“With Windows HPC Server 2008, we can rapidly develop a robust service that helps our customers cut the cost of engineering design, increase productivity, and enhance the quality of designs.”

Professor Simon Cox, Chief Scientist, dezineforce

Many small and medium-sized engineering design enterprises don’t have the resources to support the design analysis and optimisation tools needed to stay competitive. Based in Whiteley in the United Kingdom (U.K.), dezineforce uses Windows® HPC Server 2008 to provide access to Web-based engineering design capabilities so smaller companies can prosper in the same market as large organisations.

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published December 2008


Business Needs

Over the past decade, scientists in the School of Engineering Sciences at the University of Southampton have studied and developed technology that makes it possible for users to optimise engineering designs over the Web. The school works with large companies, such as Airbus and BAE Systems, which have many employees to support design activity.

A group of scientists from the university realised that with the right technology they could also extend this service to small and medium-sized enterprises that lacked the resources of the larger companies. They founded dezineforce in the U.K. in 2007 to provide subscribers with online access to engineering design analysis software, including the leading finite element analysis (FEA) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) packages, and the dezineforce suite of optimisation tools. As part of this service, they wanted to offer computer cluster processing capability so that clients could avoid the costs of acquiring and maintaining in-house computing and storage facilities.

The company targeted manufacturing companies and design houses in the following industries:

Aerospace

Automotive and motorsport

Civil engineering

Architecture

Marine

Renewable energy technologies

Electronics

Professor Simon Cox, Chief Scientist at dezineforce and Professor at the University of Southampton, says: “We wanted to offer a Web-based development service to give enterprises of all sizes the ability to innovate with the best technology by giving them access to cutting-edge tools without the high cost of entry often required.”

Solution

To offer such a service, the team at dezineforce considered some other options, such as Oracle for databases, the IBM relational database management system DB2, and Linux-based supercomputing. But Windows HPC Server 2008 with the use of Microsoft® SQL Server® 2005 data management software and Windows Workflow Foundation on the Microsoft .NET Framework won out.

The solution uses a combination of software plus services to deliver a unique service over the Web. Based on the Windows Server® 2008 operating system, Windows HPC Server 2008 is designed to increase productivity, scalability, and manageability. Key features are high-speed networking, highly efficient and scalable cluster management tools, advanced failover capabilities, a service oriented architecture (SOA) job scheduler, and support for partners’ clustered file systems.

“With any other IT provider you have to mix and match and you end up with 20 different technologies that don’t quite integrate. Microsoft technologies integrate effectively, which simplifies development, reduces time to market and improves our ability to support customers, which are all critical for a software-plus-services provider,” says Prof. Cox.

The system developed by dezineforce is easy to use. Users log on over the Web and select a workflow. This encodes how the various analysis and optimisation packages are linked together. Clients then upload the geometry and rules of their analysis—in other words, they tell the system what to calculate. When clients press the go button, they get real-time feedback on how that calculation is progressing. Meanwhile, the systems created by dezineforce manage licensing, collate results, and deal with the data and file system handling—relieving designers of time-consuming tasks that are not their core purpose or expertise. This allows clients to focus on design while dezineforce does everything else. “Designers can do what they’re paid to do and not be slaves to IT,” says Prof. Cox.

Benefits

With Windows HPC Server 2008, development was fast. The founders raised money in 2008 and launched the service the same year. Prof. Cox says: “There haven’t been any major issues. One remarkable thing from our last board meeting was that I was able to say we are completely on target and within budget with the plan we set out 18 months ago.

“With Windows HPC Server 2008, we can rapidly develop a robust service that helps our customers cut the cost of engineering design, increase productivity, and enhance the quality of designs.”

Rapid development and deployment for dezineforce and its customers. “Development took months rather than years, and we were able to trust in the reliability of Windows HPC Server 2008 and the .NET Framework,” says Prof. Cox.

Seamless integration of the Framework and software help create a robust, reliable service.

In addition to giving clients the tools they need to grow and prosper, dezineforce is already hiring more staff to accommodate business growth.

Software-plus-services is a scalable business model that encourages rapid growth. dezineforce is already working with companies in several countries and this will accelerate in the coming year.

Easy-to-use technology encourages repeat customers and word-of-mouth recommendation.

Ground-breaking research and design puts dezineforce at the forefront of new technology.

No licensing or maintenance fees provide a cost-effective, attractive service for customers.

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published December 2008