"This investment opens the door for U of S researchers to have better access to powerful computing resources, allowing them to compete on a more level playing field with the rest of the world," said Raymond Spiteri, associate professor in the department of computer science and U of S representative with WestGrid, Canada's largest HPC consortium.

WestGrid includes 14 partner institutions in the four western provinces, including all universities in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba as well as the Banff Centre. The consortium was awarded $26.1 million of the $88 million awarded across the country today. About $2 million of this is expected to come to Saskatchewan, although the precise institution-by-institution breakdown is still being determined.

WestGrid is one of seven HPC consortia representing 61 institutions across the country.

Today's funding is awarded through a new National Platforms Fund (NPF), built on $78 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and $10 million from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).

"This represents a major leap forward for Canada's HPC community," said Dr. Eliot Phillipson, President and CEO of CFI. "This investment will provide researchers with the tools to solve large-scale computational problems that we could not even have imagined tackling 10 years ago."

The National Platform Fund supplies up to 40 per cent of project costs. The balance of funding for these national projects, which are collectively worth nearly $180 million, is expected to be contributed from provincial and industry sources.

"Today's announcement is a historic day for Canadian research," said Jonathan Schaeffer, a WestGrid co-principal investigator who led efforts to secure NPF funding. "When combined with provincial and industry matching funds, WestGrid will acquire more than $50 million of computing infrastructure to support research in areas such as climate modeling and prediction, deciphering the human genome and solving compelling problems in science and engineering."

This is the first time CFI has identified a specific research infrastructure of strategic priority for the country and brought together all stakeholders - universities, provincial and federal funding agencies - to develop a shared pan-Canadian resource.

The process has mobilized Canada's entire HPC community - previously operating as separate regional consortia competing for resources - to work together on a unified HPC strategy for Canada. More than 6,000 investigators performing intensive computationally-based research across the country are poised to benefit.

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For more information:

Raymond Spiteri
Department of Computer Science
College of Arts & Science
University of Saskatchewan
(306) 966-2909
raymond.spiteri@usask.ca

Michael Robin
Research Communications
University of Saskatchewan
(306) 966-2427
michael.robin@usask.ca

Jana Makar
Communications Manager
Netera Alliance (on behalf of WestGrid)
(403) 210-5489
jana@netera.ca

Douglas Lauriault
Director, Public Affairs
Canada Foundation for Innovation
(613) 996-3193
douglas.lauriault@innovation.ca