Fast-track access

What are fast-track access activities?

Fast-track access activities grant a reduced and shared amount of RES resources, including HPC/AI (CPU/GPU) and QUANTUM technologies. This means that the 'jobs' submitted by users through this mechanism will be able to enter the machine when its workload allows it. 

RES allocates 5% of its annual capacity to this access mechanism, and activities are granted a fixed amount of resources of 1000 node hours. Due to the nature of this measure, the equivalent in EFlop or core hours will differ for each RES system, and is indicated in the form when selecting the systems. The resource allocation is strict, meaning that once these 1000 node hours have been used, no more can be used under any circumstances.

Requirements for the fast-track mechanism

As with the various RES calls, it is necessary for the research team to include researchers from European Union institutions, with special emphasis on including researchers from Spanish institutions.

To be eligible for fast-track access, it is necessary to hold a public grant, whether regional (Autonomous Community), national (Spain) or European. Each grant will grant access to ONE fast-track access activity, and cannot be used for more than one activity of this type.

At the end of the execution period of fast-track activities, a brief results report will be requested to justify the proper use of the resources provided through this mechanism, as well as any problems encountered that may justify low usage. Unjustified poor use will result in a penalty of not being able to use this mechanism during the following period. 

What evaluation do these requests undergo and when can they be requested?

Activities submitted through this mechanism do not undergo scientific evaluation, since they are backed by the public grant and have limited resources, and only need to pass a formal and technical feasibility evaluation. For this reason, the estimated waiting time is 2 weeks, and may be shorter or longer depending on the workload of the support and application management teams. There is no fixed deadline for fast-track activities, and the call is always open. 

However, these activities are tied to the current period, so for efficiency reasons we ask that you do not submit requests of this type during the last month of the period. For example, if a period ends on November 30, we ask that you do not request this type of access during the month of November and instead wait until the start of the period on December 1.

More information

To obtain accurate information about the documentation and information needed to request RES resources, you can consult the following documents: 

• RES Access Protocol: With all the necessary information on accessing RES resources
• RES Application Guide: Which details all the information the user must provide in the application form

If you have any questions about this access mechanism, you can send an email to applications@bsc.es and our team will resolve it as soon as possible.