World's biggest computing grid

The world’s largest computing grid is ready to tackle mankind’s biggest data challenge from the earth’s most powerful accelerator.

Worldwide Large Hadron Collider Computing Grid combines the power of more than 140 computer centers from 33 countries to analyze and manage more than 15 million gigabytes of LHC data every year.

Fifteen universities and three U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories from 11 states contribute their power to the project.  

U.S. contributions to the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid are coordinated through the Open Science Grid, a national computing infrastructure for science. The Open Science Grid not only contributes computing power for LHC data needs, but also for projects in many other scientific fields including biology, nanotechnology, medicine and climate science. 

“Particle physics projects such as the LHC have been a driving force for the development of worldwide computing grids,” said Ed Seidel, director of the National Science Foundation’s Office of Cyber infrastructure.

“When the LHC starts running at full speed, it will produce enough data to fill about six CDs per second,” said Michael Ernst, director of Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Tier-1 Computing Center.

that is 14,648.4375 terabytes a year..

LHC computer network globe at computer center :

“Open Science Grid members have put an incredible amount of time and effort in developing a nationwide computing system that is already at work supporting America’s 1,200 LHC physicists and their colleagues from other sciences,” said Open Science Grid Executive Director Ruth Pordes from DOE’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. 

Through their distributed computing infrastructures, these physicists also help other scientific researchers increase their use of computing and storage for broader discovery.