Subject: REMINDER ON TOMORROW'S CALL Chaps, THERE IS A CALL TOMORROW AND FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEK BEFORE LATTICE 2002. WE NEED TO TAKE ANOTHER "BIG LEAP" FORWARD. Audio Bridge Confirmations Dates: June 6, 11, and June 20,2002 Day: Thursdays Time: 3 PM to 5 PM Telephone Number Assigned: 617-258-7910 For your interest I have appended to this message and posted at bottom of http://buphy.bu.edu/~brower/SciDAC/scc.html an interesting Email message from Richard Kenway forward to us from Bob Sugar on "international organization .... to manage lattice field theory data". I thought that this is a good thing for us to consider since it has obvious impact on how we might approach our File standards and Data Grid tasks. Agenda: #1. Reveiw new Level 2 API document (due to hard work of Carleton et al): See Level2API_0_6.pdf posted at bottom of webpage http://buphy.bu.edu/~brower/SciDAC/scc.html (Word document is there as well) *********** PLEASEE READ Level2API_0_6 BEFORE MEETING ************** #2. Plan summer software tasks. On my agenda is (a) Finishing Level 2 API design (b) Impliment Level 1 QLA in C and optimize on Hardware platforms. (c) Substantial progress "porting" MILC/SZIN/CPS to level 2 QDP (d) Developing standards for I/0 and Data files. #3. There will be no Software Workshop after Lattice 2002. (Unless someone is very enthusiastic. For my part it is a bit of an organizational overload!) Instead I suggest a late summer/early fall meeting. The best, Rich ============================================================================================ ============================================================================================ Dear Bob, Norman, Akira, Guido and Lele, I would like you to consider my proposal below to set up an international organisation for lattice data. I have been encouraged to take the idea further following my talk about it (attached) at Chris Michael's 60th birthday meeting last week. A similar email has gone to Rainer Sommer, Klaus Schilling and Hartmut Wittig, who were at the meeting, and through them to Karl Jansen. If you think it is worth pursuing, I will be happy to organise a small meeting here in Edinburgh to discuss it (unfortunately, I cannot attend the Boston meeting). 1. I propose that we create an international organisation, with the long-term stability and high profile of CERN, which would generate and manage lattice field theory data. This would be a virtual organisation, embodied in a Scientific Council, a library of lattice field configurations, and a global grid-based infrastructure. 2. The background to this is a) the movement towards open source codes conforming to the emerging SciDAC standard; b) the construction of data grids which can be interoperable via the emerging OGSA (Open Grid Services Architecture) standard; c) our dependence on a few individuals (and laboratories) to develop cost-effective high-performance computers; and d) the growing range of opportunities for physics from lattice data through new theoretical advances and the wider reach of phenomenological applications. 3. I propose that the organisation is solely concerned with lattice field theory configurations, not machines. This is because a) data, in particular its availability, is the key to physics; b) the organisation can be neutral with regard to machine projects; c) the proposal can get a lot of leverage (and political mileage) from current grid activity; and d) the organisation's operating costs can be kept low. 4. The organisation should have stable funding through annual subscriptions. These would be paid in data and/or money. The former might suit countries which have invested in machines, allowing part of their cost to be offset. For this to work, we would have to assign a monetary value to configurations. This would be based on the cost of production, decreasing with time according to Moore's law. The Scientific Council would decide which actions and parameter values the organisation holds. It would be able to buy configurations from those with machines, thereby providing funding and international endorsement for machine projects. We have been moving inexorably towards multinational projects and the time is now right to establish a high-profile international organisation which can secure long-term commitments from national funding agencies. I see this proposal as liberating both those who want to do physics without being tied to a particular machine project and those who want to develop machines. If our subject is to be healthy and expanding, we must enable as many individuals a possible to become involved in it. The focus on data management will avoid the organisation being seen as lobbying for particular (national) machine projects. I do not intend that membership of the organisation excludes a group which has its own machine from pursuing an independent physics programme. Obviously, for the idea to succeed, most groups with big machines would have to agree to provide the organisation with some data. However, it could grow from a small number of initial members. Please feel free to discuss this idea with your colleagues. I look forward to your comments and suggestions. With best wishes, Richard ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prof Richard Kenway Email: r.d.kenway@ed.ac.uk Department of Physics & Astronomy Tel: +44 131 650 5245 The University of Edinburgh Sec: +44 131 650 5242 (Alvis Ingram) The King's Buildings Fax: +44 131 650 5212 Edinburgh EH9 3JZ, Scotland Mobile: 07785 758391 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------