the introduction of XD.

For up-to-date information, including an XD transition schedule and answers to frequently asked questions, visit http://www.teragrid.org/XDTransition. Contact TeraGrid with specific questions by email: XDQuestions@teragrid.org, via the TeraGrid User Portal web form (select the consulting tab), or by calling 1-866-907-2383.