Multi-dscipline solution selected to increase product innovation and improve process efficiency. MSC.Software today announced that automotive manufacturer Audi AG has standardized on the company's multidiscipline solver, MD Nastran, as their standard technology for vehicle simulation. More than 100 installations of MD Nastran will be deployed throughout Audi design and development sites during 2007 and early 2008. The current announcement follows a successful historical use of MSC.Software's engineering product solutions, most notably MSC.Nastran and Adams. More recently Audi has worked with MSC.Software to develop the CAEBench system, a full simulation management environment built around the company's SimManager Enterprise. By selecting MD Nastran, Audi is targeting improvements in both design innovation and efficiency, ultimately producing benefits in both quality and cost. The implementation of MD Nastran within Audi's managed simulation environment will also ensure efficient and verifiable data and process control. "Audi has a 'Vorsprung durch Technik (Progression through Technology)' philosophy that has allowed us to build a reputation for introducing innovation and technological advances to the motor industry," said Dr. Michael Holzner, Manager CAX Methods of Audi. "With increasing requirements for a variety of linear, nonlinear and dynamic analyses, MD Nastran's comprehensive simulation capability is a critical component in this process." "MD Nastran is rapidly becoming the de-facto simulation technology for automotive OEMs and their suppliers," said Amir Mobayen, Senior Vice President, MSC.Software EMEA Operations. "We are proud to have a strong Strategic Alliance partnership with Audi, and we are confident that together we can deliver the software solutions and support infrastructure to meet their efficiency and quality objectives." MD Nastran builds on MSC.Software's heritage of providing leading FE and MBS solvers for linear, nonlinear, and dynamic applications, and is the solution technology at the center of the company's new SimEnterprise portfolio. By combining the most common simulation types into a single integrated data model, MD Nastran allows manufacturers to more efficiently address a broad set of multi-disciplinary engineering applications. Traditionally such analysis would be performed using a linked series of analyses, with manual or a limited automatic connectivity. The MD approach addresses multidisciplinary applications in a fully combined solution, therefore eliminating the need for re-modeling and transfer of data, and hence reduces the potential for error. The MD system architecture also enables new levels of solution optimization, thereby creating faster simulations with higher accuracy and more reliability than was previously possible. In addition to the technology benefits, customers with existing MSC.Software installations can also take advantage of the Enterprise Advantage licensing system, allowing them to incrementally adopt the new MD and SimEnterprise technology while fully preserving their historic investments. More information regarding MSC's products and services can be found at its Web site.