William Atkins
Friday, 03 October 2008 20:48
Science -
Energy
Page 2 of 3
The four-tiered computing process starts when primary backup recordings are made at CERN (Tier-0). This data is then distributed to eleven major centers (Tier-1 centers) that have the storage capability to support 24/7 operations.
Two of the Tier-1 resources are Brookhaven National Laboratory (Long Island, New York, U.S.A.) and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (or, Fermilab, in Batavia, Illinois, U.S.A.).
The Tier-1 centers will provide the data to Tier-2 centers, which have the storage capability for specific jobs and tasks. Most Tier-2 centers are housed within universities.
Then, Tier-3 computing resources will be provided the data by the Tier-2 resources. These Tier-3 resources could consist of a computer department at a university or just a single computer, like a professor’s laptop.
Additional information about the LHC Computer Grid is found at CERN’s “
Worldwide LHC Computing Grid.”
Its October 3, 2008 news release “
Let the number-crunching begin: the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid celebrates first data” states that this gigantic amount of data is necessary because
“hundreds of millions of subatomic collisions [are] expected inside the LHC every second.”
Read page three for comments of three CERN officials, along with a simple comment made by
a participating scientist on the vastness of this project.
