Our main two supercomputers are Peta4 and Wilkes2 - collectively known as the Cambridge Service for Data-Driven Discovery (CSD3). Access to CSD3 is available to users from the University of Cambridge, other academic institutions or industry. There are a wide variety of mechanisms for accessing CSD3 including special access routes for research projects under EPSRC Tier2 and STFC DiRAC, and also simply paying for resources on the system.

Free Use

Researchers at the University of Cambridge (and affiliated institutions in Cambridge) are eligible for a limited allocation of free time on the system. This free time is provided at a lower service level (SL3) than paid, EPSRC & DiRAC projects (SL1 & SL2), which limits the size, length and priority of jobs. 

Paid Use

Paid access to CSD3 system is available to any user, whether from the University of Cambridge, another academic institution or industry, under a simple pay-for-use mechanism.

If you are an internal University of Cambridge user, you may purchase credits (in addition to the limited free-access given to internal users) at any time by departmental purchase order. Please see this page.

If internal University of Cambridge users wish to include the costs of CSD3 resources on a research grant please contact resources@csd3.cam.ac.uk to discuss the amount of CSD3 resources you will require and the cost of these resources to be added to the grant. Note that EPSRC-funded Cambridge researchers can also apply for CSD3 resources through calls for Tier2 resources.

For more information on paid access please contact resources@csd3.cam.ac.uk.

National Services

CSD3 is a provider of compute resources to the EPSRC Tier2, STFC DiRAC and STFC IRIS national services.

We are very keen to provide access to the CSD3 system for researchers who wish to develop innovative computational methods that exploit some of the unique features of the system. These features may include the heterogeneous architecture of Peta4 and Wilkes2, the accelerated storage, and the close integration with openstack and big-data systems. 

If you wish to discuss your eligibility to apply for resources and the suitability of your work please contact resources@csd3.cam.ac.uk.