Compute Resources

Used for complex simulations, parallel computing, large-scale data processing and analysis, and artificial intelligence, the national systems support research and innovation across a wide range of fields. These systems are being used to develop smart technologies, new materials, green energy alternatives, engineer structures, inform public policy, map environmental systems, and design health treatments.

National systems can support:

• Machine learning and artificial intelligence
• Text and data analysis
• Data processing and visualization
• Large-scale image, audio and video processing
• 3D modelling, mapping and visualization
• Atomic and molecular simulations
• Engineering design and multiphysics modelling (explore our Molecular Dynamics Performance Guide)
• Bioinformatics, genomics and related fields
• Building and hosting platforms or portals in the cloud

Looking to get started, or need help choosing the right resources? Get in touch with us.

New digital technologies are generating massive quantities of data at an explosive rate. The collection, documentation, storage, sharing, and preservation of research data is crucial to their protection, accessibility, and discoverability.

We can help you…

• Store active, in-use data via the Digital Research Alliance of Canada’s (DRAC) storage across the national systems. 
• Identify appropriate data repositories for your research data and assist in determining which parts can be made publicly available. 
• Develop your data management plan. 
• Manage discipline-specific research data through guidance and support, particularly involving sensitive data and Indigenous data sovereignty.

To help institutions fulfill their institutional data management strategy objectives, we can:

• Provide one-on-one consultations with researchers, students, and administrators. 
• Work with academic libraries to deliver custom group training on research data management, data repositories, managing sensitive data, and creating data management plans. 

Research data management (RDM) is supported nationally through DRAC. For more information on their full services, you can browse their Research Data Management service catalogue. 

If you’d like to incorporate advanced computing into your course, but don’t have sufficient resources, you can request access to an ACENET training cluster by completing this form.

This service is available to faculty at Atlantic Canadian post-secondary institutions. Requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, taking into account course feasibility and resource availability. 

Located at Memorial University, Atlantic Canada’s compute cluster supports regional priorities. 

Named for the Inuktitut word for sea ice, Siku is a 9000 core computing cluster with 11 AI-capable GPUs, a 1.5 PB parallel filesystem with tape back-up, and offers batch computing capabilities. 

Siku is focused on commercial usage, offering job scheduling priority to paid industry. 

Academic researchers can:

• Access Siku at no cost, subject to priority scheduling, or
• Opt into a paid model for priority access. To request access, get in touch with us.

Technical specifications

With more than 20 years experience hosting, managing and operating advanced computing systems, ACENET can help you get the most from your infrastructure investment. 

If you’re planning to include a server or computing hardware in your government funding proposal, we can support you at every stage. 

• Help you determine what you need, design the architecture, budget, and prepare the technical section of your grant application
• Host, manage, operate and maintain your equipment.

This means

• Your dollars can be maximized by focusing on compute or storage capacity, as we already have key hardware in place
• You can burst beyond your purchased capacity in times of need to access additional compute power  
• You don’t need to engage systems administration support
• You can leverage an existing computing environment, including software stack, monitoring, reporting and cybersecurity 
• Idle capacity on the system is reduced, as others can utilize excess cycles, thus maximizing public dollar investment and strengthening your funding proposal.

To learn more about hosting your grant-funded infrastructure with ACENET, review our guidelines and get in touch with us.

Installed in 2019, ACENET’s Siku system was funded in part by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) to support regional economic growth through industry engagement.

Through a not-for-profit model, ACENET provides commercial access to Siku – giving organizations in Atlantic Canada the ability to leverage advanced computing without the complexity and cost of building and managing their own infrastructure. 

Why work with ACENET

• Keep your data in Canada
• Retain full ownership of your intellectual property
• Your data remains private – we don’t access or use it
• Transparent reporting, with rolling 12-month usage summaries
• Pay for what you use, with quarterly invoicing and no subscriptions
• Control costs and avoid surprises with usage caps

Free Trial 

Try Siku as part of your R&D program with a free trial – up to 3 months or 2000 compute hours (60 GPU hours), and 1 TB of storage. 

Jump Start for Start-ups

We support our Atlantic Canadian startup community through our Jump Start program. Access 10,000 compute hours (285 GPU hours) and 20 hours of technical consulting over 12 months – a value of $5000. 

Cybersecurity

Our in-house cybersecurity team ensures we follow leading practices and protocols to protect your data, and is available to support your organization as needed.

ACENET Cybersecurity Policy Summary

ACENET Data Security Policy

We support organizations that 

• Don’t want to invest in and manage complex infrastructure
• Find commercial cloud platforms difficult to navigate
• Want to build in-house technical capacity 
• Value having a local team invested in their success

Explore a few of our clients, or get in touch to discuss your project.