CERN LHC ComputingGrid

The CERN LHC Computing Grid Project (link opens in a new window) |

The CERN LHC Computing Grid Project was established by CERN council in September 2001. The project will run from 2002 to 2004 and is seen as the first phase of LHC computing development at CERN as outlined in the Hoffmann report on LHC Computing. The project is organised at CERN as a special project and is funded by direct contributions from member states and industry.

The major goal of the project is to develop and implement the computing required to exploit the LHC experiments at CERN. To achieve this the project will build upon the developments of the EDG project, currently led by CERN, and implement the full tier-0 and tier-1 test beds required at CERN for the LHC experiments over the coming three years (e.g. for the experiments mock data challenges). The CERN project must work closely with other national and international LHC and Grid computing projects to ensure the successful and efficient development of LHC computing worldwide.

The detailed objectives and deliverables of the project will be defined in consultation with the LHCC Software and Computing Committee (SC2). This committee is made up of computing representatives form the LHC experiments plus representatives from the major international LHC computing centres. The SC2 chair (Matthias Kassemann) will play an important role in developing and coordinating the computing for the LHC experiments both at CERN and internationally.

At CERN the LHC Computing project is led by Les Robertson of IT Division. Day to day running of the project is handled by a Project Execution Board (PEB) which will include the leaders of major work packages and representatives of other major Grid computing initiatives, such as GridPP, which are contributing directly to the CERN programme.