Press Releases

On September 26, 2023, the Alliance Federation will launch its annual Resource Allocation Competition (RAC), a peer-reviewed process to grant priority access to compute, storage and cloud resources beyond what can be obtained via the Rapid Access Service.

The competition closes on November 7, 2023.

Important:

• The minimum amount of resources to apply for RAC have changed. Please read the RAC competition guide carefully for more details.
• The resources available via the Rapid Access Service (RAS) will also change starting April 1, 2024.
• If you are applying for the first time, we strongly encourage you to schedule a pre-submission consultation before October 31, 2023. Go to the Questions and Additional information in the RAC application guide for contact details. Significant changes about the way that GPU resources are requested, allocated and charged will be implemented starting April 1, 2024. If you are planning to request GPU resources, please attend one of the GPU information sessions in October (see details below).
• Please mark noreply@alliancecan.ca as a safe sender in your email client to make sure that important communications from the Alliance do not go into your spam folder.

Information Sessions:

RAC Q&A:
Sept 28 noon – 1:30 pm EDT (English) Register
Sept 29 noon – 1:30 pm EDT (French) Register

Important changes to GPU requests, allocations and charging:
Oct 3 1:00 – 2:30 pm EDT (English) Register
Oct 4 1:00 – 2:30 pm EDT (French) Register

Questions should be addressed to allocations@tech.alliancecan.ca.

SHARCNET is issuing a call for proposals for Dedicated Programming Support Round XXII. Applications are encouraged that satisfy the programme objectives and priority will be given to proposals that meet one or more of the following conditions:

• Propose an innovative project that will leverage the capabilities of the national systems, such as “Graham” and the cloud.
• Propose a programme of work that deals with the efficient processing of large, heterogeneous datasets using a variety of data mining, machine learning or other analytics software.

Applications are submitted via SHARCNET’s webportal and are due by August 31, 2023 at 11:59 pm EST. A consultation with a SHARCNET HPTC prior to submission is a programme requirement.

For additional information, please refer to the application guidelines. Questions should be addressed to research-support@sharcnet.ca.

We are excited to announce that registration is now open for the highly anticipated 2023 Compute Ontario Summer School! Jointly organized by the Centre for Advanced Computing, SciNet, SHARCNET, and in collaboration with the RDM Network of Experts, this virtual event promised to be an enriching experience for all participants.

Taking place from June 12 to June 29, the Compute Ontario Summer School offers a comprehensive curriculum packed with nearly 30 courses. Delivered by experts in the field, these workshops cover a wide range of topics in Advanced Research Computing (ARC), High Performance Computing (HPC), and Research Data Management (RDM). With presentations and workshops available at introductory to advanced levels, there is something for everyone.

Highlights of Summer School include:

• Online workshops conducted five days a week, providing ample opportunities to enhance your knowledge and skills.
• Six hours of immersive learning each day, allowing for a deep dive into the subject matter.
• Two parallel streams, ensuring flexibility and tailored learning experiences.
• Workshops and webinars on advanced research computing basics, high-performance computing tools, programming languages, machine learning, visualization, programming GPUs, bioinformatics, research data management, and more.
• Workshop difficulty levels ranging from beginner to intermediate to advanced, with prerequisites clearly outlined in each workshop description.

Whether you are interested in a specific topic or wish to explore multiple areas, you have the freedom to register for one, some, or all of the workshops available. However, please note that registration is limited, so we encourage you to secure your spot early to avoid missing out.

To register and learn more about the Compute Ontario Summer School, please visit our dedicated registration page. Be sure to act swiftly, as spaces are filling up quickly.

SHARCNET is pleased to announce the results of its Round XX Dedicated Programming Support competition. The primary objectives of this program are to enable key research projects with the potential for exceptional and lasting impact that require significant programming support to proceed, and facilitate optimal exploitation of SHARCNET’s or the Digital Research Alliance of Canada’s computing infrastructure for internationally leading research.

In this Round, programmer allocations have been awarded to:

• Nasser Mohieddin Abukhdeir, Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo
• David Earn, Mathematics and Statistics, McMaster University
• Kathleen Hill, Biology, Western University

SHARCNET plans to run another competition later this year, for awards commencing January 2023. Please visit our DP website for more information.

On September 22, 2022, the Alliance will launch the annual Resource Allocation Competition (RAC), a peer-reviewed process to grant priority access to compute, storage and cloud resources beyond what can be obtained via the Rapid Access Service.

Please refer to the RAC application guide for information on eligibility and submission requirements.

Applications must be submitted electronically through the CCDB by Wednesday, November 2, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.

Have questions or need help with the RAC 2023 application process? Join us for a Q&A Session:

English: October 4 from 12 to 1:30 p.m. ET – Registration
French: October 5 from 12 to 1:30 p.m. ET – Registration

Questions? Please email allocations@tech.alliancecan.ca.