The Computing and Archiving Research Environment (COARE) is one of the services offered by the Department of Science and Technology’s Advanced Science and Technology (DOST-ASTI) that fosters collaboration among institutions by enabling multiple data integration between ASTI-initiated projects and other collaborative projects with other agencies that have high requirements for data storage and high-performance computing.

COARE provides a platform for easy storage, analysis, and sharing of scientific data by providing the following services: High-Performance Computing (HPC), Science Cloud, and Data Archiving. The HPC service can be utilized for the processing of massive amounts of data that require high-speed and resource-intensive computations and powerful computing resources. Compared to an average desktop computer, the HPC can deliver and more accurate results. The Science Cloud enables the provision of virtual machines (VM) for cloud-based applications and computing. The Data Archiving service is composed of a  highly available repository that can  accommodate various storage requirements of COARE users and to store data on a short-term or long-term basis. Data generated through these services can serve as input to various discovery or high-impact research and contribute to scientific-based policy and decision-making.

Target users

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: 

• Scientists
• Scientific Researchers 
• Students 
• Government Agencies  
• Academe  
• Scientific institutions 

Brief historical background

COARE’s history dates back to 2008, when the DOST-ASTI launched the Philippine e-Science Grid (PSciGrid) to respond to the emerging need for a national initiative on grid computing for e-Science. PSciGrid was initiated to address the scientific community’s need to have a concerted effort towards fully harnessing ICT infrastructures that can benefit the country’s local research and development. Through the PSciGrid Program, the DOST-ASTI went on to establish a high-performance computing facility intended to offer computational and data grid services to national, educational, and research institutions that require high-speed computing to process the large amount of data that they handle. Among the first users of the facility included 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 the DOST’s Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (DOST-PAGASA). To accommodate the increasing computing requirements of the users, the DOST-ASTI proposed a project that will address these three (3) user-driven needs: data storage, high-performance computing, and data distribution and sharing. This project will eventually become the current COARE.

COARE provides a platform for easy storage, analysis, and sharing of scientific data by offering the following services: High-Performance Computing (HPC), Science Cloud, and Data Archiving. Initially, the setup of COARE was targeted to support disaster management efforts funded by the DOST, which includes DOST-ASTI's projects on the development and deployment of weather monitoring stations. However, the DOST-ASTI also had collaborations in other fields such as bioinformatics and genomics. At present, COARE caters to diverse users that include meteorologists, weather scientists, climate researchers, marine scientists, bioinformatic and genomic scientists and researchers, dengue and HIV researchers, students, and COVID researchers. 

By offering its three main services, COARE hopes to keep providing a facility where scientific data can be easily accessed and shared, as research becomes more cross-disciplinary and interdependent.