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"The key benefit to e-CFD is speed - when you need it," states Stephen
Weinberger, Exa senior vice president. "This first-of-its-kind service will
benefit all types of engineering clientele, from those that regularly
outsource work to those that have peak overloads or impending deadlines.
With a powerful SGI server dedicated to each customer's job, users will
experience unbelievable turnaround times on even the most complex CFD
simulations."
Using a high-bandwidth, secure Internet architecture developed by GTEI,
engineers can transfer models via the Internet and access a 32-processor
SGI
2400 server to run computational simulations. The e-CFD
service eliminates the cost associated with purchasing, managing and
maintaining hardware and software at a customer's site and provides
significant savings to engineering managers.
Navistar INTERNATIONAL Transportation Corporation currently uses PowerFLOW
for their aerodynamic CFD simulations and intends to expand their use of
the product by adding e-CFD as a resource for computing power. "The
pressure to create the best designed vehicles is enormous," comments
engineering manager Gene Olson, for INTERNATIONAL. "With a large CFD server
virtually at our fingertips, we now have the flexibility to run more
simulations during peak periods, improving our designs without additional
hardware investment. INTERNATIONAL chose PowerFLOW for its ease-of-use,
complex geometry handling and accuracy - it's nice now to have our CFD
software on-demand via the Internet," continues Olson.
"The Internet has become a critical tool for conducting business by
providing fast, low-cost access to information. Unfortunately, bandwidth
and security limitations have kept it from becoming a tool for much of the
engineering community," said Paul Chermak, vice president of application
solutions marketing for SGI. "The combined expertise of SGI, Exa and GTEI
is delivering a service that breaks down these traditional barriers,
creating greater access to industry-leading hardware and software."
E-CFD is available now. Once an account is
established, customers will be charged $10/CPU hour for the software and
the system (volume discounts are available). Customers who prefer to
outsource their jobs completely may also submit CAD geometries to Exa
directly for case setup and submission to the server by an Exa Services
Division engineering specialist for an additional fee.
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