Center for Research Computing

What Center for Research Computing does

The Center for Research Computing (CRC) is a centralized research computing facility within the University of Notre Dame that delivers high-performance computing (HPC), high-throughput computing (HTC), GPU computing, and AI/ML capabilities to the university's faculty, researchers, and students. Established in 2012 and housed at 814 Flanner Hall in Notre Dame, Indiana, CRC operates the Global Access Point (GAP) data center — a capital-intensive facility with three independent power grids, redundant climate control, FM-200 fire suppression, and a 24/7 Network Operation Center — and provides containerized workload support through Apptainer/Singularity, web-based HPC access via CRC Open OnDemand, and high-throughput job submission via HTCondor. On top of the core compute infrastructure, CRC has layered AI capabilities through the CRC Open WebUI GenAI Platform, which exposes RAG, vision model captioning, function calling, and a Python API, alongside the CAML AI/ML resource preconfigured with TensorFlow, PyTorch, Amber, JAX, and DeepSphere environments. The product surface is rounded out by training, outreach, and fellowship programs — including the Scientific AI (SAI) Graduate Fellowship, SAI Winter Schools in Chile and Puerto Rico, REU, Summer Scholars, REACT, and the annual CRC Graduate Award — as well as integration with national XSEDE resources such as Stampede-2 and Comet.

CRC operates as a non-commercial university central research facility funded through the Notre Dame Research office, with services provided free of charge to internal users and no commercial pricing structure. Revenue mechanics are therefore institutional budget allocations rather than sales; go-to-market is community-led, delivered through academic channels (faculty collaborations, graduate programs, research partnerships, a monthly CRC Connections newsletter, and in-person office hours) rather than field sales. Distribution is direct-to-user via authenticated CRC accounts, web portals, SSH access, and Globus file transfer, with national reach facilitated through the XSEDE Single Sign-On Hub. The sole parent organization is the University of Notre Dame; there are no external owners, no venture or private equity investors, no subsidiaries, no patents, and no M&A activity.

Name

Center for Research Computing

Legal name

Center for Research Computing

Website

https://crc.nd.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Center for Research Computing at the University of Notre Dame operates HPC/HTC infrastructure, GPU computing, and a GenAI platform to support faculty research, graduate fellows, and students, delivering the GAP data center, training programs, and international AI winter schools.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Notre Dame

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Operations

Revenue model

1. University Research Funding: CRC operates as a central research facility funded through the University of Notre Dame Research office. Services are provided to faculty-sponsored research and the Notre Dame academic community.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Center for Research Computing (CRC) is an academic unit at the University of Notre Dame that provides high-performance computing (HPC), high-throughput computing (HTC), GPU-accelerated systems, and a generative AI platform to enable multidisciplinary research. It operates the Global Access Point (GAP) data center, offers researcher training and fellowship programs, and supports projects spanning AI, computational modeling, data science, and digital scholarship.

Product overview

The Center for Research Computing (CRC) at the University of Notre Dame operates as a unified high-performance computing infrastructure providing multiple interconnected services. The core offering is the supercomputing infrastructure centered on the Global Access Point (GAP) facility, which delivers Computing & Data Services including compute clusters, GPU systems, and large memory systems. Supporting this core infrastructure are specialized platforms including the CRC Open WebUI GenAI Platform for generative AI capabilities with RAG and vision models, CRC Open OnDemand for web-based HPC access, CAML for AI/ML workloads, and HTCondor for high-throughput computing. The CRC also offers extensive training and educational programs including SAI Graduate Fellowships, SAI Winter Schools, CRC Graduate Awards, REU programs, Summer Scholars, and REACT training. User support is provided through training office hours, comprehensive documentation (docs.crc.nd.edu), and a collaborative Wiki. The portfolio is tied together by the cyberinfrastructure development team that builds and supports multi-disciplinary research solutions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• High-Performance Computing (HPC) Services Compute cluster access and high-performance computing resources delivered to Notre Dame researchers for simulation, modeling, and computationally intensive research workloads.
• Global Access Point (GAP) Data Center University-operated data center facility providing compute, storage, and 24/7 network operations center (NOC) services supporting research computing infrastructure.
• GenAI Platform Generative AI platform providing access to large language models and AI/ML compute capabilities for Notre Dame faculty, students, and research projects.
• Researcher Training Programs Educational workshops and training covering HPC, data science, AI/ML, and digital research tools, available to the Notre Dame research community.
• Fellowship Programs Summer Scholars and fellowship opportunities supporting student and faculty engagement with research computing projects at Notre Dame.
• SAI Initiative Scientific AI initiative combining AI methods with scientific computing to accelerate discovery across disciplines, led by designated SAI faculty leadership.
• GPU Computing Services GPU-accelerated compute resources provided to researchers for AI training, simulation, and other parallel workloads.
• Consulting and Project Support Direct consulting, code optimization, workflow design, and project assistance offered to Notre Dame research teams using CRC infrastructure.

Quantifiable outcome

• 8-10 PhD fellows per semester receive full financial support and dedicated computational resources through SAI Fellowship
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

AI capability7 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile (UC Chile)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026International training partnership launching SAI Winter Schools at UC Chile's San Joaquin campus. First ND-UC Chile Winter School held January 2026 in Santiago. Extends the SAI winter school model from University of Puerto Rico. Goals include student exchange, doctoral fellow teaching experience, and cross-institution research collaboration.
• University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez (RUM)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Original SAI winter school partner. The ND-UC Chile SAI Winter School model extends from the successful UPR Mayaguez program. Both programs aim to strengthen student exchange and provide doctoral fellows with teaching/mentorship experience.
• XSEDE (Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment)coreTechnology or IntegrationCRC facilitates Notre Dame researchers access to national computing clusters through XSEDE's Single Sign-On Hub. Provides access to supercomputers including Stampede-2, Comet, and others. Users must have XSEDE accounts and proper clearances for specific clusters.
• Environmental Change Initiative (ECI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint program partner for REACT (Rapid Exposure to Advanced Computational Training). REACT is a multi-institute initiative supporting graduate students to receive training in computational tools and techniques.
• Eck Institute for Global HealthcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint program partner for REACT initiative supporting computational training for graduate students across sciences.
• Genomics and Bioinformatics Core FacilitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint program partner for REACT initiative providing computational training opportunities.
• Harper Cancer Research InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint program partner for REACT initiative supporting computational approaches in cancer research.
• Data, AI, and Computing InitiativeflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerParent initiative for the Scientific Artificial Intelligence (SAI) Initiative. Coordinates AI-related research and training across Notre Dame's strategic framework.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC): UC San Diego-based HPC center offering supercomputing, data storage, and AI services to academic researchers nationwide. Comparable service portfolio and university-affiliated research computing focus.
• Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC): University of Texas at Austin's flagship HPC center providing supercomputing, visualization, and data analytics for academic researchers. Directly comparable as a university-based research computing facility with similar service portfolio including HPC, training, and AI/ML support.
• National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA): University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign HPC center with deep cyberinfrastructure expertise and industry partnerships. Comparable university-based research computing center with similar training and fellowship programs.
• Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC): Joint Carnegie Mellon-University of Pittsburgh HPC center providing supercomputing resources and training to academic researchers. Comparable mission of advancing research through HPC and offering education programs.
• Harvard FAS Research Computing: Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences research computing group providing HPC, GPU, and data services to Harvard researchers. Closely comparable as a private university research computing facility serving faculty and graduate students.
• Stanford Research Computing: Stanford University's central research computing facility offering HPC, data, and AI/ML resources to university researchers. Directly comparable service model, customer base (university researchers), and platform offerings including GenAI tools.

Broad incumbents

• MIT Lincoln Laboratory Supercomputing Center: MIT-affiliated HPC facility serving defense and academic research with high-performance computing resources. Comparable HPC mission but with different funding model (federal/DOD) and research focus.
• Argonne Leadership Computing Facility: DOE national laboratory HPC facility offering leadership-class supercomputing for open science. Comparable technology stack (HPC, AI/ML) but operates at vastly larger scale as a federally-funded national facility.

Others

• Google Cloud HPC: Hyperscale cloud platform offering HPC and AI/ML infrastructure with academic research credits. Competes with on-premise university HPC centers for researcher workload, particularly for AI/ML applications where CRC also competes.
• AWS HPC (Amazon Web Services): Hyperscale cloud provider offering HPC, GPU computing, and AI/ML services with significant academic discount programs. Competes with CRC for institutional compute spend as researchers increasingly access compute via cloud.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Center for Research Computing