Advanced Research Computing
Advanced Research Computing at TMU
The enormous quantities of data generated by new digital technologies create unprecedented capacity for Canadian researchers to produce and share innovations and solutions critical to Canada’s future. This opportunity requires the support of a strong and vibrant Canadian Digital Research Infrastructure (DRI).
Researcher access to DRI’s components, such as Advanced Research Computing (ARC), research data management and research software, is critical to accelerating the discovery process, maximizing each project’s capacity and helping research groups of all sizes achieve high levels of academic and global impact.
TMU collaborates with partners in Canada’s DRI community to connect our researchers with cutting-edge research services and resources that allow them to perform computationally and data-intensive research and data management. These services include high-performance computing and collecting, documenting, sharing and storing research data using high-speed networks, software and data management services through the Digital Research Alliance of Canada (DRAC).
Connect with the Digital Research Alliance of Canada to learn how you can utilize their resources and support in your research.
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Digital Research Alliance of Canada (DRAC) Services
DRAC is a non-profit organization funded by the Government of Canada whose mandate includes transforming how research across all academic disciplines is organized, managed, stored and used. Through a group of 38 partner universities, five regional organizations and a national office, DRAC’s Federation provides a centralized platform for Canadian researchers to access advanced research computing (ARC), data management and software.
DRAC replaces Compute Canada (CC) in coordinating and funding Canada’s national advanced computing platform and retains the same researcher access through the CC database (CCDB). Canadian researchers are supported through DRAC’s provision of the digital tools they need to carry out world-leading research and innovation in Canada.
Contact
For general inquiries, please contact the Digital Research Alliance of Canada (external link, opens in new window) .
The Digital Research Alliance of Canada serves Canadian researchers, with the objective of advancing Canada’s position as a leader in the knowledge economy on the international stage.
Cloud Computing
Customize computing environments using virtual machines (VMs) and easily share them with your team, devices and collaborators.
Consultation
Access over 200 operational and support personnel employed by 38 partner universities and research institutions across Canada for assistance with this advanced research computing infrastructure.
Data Movement
Use the Globus Portal to reliably and securely share terabytes of data between locations.
Data Storage
Draw on a wide range of online storage and hosting options to suit your needs.
Data Visualization
Work with DRAC experts to create engaging 3D visualizations or movies of your data sets. Popular visualization software such as ParaView, VTK and various Python libraries are supported.
High Performance Computing (HPC) Clusters
Remotely access computers and supercomputers across Canada to handle the most computationally intense research tasks, such as training large neural networks on big datasets.
Software Tools
Access a wide range of research software platforms, services and tools, including support for modern AI python libraries such as PyTorch and TensorFlow and computer software such as MATLAB and R .
Training Resources
Register for virtual ARC training sessions and access documentation and tutorials.
Frequently Asked Questions
DRAC is a non-profit organization funded by the Government of Canada that provides a centralized platform for Canadian researchers to access advanced research computing (ARC), research data management and research software. It has replaced Compute Canada (CC) in coordinating and funding Canada’s national advanced computing platform and retained the same researcher access through the CC database (CCDB). DRAC offers ARC infrastructure, software and services through the Federation, a group of 38 partner universities, five regional organizations and a national office.
DRAC services provide tools to Canadian researchers to perform computationally and data-intensive research and data management, including high-performance computing and collecting, documenting, sharing and preserving research data. Eligible researchers can also access the Federated Research Data Repository (FRDR) website to discover, share and preserve Canadian research data.
Eligible researchers and research institutions can access the DRAC services with an existing or new CCDB account (external link, opens in new window) . Principal investigators (PIs) must register and receive approval from the CCDB before their research team members are eligible to register.
Creating a CCDB account to access the DRAC services is free-of-charge to eligible researchers and institutions.
DRAC offers a Rapid Access Service (RAS), allowing principal investigators (PIs) to request a modest amount of cloud resources and storage. If a larger quantity of either is required, eligible Academic Principal Investigators whose project’s primary purpose is to conduct research requiring compute, storage and cloud resources must apply to one of DRAC’s Resource Allocation Competitions (external link, opens in new window) .