The Department of Energy has selected the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility to lead the High Performance Data Facility Hub, the latest step in the Department’s plan to foster a powerful computing infrastructure for advanced research and development initiatives.
The Jefferson facility will work with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to build an HPDF hub, it was announced Monday. The hub’s focus is to advance Energy’s integrated research infrastructure program, which aims to combine cutting-edge computing and data management to foster new research in emerging technologies.
“High-quality research data is the rocket fuel for the AI era and all other forms of emerging technology,” said Geraldine Richmond, DOE’s Under Secretary for Science and Innovation. “High-performance data facilities play a central role in the operation and success of the IRI program, which is designed to serve the data and analysis needs of many DOE national laboratory user facilities and others.”
Energy also envisions the HPDF Hub providing seamless access to the agency’s vast datasets from previous experiments and simulations for reference by researchers.
One of the technologies HPDF Hub will focus on is artificial intelligence. Energy said in a press release that the Hub’s AI agenda will ideally lead to new approaches to existing problems in the field through improved data access.
The total cost of the HPDF program is estimated to be between $300 million and $500 million, subject to future funding availability.
