ACADEMIA

MD Nastran and Microsoft Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 Deliver Powerful, Affordable Innovation: MSC.Software, the leading global provider of enterprise simulation solutions including simulation software and services, announced the company's MD Nastran can be deployed on Microsoft's Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 to unleash the power of multidiscipline simulation on the desktops of the broader enterprise. With the combination of MD Nastran and Windows Compute Cluster Server (CCS), high-performance computing, which was once confined to the large government labs and research institutions, is becoming as readily available to designers and engineers as desktop programs -- allowing for shortened processing time and reduced costs. This approach provides a simple, easy-to-deploy and manage solution that addresses the high performance computing needs associated with advanced aircraft design, automotive engineering and manufacturing. The use of MD Nastran on Windows CCS also allows use by a greater range of businesses, including small and medium-sized businesses that serve as the supply chain for original equipment manufacturers. "MD Nastran and Windows CCS enable cost-effective, secure and flexible multidiscipline simulation for an ever-growing installed base of engineers," said Reza Sadeghi, vice president of enterprise computing, MSC.Software. "Our offering of MD Nastran for Windows CCS could not have happened at a more opportune time as enterprise manufacturing firms strive to drive down the costs of innovative product design with increasingly sophisticated simulations. By leveraging Microsoft's out-of-the-box HPC solution, MD Nastran now serves the entire spectrum of high performance computing." Seen as the most powerful and widely-used simulation solution in the world, MD Nastran delivers the most comprehensive set of simulation and analysis technologies available anywhere, providing true multidiscipline simulation in one, fully-integrated system. Designed for manufacturers who need to perform interoperable, multidisciplinary analyses on ever-more complex models, MD Nastran offers key capabilities that drive efficiency and streamline processes for linear, dynamics, heat transfer, optimization, aeroelasticity, and implicit and explicit nonlinear solutions. When MD Nastran is deployed on Windows CCS solution times for complex modeling are shortened by using parallel processing across the cluster. Using the job scheduler within Windows CCS, a single Nastran model is divided into smaller problems that can be solved across multiple computers in the cluster in a parallel fashion. This approach allows organizations to move model processing from high performance computing (HPC) centers into the customer environment. Furthermore, it allows manufacturing firms to schedule analyses for advanced aircraft design, automotive engineering and manufacturing simulations during off-peak hours to leverage idle CPU's and maximize efficiency. "Throughout the manufacturing industry HPC clusters are accelerating personal innovation for a wide range of applications, including complex simulation, and empowering people for entirely new approaches to design, safety and profitability," said Don Richardson, director, Global PLM Industry Strategy at Microsoft Corp. "Microsoft is pleased to provide a way for MSC.Software to extend MD Nastran into more facilities, offering customers an HPC solution that can enable engineers to test new product designs earlier in the development cycle and help customers' deliver the right products to the market more quickly." More information regarding the MD Nastran can be found at its web site.