The GridPP distributed computing infrastructure provides a nationwide federation of computing and storage resources that supports some of the most demanding data-intensive research undertaken in the UK. Originally established to meet the needs of particle physics experiments such as those at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, GridPP combines resources from universities and research laboratories into a single coordinated platform capable of processing and managing vast scientific datasets. Through IRIS, this infrastructure is used not only by particle physics researchers but also by a growing range of other scientific communities that require large-scale distributed computing, data movement and storage capabilities. Researchers can submit computational workloads to resources located across the UK, access shared datasets, and collaborate with international partners without needing to know where the underlying infrastructure is physically located. By providing a reliable, scalable and internationally connected platform, GridPP enables IRIS communities to undertake data-intensive analysis, large-scale simulations and collaborative research that would be difficult or impossible using local resources alone. The technologies, expertise and operational experience developed through GridPP continue to play an important role in supporting the wider IRIS ecosystem and the evolution of digital research infrastructure.
