NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center

Fact Sheet

Fact Sheet

Name	NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center (NWSC)
Location	Street address: 8120 Veta Drive, Cheyenne, Wyoming Directions: North Range Business Park: Corner of Logistics Drive and Veta Drive (west of Round Top Road, north of I-80, south of Happy Jack Road)
Purpose	The NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center (NWSC) will provide advanced computing services to scientists across the nation who study a broad range of disciplines, including weather, climate, oceanography, air pollution, space weather, computational science, energy production, and carbon sequestration. It will also house a premier data storage and archival facility that will hold, among other scientific data, unique historical climate records.
Ownership and Operation	The NWSC will be owned by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), which manages NCAR, and will be operated by NCAR. NCAR is sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Partners	UCAR/NCAR under NSF sponsorship State of Wyoming University of Wyoming (UW) Wyoming Business Council Cheyenne LEADS Cheyenne Light, Fuel & Power Company
Costs	Design, construction, and commissioning of the facility will cost approximately $70 million. Cost of the initial supercomputer will range from $25 million to $35 million.
Partner Contributions	Funding from NSF to UCAR, NCAR’s managing organization, is $57.6 million. UCAR will operate and maintain the supercomputing center under NSF sponsorship. The State of Wyoming, through the Wyoming Business Council, has provided $20 million for construction costs. UW will provide $1 million annually for 20 years for ongoing upgrades to computing equipment and data storage. Cheyenne LEADS administered $4.5 million of Wyoming Business Council Business Ready Community Funds for site infrastructure. This included development of a fiber optic network, road development to the site, an extension of water and sewer lines, and regional drainage, landscaping, and signage. Cheyenne LEADS transferred ownership of the NWSC site, valued at $3 million, to UCAR. Cheyenne Light, Fuel & Power constructed primary and secondary power feeds to the site.
Construction and Completion	Groundbreaking took place in June 2010. The facility is expected to open in summer 2012.
Size	153,000 square feet in total 12,000 square feet of raised floor, the area where the supercomputers will be located
Supercomputer	The procurement process to purchase the initial supercomputer began in December, 2010. The machine is expected to rank among the world’s fastest supercomputers for Earth system science. The cost, speed, and manufacturer of the supercomputer cannot be determined until the procurement process is finalized. After the initial supercomputer procurement, the technology will be upgraded every two to five years, depending on budget and market availability.
Users	Researchers from the U.S. academic community, including NCAR and UW, will use the computing resources at NWSC. The majority of users will access the facility’s supercomputer remotely via the Internet from desktop or laptop computers.
Power Capability	When the facility opens it is expected to draw a total of 4 to 5 megawatts of electricity for computing, cooling, office, and support functions. By using a maximally energy efficient design, the computing systems will consume 3 to 4 megawatts of the total.
LEED Certification	The NWSC facility is expected to achieve LEED Gold status. LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is an internationally recognized rating system for green buildings developed by the U.S. Green Building Council for evaluating environmentally sustainable construction.
Staff	About 20 staff will work at the facility once it is operational. This includes software engineers, systems administrators, facility engineers and administrative staff.
Contractors and Vendors	Construction: Saunders Construction, Inc. Architecture and Engineering: H+L Architecture California Data Center Design Group Integral Group RMH Group Martin & Martin Consulting Engineers Rider Levett Bucknall Pre-construction Services: Saunders Construction, Inc. Design Peer Review: Reliable Resources Commissioning: E Cube, Inc.