HyperWorks 11.0 with solidThinking and AcuSolve

HyperWorks 11.0, the first release of Altair Engineering's simulation software suite after the company's acquisition of ACUSIM, comes with two additional items: AcuSolve and solidThinking.

In January, Altair snatched up California-headquartered ACUSIM, best known for its CFD solver named AcuSolve. ACUSIM's client list includes household names in engineering, such as Bechtel, Chevron, John Deere, Procter & Gamble, Toyota, and Whirlpool. AcuSolve gives HyperWorks the ability to run computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses -- something previously unavailable in HyperWorks.

solidThinking, also the result of an Altair acquisition (dating back to 2008), is used primarily for 3D conceptual design. A NURBS-based modeler with rendering tools, the software lets you explore different geometric shapes in manufacturing projects. Altair uses a feature dubbed ConstructionTree to let solidThinking users switch between parameter-based modeling (for greater precision) and control-point editing (for greater creative freedom). The software is available for both Windows and Mac OS.

The release of HyperWorks 11.0 at the HyperWorks Technology Conference (June 22-23, Orlando, Florida) was closely followed by the announcement that HyperWorks is now available as an on-demand solution ("a High Performance Computing solution for design innovation in the Cloud," as the company put it).

HyperWorks On-Demand will let customers take advantage of the “pay-per-usage” license model. According to Altair, "Customers purchase a pool of HyperWorks Units (HWUs), which are used to gain access to the extensive suite of Altair’s software and HyperWorks Partners’ products. HyperWorks On-Demand extends the power and flexibility of a customer’s investment in HWU’s by allowing the same HWU’s to access the HPC infrastructure in the Cloud along with Altair’s best-in-class HyperWorks software."

HyperWorks On-Demand users will have access to Altair's HPC workload management software, PBS Professional. This allows users to submit jobs, monitor them, distribute hardware resources effectively, and -- if needed -- access Altair's cloud-hosted resources for power boost.

In recent years, there's been growing interest in the use of cloud-hosted computing resources for analysis and simulation because the SaaS -- or pay per use -- licensing model makes it possible for many small and midsize firms to conduct sophisticated analyses without investing in the purchase and maintenance of dedicated servers. Other simulation software makers exploring this model include CD-adapco and dezineforce.