A decade ago, high-performance computing (HPC) was a relatively new concept for many users of engineering simulation — it was primarily available to those working in large companies that had resources to manage the substantial investments. Today, it’s a different story: Entry-level HPC is available on the typical desktop.

HPC can add tremendous value to any organization that develops products.

• You can create large, high-fidelity models that yield accurate and detailed insight into a design’s performance.
• You can innovate with a high degree of confidence that the product will meet customer expectations — because extremely accurate simulations are predicting its actual performance under real-world conditions
• HPC enables high mesh density for improved accuracy, numerous geometric details, or sophisticated treatment of physical phenomena
• It can consider the interaction of multiple components or entire systems. HPC enables simulation work to be performed within the time required to impact engineering decisions
• It enables greater simulation throughput. You engineering team can analyze not just a single design idea, but many design variations — concurrently, if needed
• It helps you identify dramatic engineering improvements early in the design process, prior to and more effectively than physical prototyping alone

The high throughput enabled by HPC also allows you to simulate product behavior over a range of operating conditions. Companies are mindful of warranty promises and the increasing importance of customer satisfaction — especially in today’s world of social media — and HPC provides the capacity to use simulation to ensure that products will perform robustly and reliably once in the customer’s hands.

The power of HPC is more vital than ever in today’s environment of intensified competition, shorter product life cycles, reduced time to market, sharply targeted product performance, and growing pressure to drive costs out of product development and testing. As businesses seek to minimize physical models and tests by using engineering simulation to study more-complicated multiphysics problems, conduct a larger range of analyses, and understand the interaction of system components, HPC has become a core strategic technology.