March 24, 2022
As many of you will already be aware, Compute Canada is ceasing its operational responsibilities for supporting Canada’s national advanced research computing (ARC) platform on March 31, 2022, and will be shutting down entirely as a corporation later this year. With this message, we are confirming that this change is not expected to cause any disruption to your services and that no action from you is required at this time.
While Compute Canada may be disappearing, it has been working hard with its institutional and regional partners, as well as its new partner, the Digital Research Alliance of Canada (the Alliance) to ensure that your services will continue to be delivered by the same talented and supportive team members with whom you already work.
You will continue to access your services in the same way that you always have. To log in to the national host sites, you will continue to use your current user id and password on the Compute Canada Database, access help from the help desk by emailing support@computecanada.ca, and access the Documentation Wiki as you do today, with no changes.
What will be different?
When you renewed your account last year, you gave us permission to share your information with the new organization. Starting April 1st, your contact information will be transferred to the Alliance from Compute Canada. This was covered under the consent to disclose personal information form to which you consented and your personal information will be safeguarded.
Compute Canada’s social media accounts will also close. We encourage you to follow the Alliance on LinkedIn and Twitter where they will ensure that you have all the latest news on Canada’s digital research infrastructure (DRI) ecosystem. In addition, the Alliance will send you messages from
communications@alliancecan.ca, please take the appropriate measures in your email client to prevent these messages from being rejected from your inbox.
What does this mean for researchers and the DRI ecosystem?
The Alliance and our institutional and regional partners will continue their transition work over the coming year, including working through the design and implementation of a new service model that will harmonize the three pillars of DRI (advanced research computing, research data management, and research software). They will also undertake the task of rebranding all Compute Canada branded materials, such as the Documentation Wiki.
As this work progresses, the Alliance and our institutional and regional partners will communicate important details about changes and any action required on your part. In addition to information about services that was previously found on the Compute Canada website, the Alliance website will provide up-to-date information on the ongoing transition activities.
A thank you from the Compute Canada team
On behalf of the entire Compute Canada team, I would like to thank you for your support over the last decade. It has been our privilege to serve and work alongside the research community. The passion, commitment, and incredible talent that you bring to your work has motivated us to do better and has gifted us a sense of pride when we have been able to contribute to your success along the way.
While we will miss working with you, the good news is that we are leaving you in very capable hands. The Alliance and our regional and institutional partners have committed to minimizing any disruption of service and we know that they will continue to provide the same high-quality services that you have come to know and expect from us.
Robbin Tourangeau
President and CEO
Compute Canada
