Containerized bioinformatic analysis platform 'ORCA' launched
Establishing a suitable platform for effective bioinformatic analysis can be an onerous task. It takes time to navigate the labyrinth of dependencies and version requirements to install standard software packages before analysis can even begin. ORCA (the genOmics Research Container Architecture) eliminates these hurdles by including over 180 validated bioinformatics and analysis software applications pre-installed. It provides the power to use these tools inside a secure and private containerized environment hosted on dedicated compute nodes and backed by large mounted storage volumes. This ensures sufficient resources for the demanding needs of bioinformatics analysis while ensuring that security and privacy requirements of controlled data sets are met.
After accessing ORCA through a SSH gateway users are directed to their own private container with dedicated storage. They then have access to a standard shell where they may launch jobs and then return to the container over time to check status and retrieve results. Since idle containers use negligible resources, available compute resources are maximized and ORCA currently imposes no limits on active job duration.
The service is available as part of the GSC Advanced Research Computing Platform and Compute Canada Node. Platform services at the GSC are collaborative and are available and accessible to any and all qualified researchers.
For more information about ORCA please visit: