Sustainable operation of research infrastructure for novel computing
Yannik Stradmann, Joscha Ilmberger, Eric Müller, Johannes Schemmel
Novel compute systems are an emerging research topic, aiming towards building next-generation compute platforms. For these systems to thrive, they need to be provided as research infrastructure to allow acceptance and usage by a large community. By the example of the neuromorphic BrainScaleS-2 system, we showcase the transformation from a laboratory setup to a publicly available research platform. It is embedded into a purpose-built institute, tightly coupling a conventional cluster with novel compute hardware. Our key contribution is the sustainable operation of such a research system: automation, integration, and resource separation enable maintainability, stable operation, and continuity in a fluctuating academic environment. We implement these concepts by adopting established best practices, such as network infrastructure with strong resource separation, 19-inch rack units, the integration of physical and simulated hardware into CI/CD processes, and system monitoring. We evaluate six years of platform operation comprising 3718 production deployments and an average of 198 hardware CI/CD runs per day, with the integration of simulated and physical hardware increasing the full-stack software line coverage from 57% to 79%. We conclude with an explicit collection of lessons learned during the transformation from single-user laboratory setups to a publicly accessible research platform that, since 2023, has served more than 520 individual researchers.
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