A successful publicprivate partnership
Alberto Di Meglio
CERN openlab CTO
CERN: A UNIQUE ENVIRONMENT
TO PUSH TECHNOLOGIES
TO THEIR LIMITS
Alberto Di Meglio – CERN openlab
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC)
Alberto Di Meglio – CERN openlab
Collisions in the LHC
Alberto Di Meglio – CERN openlab
LHC Schedule
Openlab 4
Openlab 5
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
First run
LHC startup
900 GeV
LS1
Second run
Phase-0 Upgrade
(design energy,
nominal luminosity)
7 TeV
L=6x1033 cm-2s-2
Bunch spacing = 50 ns
LS2
Third run
Phase-1 Upgrade
(design energy,
design luminosity)
14 TeV
L=1x1034 cm-2s-2
Bunch spacing = 25 ns
LS3
…
2030?
HL-LHC
Phase-2 Upgrade
(High Luminosity)
14 TeV
L=2x1034 cm-2s-2
Bunch spacing = 25 ns
Alberto Di Meglio – CERN openlab
14 TeV
L=1x1035 cm-2s-2
Spacing = 12.5 ns
Data Handling and Computation
Offline Reconstruction
Online Triggers
and Filters
Selection &
reconstruction
Processed data
(active tapes)
Batch Physics Analysis
Offline Analysis
Event
simulation
Event
reprocessing
Offiine Simulation
Interactive Analysis
Alberto Di Meglio – CERN openlab
CERN IT Infrastructure
Alberto Di Meglio – CERN openlab
CERN openlab in a nutshell
•
A science – industry partnership to drive R&D
and innovation with over a decade of success
•
Evaluate state-of-the-art technologies in a
challenging environment and improve them
•
Test in a research environment today what will
be used in many business sectors tomorrow
•
•
Train next generation of engineers/employees
Disseminate results and outreach to new
audiences
Alberto Di Meglio – CERN openlab
CERN openlab recipe:
key ingredients
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The extreme demands from CERN’s scientific program
The alignment of goals between partners
Trust
Young researchers with their talent and energy coupled to
expert and knowledgeable CERN supervisors
An efficient and lightweight structure
Regular checkpoints and reviews of the agreed objectives
An experienced outreach and communications team
Alberto Di Meglio – CERN openlab
CERN openlab membership
 Three categories of Sponsors of the CERN openlab
• Partner
• Contributor
• Associate
3 years engagement
1 year engagement
1 year in-kind engagement
 openlab activity is decoupled from CERN’s

procurement process
A separate agreement and an NDA is signed
between CERN and each Sponsor
Alberto Di Meglio – CERN openlab
Technical Challenges and Use Cases
 A set of ambitious challenges with a 3 to 5

year time scope
A practical set of use cases for each
challenge
Based on LHC and experiment
requirements, but open to general needs of
other research organizations in terms of
large-scale computing and data services
Alberto Di Meglio – CERN openlab
Challenges
Online triggers and DAQ
Offline simulation and processing
Data storage architectures
Resource management and provisioning
Networks and connectivity
Data analytics
Alberto Di Meglio – CERN openlab
Who we are involving
New
partners
Alberto Di Meglio – CERN openlab
Towards openlab Phase 5
openlab
BoS
May 2013
Major
Review
Sep 2013
“Challenges”
Workshop
Major Review
Dec 2013
Feb 2014
Initial
partners
feedback
Internal
discussion
Agreements, start
of implementation
phase
May 2014
“Challenges”
Whitepaper
Extend discussion within
CERN, Computing Models
TDRs, EIROForum
Revisions,
discussions
Alberto Di Meglio – CERN openlab
Public
comments
Expressions of
interest
Summary

A win-win public-private partnership between research and industry

Proven track record of success for partner companies and CERN with
excellent return on investment

Future prospects

CERN’s ambitious scientific programme

Increasing use of commercial components

Engagement of the partners

A growing network of industrial partners and research labs
Alberto Di Meglio – CERN openlab
More information available via the website
www.cern.ch/openlab
Alberto Di Meglio – CERN openlab
Alberto Di Meglio – CERN openlab