NIST Research Computing Environment Benchmarking Study Report

The NIST Research Computing Environment Benchmarking Study Report is a technical report that presents an evaluation of the research computing environment (RCE) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The report compares NIST's RCE with similar institutions across five key components: High Performance Computing (HPC), Scientific Software Portfolio (SSP), Research Data Management Services (RDMS), Research Computing Support Staffing (RCSS), and Networking Services. The findings indicate that NIST outperforms other institutions in RDMS and RCSS, although there are areas for improvement in HPC infrastructure and scientific software provisioning. The report details specific findings, such as NIST's lower computational capability and spending on HPC compared to other participants, while also noting its extensive variety of centrally managed scientific software. Additionally, it highlights NIST's investment in research computing support staffing and discusses the challenges in drawing conclusions about networking services due to limited data from participants.