As part of the Dutch National Grid Initiative (NGI_NL), SURFsara offers individuals affiliated with Dutch universities and institutes access to the Grid infrastructure. With the help of the Grid, large scale computational problems can be solved and large amounts of data can be stored. Grid computing is a form of distributed computing which can be very powerful when applied in the right way. The Grid consists of a large number of various clusters which are distributed all over the Netherlands and even abroad. The clusters are interconnected by fast network connections, provided by SURFnet. A Grid user can utilize all this computing power simultaneously, without having to log in at all the different sites. Grid middleware takes care of the distribution of all the 'jobs' a user submits. Forming a heterogeneous network of worker nodes shared by over 50 European research institutions.

If your data processing jobs are too large to run on a local cluster, or you need to collaborate with other members of the European Grid initiative then the Grid may be the correct DP platform for you, reach out to helpdesk@surfsara.nl to confirm.

See more about the grid here