National High-Performance Computing – ACCESS

ACCESS is an NSF-funded nationwide collection of supercomputing systems available to researchers and educators.

ACCESS (Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support), formerly XSEDE, is a National Science Foundation-funded, nationwide collection of supercomputing systems available to researchers through merit-based allocations. The resources are free, but the application process can be competitive depending on the compute resources needed.

Related Information

ACCESS Resource Catalog
ACCESS Support
Columbia's SRCPAC HPC Resources
National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot

Columbia researchers can use a few types of allocations in order of ease of acquisition and amount of resources available.

Columbia Discover Allocation

  • Use Columbia's Discover allocation (which Columbia ACCESS representatives from the Research Computing Services Team can approve).
  • Recommended for small-scale testing and benchmarking.

Explore Allocation

  • Explore requests require minimal documentation: CV and summary of the project.
  • This allocation type is best for resource evaluation, graduate student projects, small classes and training events, benchmarking, code development and porting, and similar small-scale uses.

Accelerate Allocation

  • Accelerate ACCESS requests require minimal documentation: a project description, a proposal no more than three pages long, and the PI's CV. A panel will review your request for approval.
  • Accelerate is recommended for experienced users with mid-scale resource needs, consolidating multi-grant programs, collaborative projects, and gateways with growing communities.
  • You would need to submit a Maximize access allocation request for resources greater than this.

Maximize Allocation

  • Maximize requests are large-scale projects that require massive computational resources.
  • Requests require the following documentation: a project description, a proposal no more than ten pages long, and the PI’s CV. A panel will review your request for approval.

FAQs

ACCESS resources are freely available for Columbia researchers and educators. Furthermore, Columbia's ACCESS representatives are available to approve applications to join our Discover Allocation with a fast turnaround time so you can find out if this is right HPC option for your project quickly.

Note: ACCESS allocation policies govern resources.

Any researcher or educator at Columbia University can request ACCESS resources.

Yes! Instructors can use ACCESS resources for educational purposes for their classes. You can request an Explore of Discover allocation to meet your courses’ compute needs.

For further instructions on how to request an ACCESS allocation for yourself and your students, contact us at [email protected].

For a list of available resources see the Resource Catalog.

Allocations for Explore, Discover, and Accelerate projects are awarded in ACCESS Credits. They are the “currency” used that allows you to use certain resources. You can convert your allocated ACCESS credits to Resource Service Units. Service Units are the measurement of credits distributed to an allocation. Generally, 1 Service Unit = 1 Core Hour or 1 GB of storage, but this may vary based on the resource provider and compute resource. 

You can use the ACCESS Exchange Calculator to learn more.