XSEDE and PRACE, major research infrastructures, providing peer-reviewed access to high-end HPC resources and services in the United States and Europe, respectively, are now exploring options to extend collaborative efforts to other activities that effectively support research teams spanning the US and Europe. One of these options is the provisioning of interoperable services; this is a call to invite research teams that are using both infrastructures--or will be interested in doing so in the future--to express their requirements for such interoperable services.

The two research infrastructures will support research teams for setting up the required interoperability if a clear benefit is to be expected from the new facilities. Resource allocations are not part of this call, however allocations for testing purposes will be possible.

This call for requesting support complements the call of last year which was targeted at Expressions of Interest for potential joint allocation of resources. From that call it became clear that there is great interest in the enabling of the interoperable facilities of the two infrastructures. This call will give all interested research teams the opportunity to express their interest in the enhancement of interoperability and indicate interest in collaborative support opportunities with both XSEDE and PRACE.

The XSEDE Senior Management Team and the PRACE Board of Directors invite requests for support for such joint activities by XSEDE and PRACE. The request should target the enhancement of the interoperability between XSEDE and PRACE. The selected proposals will receive support both from XSEDE and PRACE-3IP project in order to improve the interoperability. For testing the implemented solutions on the XSEDE and PRACE systems time can be requested.

Requests for Support should be submitted to prace-xsede@prace-ri.eu or prace-xsede@xsede.org before January 31, 2014. They should be no longer than two pages and should address the following points.

Identify the collaborating teams in the US and Europe.
The technical challenges facing the collaborating teams as justification for suggested activity.
A list of involved XSEDE/PRACE centers including the confirmation of the feasibility and acceptance of the proposed work
The justification for access to resources in both the US and Europe, where applicable.
What effort the collaborating teams can provide to participate in the collaborative support activity and an estimation of expected support.
Mechanisms for monitoring progress and reviewing outcomes.

Up to three applications may be selected for a supporting period of up to six months starting on April 1, 2014. Each successful application will be supported with up to three person month’s effort provided by XSEDE and/or PRACE personnel.

XSEDE and PRACE will assess the proposals based on the following criteria

Potential impact of proposed interoperable service
Technical feasibility
Commitment of the proposing groups to contribute to the effort
Required effort by XSEDE and PRACE teams

Based on this assessment and available resources, XSEDE and PRACE will select applications for support. Applicants will be informed by March 15, 2014 about the result of the assessment, including reasons for selection or rejection.