VISUALIZATION

Linux Networx announced today that The Eurocopter Group, a division of Europe`s leading aeronautical group EADS, has deployed an Evolocity Linux Networx computing system at its German location. Eurocopter Deutschland GmbH is using the system to perform fluid simulations on helicopters and helicopter subsystems. The Evolocity system Linux Networx delivered is implemented with two different types of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) applications FLOWer and FLUENT. FLOWer is a research application developed by the German Aerospace Research Centre for aircraft development and design. FLUENT is a commercial software product from Fluent Inc. that simulates a wide range of applications in the aerospace and automotive industries. Linux Networx designed the Evolocity system for Eurocopter to specifically optimize these applications to achieve fast, accurate results. Eurocopter made the switch to a Linux clustering platform because of the dramatic improvement in productivity the Evolocity system produced. To help prove how an Evolocity system integrated with FLOWer and FLUENT could improve Eurocopter's productivity, Linux Networx performed a series of benchmark tests. The results of the benchmarks determined an Evolocity system could speed the rate of Eurocopter's simulations a factor of 10. "Linux Networx delivered a system that is reliable and easy-to-manage, but most importantly, helps us produce simulations in a timely and cost-effective manner," said Dr. Andree Altmikus from the Aerodynamic design department of Eurocopter Deutschland. After the Evolocity system was installed, we started seeing faster results than even the benchmark tests produced, which once again proved Linux Networx's commitment to helping us achieve the most productivity possible." Eurocopter's Evolocity cluster consists of 40 AMD Opteron processors, with a total of 160 GB of memory and uses InfiniBand high-speed interconnects from Mellanox. The cluster also includes cluster management tools from Linux Networx, Clusterworx and Icebox, to provide total cluster management from one interface. As the world leader in the civil helicopter market, Eurocopter designs and builds some of the most advanced helicopters in the world, so it is essential that they have a high performance computing solution that is reliable and efficient, said Fabio Gallo, vice president of Europe, Middle East and Africa operations for Linux Networx. "We are committed to serving the needs of production-oriented customers, by providing easy-to-use and powerful Linux cluster solutions."