Altair Engineering announced two advancements in the field of high-performance computing (HPC), with the release of its Compute Manager and PBS Desktop applications.

Compute Manager is the first foundational block in Altair's plans to build a modern, Web-based enterprise simulation platform, providing an affordable solution to increase HPC productivity. Offered as part of Altair's HyperWorks Enterprise service-oriented architecture (SOA) platform, Compute Manager is application-aware and enables users to submit, manage and review workloads on distributed resources in a natural manner that streamlines complex analysis with a few mouse clicks.

Users are able to submit jobs through a Web-based interface, manage workloads, and immediately review and download the results. Users also can plot curves and create animations without needing to first download the results. Compute Manager is application-aware, which means that jobs can be set up on distributed resources with easily configurable applications definitions, therefore supporting virtually unlimited solver formats. Those jobs are then monitored both graphically and analytically, making results visualization with secured access possible from any Internet-enabled device.

In the coming months, Compute Manager will be integrated with three new sister applications within HyperWorks Enterprise: Simulation Manager, Performance Manager, and Process Manager. While all of the elements in the HyperWorks Enterprise edition will work in an integrated manner, they can be used as independent modules as well.

"By placing users first, Compute Manager offers an extremely intuitive and friendly way to organize, automate and manage the contents of a high-performance computing job," said Sam Mahalingam, Altair's senior vice president of enterprise products. "Data and process management then become an enjoyable and highly efficient experience."

With its modern service-oriented architecture, Compute Manager provides users and system managers with a complete set of capabilities to configure and maintain settings within their HPC environment. Some of its high-level benefits include: