CERN Accelerating science

History

The successful CERN openlab concept was formulated in 2001 and stayed basically unchanged throughout the last decade. CERN openlab has been organised into successive three-year phases.

In openlab I (2003–2005), the focus was on the development of an advanced prototype called opencluster. 

CERN openlab II (2006–2008) addressed a range of domains from platforms, databases and Grid, security and networking with HP, Intel and Oracle as partners and EDS, an HP company, as a contributor. The combined knowledge and dedication of the engineers from CERN and the companies have produced exceptional results leading to significant innovation in many areas. 
 
CERN openlab III (2009-2011) not only capitalised on but also extended the successful work carried out in openlab II with the aim of hosting several major projects with a particular focus on technologies and services relevant to CERN and its partners. 
 
The fourth phase (2012-2014) addressed new topics crucial to the CERN scientific programme, such as cloud computing, business analytics, the next generation of hardware, and security for the myriads of networks devices. The technical activities were organised in five Competence Centres (CC): the Automation and Controls CC with Siemens as a partner, the Database CC with Oracle as a partner, the Networking CC with HP as a partner, the Platform CC with Intel as a partner, the newly created Storage Architecture CC with Huawei as a partner. Rackspace joined CERN openlab in 2013 as a contributor while Yandex did join as an associate.
 
CERN openlab is now in the phase V (2015-2017). This phase is tackling ambitious challenges covering the most critical needs of IT infrastructures in domains such as data acquisition, computing platforms, data storage architectures, compute provisioning and management, networks and communication, and data analytics.
 
To know more about CERN openlab's history please check the article authored by François Flückiger and published in the CERN Courier in 2012 which offers his personal account on how this undertaken began and went on to thrive.
 
openlab inception

Before the first phase of CERN openlab started in 2003, the collaboration carried out some intial work starting in 2001.  The first CERN openlab annual report covers this period.

openlab phase I

During its first phase, CERN openlab constructed a grid-enabled compute and storage farm called the opencluster, based on hp dual processors machines, Intel's Itanium family processors, Enterasys's 10-Gbps switches and a high-capacity storage system based on IBM's StorageTank system.

openlab phase II

The framework of the second phase of openlab was similar to that of the first phase, with the aim of hosting a few major projects with a particular focus on Grid-related technologies and services. The projects were organized in four activities.

openlab phase III

The Automation and Controls Competence Centre was created at the inception of the third phase, with Siemens joining as a partner. New projects were carried out with HP in the Networking Competence Centre, with Intel in the Platform Competence Centre, and with Oracle and the Networking Competence.

openlab phase IV

The fourth phase (2012-2014) addressed new topics crucial to the CERN scientific programme, such as cloud computing, business analytics, the next generation of hardware, and security for the myriads of networks devices.

openlab phase V

The current phase V (2015-2017) is tackling ambitious challenges covering the most critical needs of IT infrastructures in domains such as data acquisition, computing platforms, data storage architectures, compute provisioning and management, networks and communication, and data analytics.