KB010: Research Computing Resource Catalog (4-Tier GPU/Compute Hierarchy)

Scope: All Compute & Storage Services Audience: All Researchers Last Updated: Feb 22, 2026 (Strategic Hierarchy Alignment)

☁️ Ursa Major (Google Cloud) - The Baseline

Best For: Generative AI, Compliance, Big Data.

Strategic (Pool): Gemini API, Vertex AI, Secure Enclaves, Coldline Archive. (Subsidized, strict e2-standard-2 limits apply).
Commercial (Recharge): Custom VMs, Hot Storage. (Billable to Grant).
Access: Google Cloud Console (SSO).

When advanced compute or GPU workloads exceed the subsidized Tier 1 limits of Ursa Major, researchers must follow the 4-Tier GPU Offload Hierarchy below:

The 4-Tier GPU & Compute Offload Hierarchy

1. 🖥️ UCR HPCC (Primary Offload)

The main and preferred destination to maximize ROI on local infrastructure. Best For: Batch jobs, Simulation, GPU Training, MPI.

Hardware: 6,000+ Cores, NVIDIA A100/H100/T4 GPUs, Infiniband.
Storage: GPFS Parallel File System (Fast I/O).
Cost: $1,000/year Flat Rate per Lab (Unlimited Access). Hardware Buy-in available.
Access: SSH / OpenOnDemand.

2. ☸️ Nautilus - National Research Platform (Secondary)

A regional/national grid leveraging existing UCR hardware contributions. Best For: Docker Containers, Web Services, Jupyter Notebooks that overflow HPCC.

Hardware: Distributed GPU cluster across California.
Storage: Ceph Object Storage.
Cost: Free (Allocated via simple request).
Access: Kubernetes (kubectl) / Portal.

3. 🇺🇸 NAIRR Pilot - National AI Resource (Tertiary)

For specialized, high-end AI allocations when local/regional capacity is insufficient. Best For: Massive-scale AI, Exotic Hardware (Cerebras, SambaNova), hundreds of H100s.

Cost: Free (Competitive Proposal - Startup or Research Allocation).
Access: Application via nairrpilot.org.

4. 🇺🇸 NSF ACCESS (Quaternary)

Traditional national supercomputing grids reserved for massive-scale jobs. Best For: Extreme-scale HPC requiring thousands of compute nodes.

Cost: Free (Credit Exchange).
Access: Application via access-ci.org.