RMIT-AWS Cloud Research Facility powering faster, greener and more collaborative research

Dr Robert Shen², Ms Raisa Hashem¹, Mr Todd  Churchward¹, Mr Shun Utsui¹

¹Amazon Web Services, Melbourne, Australia, ²RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

Over the next five years, universities must redefine themselves to help solve increasingly urgent global challenges including climate change, resource depletion, and the widening economic, social, and digital divides. In 2022, research at RMIT is more transdisciplinary, with machine learning and cutting-edge data analysis tools being the new normal. Researchers require wide-ranging capabilities to manage the ongoing data explosion, enable seamless collaboration between global partners, and rapidly deploy a wide range of tools and technologies. To meet this demand, RMIT are partnering with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and AARNet to provide Australia’s first Commercial Cloud Research Facility, enabling true scalable and elastic high powered compute to support collaborations with Researchers, Academics, Students and Industry.

The facility provides researchers with:

1. A provisioning platform (online portal) allowing researchers to browse and request cloud-based services
2. A 400 Gbps connectivity from RMIT to AWS
3. A physical location where end users can collaborate and access AWS via the high-speed network
4. A team providing research support & enablement, building awareness and driving platform adoption.

In this BoF, we will firstly dive into the AWS-AARNET-RMIT partnership model and present the outcomes from this partnership. Secondly, we will share how RMIT is operating and managing large scale research platforms including creating cost structures to benefit the researchers and the institution. Thirdly, we will do a live demonstration of some specific research use-cases using AWS to access HPC [high performance computing] capabilities for advanced data processing and computation, and accelerating their time to science.

Biography:

Raisa is a Senior Research Technologist at Amazon Web Services (AWS) where she helps universities, government institutions and medical research facilities accelerate their research outcomes on AWS. She has a background in Biomedical Engineering and over 15 years experience in deploying, securing and delivering large scale enterprise applications. She is an advocate for women in technology and works with Australian primary schools, high schools and universities to drive diversity and inclusion in STEM.

Robert is an experienced digital research infrastructure director with demonstrated achievements in digital innovation, data analytics and management, and computing infrastructure in higher education sectors. Robert received his PhD in IT from the University of Sydney (2006). Before joining RMIT (January 2022), Robert was the eResearch Director at Astronomy Australia Limited (AAL).

Todd is a Senior HPC Specialist AWS with 20 years experience in high performance computing across various industries, including the Australasian research and education sector.