Research Advanced Computing Services

What Research Advanced Computing Services does

Research Advanced Computing Services (RACS) is a high-performance computing (HPC) service unit within the University of Oregon that operates computational systems and supports research and instructional computing activities. The organization provides the technical infrastructure enabling UO's 24,448 students, 2,142 faculty, and 5,600+ staff to conduct computational research across 302 degree and certificate programs. RACS's work is tied to the broader university research enterprise, which includes specialized facilities such as the Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact, the Ballmer Institute for Children's Behavioral Health, and the Bowerman Sports Science Center.

The core technology stack underlying RACS's operations includes enterprise-grade HPC systems integrated with university IT infrastructure such as Canvas LMS, DuckWeb, and UOmail. RACS supports a research portfolio that generated $177M in grants, contracts, and competitive awards in FY24 and 1,082 research proposals submitted during the same period. The unit serves as a central resource for computationally intensive research programs across the university, though specific system specifications, architecture details, or service-level agreements are not disclosed in available data.

As a non-profit internal service unit within a public state university, RACS operates under a cost-recovery or institutional allocation model rather than a commercial revenue model. The University of Oregon's overall financial structure encompasses tuition and fees, state appropriations (6.5% of operating budget), grants and contracts, auxiliary services, athletics revenue, and a $1.4B endowment. RACS's funding flows primarily through internal university budgeting supplemented by indirect cost recovery from research grants, positioning it as a shared service rather than a standalone business entity.

Name

Research Advanced Computing Services

Legal name

University of Oregon

Website

https://uoregon.edu

Company type

Public

Founded year

1876

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Research Advanced Computing Services (RACS) is a high-performance computing service unit within the University of Oregon that operates HPC systems supporting research and instructional computing for UO's faculty, students, and research programs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Research Computing Services

NAICS

Computer Facilities Management Services (541513), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)

SIC

Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373), Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation (7374), Electronic Computers (3571)

akta.pro primary industry

Research Computing & High-Performance Computing (HPC) User Support (EDALAMAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

HPC Clusters & Scale-Out Compute (x86/ARM) (HDACAOAB), GPU-Accelerated HPC Systems (HDACAOAC), HPC System Software & Resource Management (Schedulers, MPI, OS Images) (HDACAOAH), Virtual Desktop & Application Delivery (VDI/DaaS, Remote Apps) (BPAEAIAC)

Keywords

• High performance computing
• Research computing services
• Academic computing support
• Computational infrastructure
• Scientific computing

Headquarters

HQ city

Eugene

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Revenue model

1. Tuition and Fees: Revenue from undergraduate and graduate tuition, including fixed Duck Tuition Guarantee program.
2. State Appropriation: State funding at 6.5% of operating budget.
3. Grants, Contracts, and Awards: External research funding including $177M in grants, contracts, and competitive awards in FY24, with $153M external research funding in FY25.
4. Athletics Revenue: Revenue from athletics programs including ticket sales, media rights, and sponsorships.
5. Auxiliary Services: Housing, dining services, and other auxiliary operations.
6. Gifts and Endowments: Campaign gifts of $3.2B as of June 30, 2021, and endowment value of $1.4B as of June 30, 2022.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Research Advanced Computing Services (RACS) operates and maintains high performance computing (HPC) systems for the University of Oregon, providing computational infrastructure that supports research computing workloads and instructional computing activities for university researchers, faculty, and students.

Product overview

The University of Oregon is a public research university offering academic programs across multiple colleges and schools. As an educational institution, it does not offer commercial technology products or services in the traditional sense. The institution provides educational programs, research services, athletics, and student services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• College of Arts and Sciences: The largest college within the university offering programs across humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences
• Charles H. Lundquist College of Business
• College of Design
• College of Education
• Robert D. Clark Honors College
• School of Journalism and Communication
• School of Law
• School of Music and Dance
• The Ballmer Institute
• The Knight Campus
• Hayward Field
• Knight Campus

Products and services

• High Performance Computing Services Operates and supports high performance computing systems used by University of Oregon researchers, faculty, and students for computationally intensive research and instructional activities.

Quantifiable outcome

• 85% freshman retention rate
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• Launch Oregon, LLCcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerA new launching pad for commercialization of discovery, Launch Oregon LLC connects UO startups to sources of capital, leadership, talent, and infrastructure, smoothing the way from eureka moment to successful business.
• Industry PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOffice of Vice President for Research and Innovation works with investors and industry in mutually beneficial partnerships to bring innovations born at UO to the state, nation, and world.
• Association of American Universities (AAU)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe University of Oregon is one of only two schools in the Pacific Northwest selected for membership in the prestigious Association of American Universities, a consortium of more than 70 leading public and private research institutions.
• Innovation Partnership ServicescoreTechnology or IntegrationUO's technology transfer office that manages intellectual property and facilitates industry partnerships for research commercialization.

Scale indicators18 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Dell Technologies HPC: Provider of HPC server and storage infrastructure widely deployed in academic research computing environments. Comparable as an HPC infrastructure vendor serving the same customer base.
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) HPC: Major vendor of HPC clusters and systems used by research universities. Comparable as a participant in the university HPC ecosystem though positioned as a supplier rather than operator.
• MIT Lincoln Laboratory: Federally funded R&D center operating supercomputing infrastructure for MIT and the Department of Defense. Comparable as a major university-affiliated HPC operator, though broader in mission scope.

Emerging players

• AWS HPC: Amazon's commercial HPC and GPU cloud offerings increasingly used by academic researchers as an alternative or supplement to on-premise university clusters. Comparable as an alternative compute provider for research workloads.
• Google Cloud HPC: Google's cloud HPC and AI compute services providing scalable alternatives to on-premise academic clusters for research computing. Comparable as a cloud-based HPC competitor.

Direct peers

• Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC): Joint Carnegie Mellon–University of Pittsburgh HPC center providing research computing to NSF users. Comparable as a consortium-based university HPC service provider.
• National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA): University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's HPC center, NSF-funded, operating Blue Waters and successor systems. Directly comparable as a university-based national-scale HPC service provider.
• Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC): University of Texas at Austin's HPC center operating some of the largest academic supercomputers in the US. Directly comparable as a Tier 1 university HPC service supporting research at scale.
• Stanford Research Computing: Stanford's central research computing group providing HPC, storage, and consulting for faculty researchers. Highly comparable as a university-based HPC service unit embedded in a Tier 1 research institution.
• Harvard FAS Research Computing: Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences research computing group operating HPC clusters and supporting research computing for an AAU-equivalent institution. Directly comparable mission and structure.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/uoregon
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/UOregon
• Facebookfacebook.com/universityoforegon
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/school/university-of-oregon
• Instagraminstagram.com/uoregon

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Research Advanced Computing Services