1 The German National Analysis Facility as a tool for ATLAS analyses

In 2008 the German National Analysis Facility (NAF) at DESY was established. It is attached to and builds on top of DESY Grid infrastructure. The facility is designed to provide the best possible analysis infrastructure for high energy particle physics of the ATLAS, CMS, LHCb and ILC experiments. The Grid and local infrastructure of the NAF is reviewed with a focus on the ATLAS part. Both parts include large scale storage and a batch system. Emphasis is put on ATLAS specific customisation and utilisation of the NAF. This refers not only to the NAF components but also to the di erent components of the ATLAS analysis framework. Experience from operating and supporting ATLAS users on the NAF is presented in this paper. The ATLAS usage of the di erent components are shown including some typical use cases of user analysis. Finally, the question is addressed, if the design of the NAF meets the ATLAS expectations for effcient data analysis in the era of LHC data taking.