The Computing and Archiving Research Environment (COARE) is a service provided by the Department of Science and Technology’s Advanced Science and Technology (DOST-ASTI) that promotes collaboration among institutions by enabling multiple data integrations between ASTI-initiated projects and other collaborative projects with different agencies that require high data storage capacity and high-performance computing.
COARE provides a platform for easy storage, analysis, and sharing of scientific data through services like High-Performance Computing (HPC), Science Cloud, and Data Archiving. The HPC service can handle large-scale data processing that demands high-speed and resource-intensive computations, using powerful computing resources. Compared to an average desktop computer, the HPC delivers more accurate results. The Science Cloud offers virtual machines (VMs) for cloud-based applications and computing. The Data Archiving service features a highly available repository to meet various storage needs of COARE users, allowing data to be stored on a short-term or long-term basis. Data generated through these services can support various discovery and high-impact research, contributing to science-based policy and decision-making.
COARE provides HPC, Science Cloud, and Data Archiving services to the science community and organizations undertaking research & development activities. COARE’s stakeholders and target beneficiaries include the following:
COARE’s history dates back to 2008, when DOST-ASTI launched the Philippine e-Science Grid (PSciGrid) to address the emerging need for a national grid computing initiative for e-Science. PSciGrid was created to meet the scientific community’s need for a unified effort to fully utilize ICT infrastructures that benefit the country’s local research and development. Through the PSciGrid Program, DOST-ASTI established a high-performance computing facility aimed at providing computational and data grid services to national, educational, and research institutions that require high-speed computing to process large datasets. Among the initial users of the facility were the Manila Observatory, Ateneo de Manila University, University of the Philippines-National Institute of Geological Sciences (UP-NIGS), University of the Philippines-Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology (UP-IESM), and DOST’s Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (DOST-PAGASA). To meet the growing computing needs of these users, DOST-ASTI proposed a project to address three key requirements: data storage, high-performance computing, and data sharing and distribution. This project eventually evolved into what is now called COARE.
COARE provides a platform for the easy storage, analysis, and sharing of scientific data by offering services such as High-Performance Computing (HPC), Science Cloud, and Data Archiving. Initially, COARE was designed to support disaster management efforts funded by DOST, including DOST-ASTI's projects on developing and deploying weather monitoring stations. However, DOST-ASTI also collaborated in other fields like bioinformatics and genomics. Today, COARE serves a diverse user base, including meteorologists, weather scientists, climate researchers, marine scientists, bioinformaticians, genomic scientists, dengue and HIV researchers, students, and COVID researchers.
By providing these core services, COARE aims to continue offering a facility where scientific data can be easily accessed and shared, especially as research becomes more interdisciplinary and interconnected.