Supercomputing
for Applied &
Physical Sciences

We provide the power of supercomputing tools to increase the range of exploration for physical and applied sciences researchers in Atlantic Canada.

Do you need more compute power, memory or storage than a typical desktop?

Do you have large data sets that you would like to mine and analyze in innovative ways?

Do you want to increase your wet lab’s efficiency by first narrowing focus to the most viable options?

We enable researchers to take on challenges that would be impossible on traditional desktops, and do so offering a unique blend of local support, specialists and skills development.

Accessed from the comfort of your own desk, use the power of supercomputing for large-scale analysis and modelling across a wide range of applications, among them:

  • Machine learning and artificial intelligence
  • Atomic and molecular simulations
  • Molecular Dynamics (check out our Molecular Dynamics Performance Guide)
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
  • Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
  • Drug design
  • Materials design
  • Bioinformatics
  • Medical imaging
  • Earth and ocean modelling
  • Data processing
  • Data visualization

Over 300,000 CPUs, 43,000 vCPUS, 120 PBs of storage and 3300 GPUs are available through the Digital Research Alliance of Canada’s (the Alliance) national infrastructure. For researchers whose needs are not fully met by the national infrastructure, we have an Atlantic system, Siku, with 4500 cores, GPUs and 1.5 PBs of storage.

We have a 20-person Atlantic Canadian team of research consultants and system administrators with access to over 100 additional experts throughout the national Alliance federation.

Extensive training from novice to advanced, and documentation are available.

Research data management tools and expertise are at your disposal.

With ACENET and the Alliance, your data stays in Canada, we make no claims to your intellectual property, and we don’t look at, touch or use your data for any purpose whatsoever. 

Minimal experience is required to begin. 

To discuss your needs, contact your local research consultant or support@ace-net.ca

Learn New Skills

Our training includes novice to advanced levels, both scheduled events and custom training for groups, online and in-person.

We teach people who’ve never used supercomputing tools how to get up and running. Some people who take our courses have never worked with the command line. We teach a two-day R&D computing bootcamp using either Python or R. We also offer a four-day school in parallel computing every spring. 

A variety of topics are available, including a range of programming languages, software packages, revision/control systems, molecular dynamics, introductory machine learning, data management and cybersecurity - to name a few.

Many of our courses have slide decks and videos available, and we have an extensive Wiki.

Cluster Allocation for Classroom Use

If you would like to incorporate supercomputing into one of your courses but don't have sufficient compute resources, you can reserve an ACENET training cluster by completing this form.

This service is available to faculty members of Atlantic Canadian post-secondary education institutions. Approval is granted on a case-by-case basis following an internal review of course feasibility and resource availability.