High-performance data storage

The UK Independent Data Access Centre (IDAC) is based at the University of Edinburgh. It provides three different user interfaces which are capable of managing hundreds of concurrent queries on the LSST data:

• a web-based science portal for interactive enquiries 

• a notebook-based engine for more substantial and scripted analysis workflows 

• an HPC/batch interface for the most ambitious and computationally intensive research campaigns

The UK IDAC is hosted by Somerville, a high-performance cloud storage service designed for data-intensive survey astronomy projects. The design and implementation of the UK IDAC is a collaboration between EPCC and the Institute for Astronomy.

The UK will hold the complete LSST survey, which is estimated to be 200 Petabytes by the end of its 10-year run. The UK will also provide cloud-based and HPC analysis platforms to enable world-class astronomy and cosmology.