Worldwide, the LHC computing grid will be comprised of about 20,000 servers, primarily running the Linux operating system. Scientists at Tier-2 sites can access these servers remotely when running complex experiments based on LHC data, Pordes says. If scientists need a million CPU hours to run an experiment overnight, the distributed nature of the grid allows them to access that computing power from any part of the worldwide network, she says. With the help of Tier-1 sites such as Brookhaven, the goal is to make using the grid just as easy for universities as using their own internal networks, according to Pordes.
