On-demand "remote" Upfront Simulation?!?

There has always been buzz in the CAE industry for users to take advantage of remote cluster computing. Essentially, you would set up your models locally on a machine and run it on a server hosted by a vendor. Some of the old timers, like Fluent, have been in this business for a number of years. I tried their version about 5 years ago. Cool in concept, but the interface and process took some getting used to. I found it difficult to track the model's progress.

The main problem or limitation on this capability will be the bandwidth. As internet access becomes more readily available and connections speeds improve, I think there is a future in "cloud computing" for Upfront CAE.

I currently do a mocked up version of cloud computing myself. I have a laptop and 64-bit desktop. In CFdesign, I am able to choose which machine I want to solve on directly from within the interface. So, this allows me to very efficiently setup and review models on my laptop and solve and store them on my desktop. I can even do this similar process remote. Takes a bit more copying and pasting and uploading/downloading but it works for now. Still trying to get Remote Desktop to work reliably. In the meantime, I will stick with GOTOMYPC. I used this all week while in Amserdam. Even on a fairly slow connection, I was able to access my dekstop and review a model's progress.

Ideally, I would love to improve this process. Here's my wish list. For starters, I would like to build models on my laptop, set them up etc and hit "GO" and have the option of what computer to solve on, even when I am traveling. I would like to have a "favorites" list of computers to choose. Some of us have one or two machines to use, others have a bit more. The file exchange would have to be super fast and lightweight. I then want a "link" to be created that I can access from any browser where I can monitor performance - convergence, mesh quality, mass balance, max temps, max pressures... I want the interface to have the look and feel of a modern web page that I can access from any computer or my phone!. To make life easier, I would like to have the option to have a text message or email sent with the link so I can have immediate access to it. I also want the option to text/email me when the model is finished, encountered an error or simply update me on the progress.

Version 2.0 should have a lightweight preview of the model (similar to JT or Adobe 3d) that allows me to pan, zoom, rotate and view my results. If I could have acces to all of the results, that would be great. But a lightweight model seems to make the most sense for web browsing.

This whole process would be great if I could do this on my "other" machine. But what if I had the option to do this to a remote farm of computers hosted by the software vendor? This way, I could have access to unlimited computing power, unlimited storage capacity (with a fee of course) and unlimited access to technical support in the event that something went wrong. A premium support model would exist so that I can "collaborate" with a support engineer using a variety of medias (texting, iming, email, forum type posts).

Think of the info that could be provided to the vendor on performance, mesh times and sizes, solver times, solver performance, application statistics etc.. The pluses are endless for all.

If I could add version 3.0 to my wish list - it would include driving optimization via this web interface. Cloud computing will only be appropriate for a select group of engineers. But I think the concept can give us endless possibilities. I am looking forward to seeing where the on-demand market takes the CAE industry.

On-Demand Applications in the CAE Industry - Part I

I think "on-demand" software has its place in the future in the CAE industry. Not sure if "on-demand" is the correct way to categorize it all, but I think it explains it fairly well. I am referring to applications that reside on a remote server and are accessed via the web, rather than run locally from the desktop.

It already exists in certain aspects. It was about 10 years ago that I came across "bom.com". It was a company that positioned handling all of the data management, bill of materials etc via the web. At the time, I thought it was a very cool idea, but they were the days when we were paying for AOL by the minute. As cool as I thought the concept was, I thought the name of their company was even cooler. I never imagined that the web would evolve into what it is today. Obviously the guys at bom.com did, as they have evolved into Arena Solutions. I snagged the above image off their site. They can explain what they do way better than I, go check them out.

Today, all of the CAD companies each have their own flavor of on-demand PDM and project management tools. I recently used Autodesk Streamline while working with a client in California. We used it to share files for a project. Sure beats the security nightmares of ftp sites.

I have recently become completely obsessed with on-demand solutions. I am using Google docs daily. I find its a great way to keep my files in order, available wherever I am, plus it allows me to share the files with members of our team. There are numerous other on-demand applications that I am looking into. Stay tuned, a bunch more to come on this topic.