Empowering Research Excellence: RMIT's Cloud Supercomputing (RACE) Model for Digital Acceleration

In the face of rapid technological evolution, Australia's digital acceleration strategy must keep pace with emerging technologies like AI, advanced computing, and quantum technologies. The RMIT AWS Cloud Supercomputing (RACE) model represents a pioneering approach to these challenges, offering scalable, high-performance resources through commercial cloud services.

RACE, is Australia's first dedicated commercial cloud supercomputing facility at a university, established through partnerships with AWS and AARNet. Supported by the Victorian Government’s Higher Education Investment Fund. RACE not only facilitates research and teaching excellence but also strengthens partnerships across industry, government, and academia. In addition to its cloud services, RACE further enhances Australia’s research and teaching ecosystem through:
1.    Comprehensive Training: Offers varied training formats to lower technical barriers, empowering users with essential cloud computing skills.
2.    Tailored Consultation: Provides customised cloud solutions to optimise costs and maximise efficiency for innovative research projects.
3.    Expert Support: Embeds specialists within project groups, providing direct assistance to overcome data and computing challenges, fostering a collaborative environment that drives excellence.

Since its launch in October 2022, RACE has onboarded more than 650 staff and PhD students, enabling rapid testing of ideas at speeds over 100 times faster than traditional on-site servers. In recognition of its outstanding contributions, RACE was recently awarded the CAUDIT Excellence in Research Support 2024, and two recent examples highlighted on the AWS website: 
•    Aerospace Simulations: The Sir Lawrence Wackett Defence & Aerospace Centre, led by Professor Pier Marzocca, partnered with RACE to accelerate aerospace simulations. Solving times were reduced from nearly 3 months to just 3.5 days, handling 40 million simultaneous equations for over 400,000 iterations per run.
•    Geospatial Data Management: Professor Matt Duckham utilised RACE to process a statewide knowledge graph of Victoria, with over 2 million interlinked geospatial records in under an hour—a task that previously took days.

By facilitating collaboration and innovation across disciplines, RACE empowers researchers and educators to achieve world-class outcomes, reinforcing the nation's global standing in research, teaching, and innovation. This comprehensive support ensures all communities can fully exploit digital infrastructure, driving excellence and discovery in alignment with the national strategy.