“I estimate that we’ll see a 50 to 60 percent increase in license sales in the next two years because of the addition of Windows Azure ‘burst’ capabilities.”

Phil Belnap, President, Optimal Solutions

Optimal Solutions, developer of Sculptor® shape-optimization software, wanted to make it easier for customers to expand their use of the product without increasing the size of their compute clusters. The company added the capability for users to “burst” to Windows Azure for extra compute power by using the Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 SP1 operating system. This gives customers affordable scalability to find the best design solutions in record time.

Business NeedsCompanies in the auto-racing, aerospace, and motorcycle industries need to develop high-performance vehicles and solutions to minimize drag, maximize lift, and, in general, get the best performance from their designs. Many of them rely on Sculptor®, a software application from Optimal Solutions that optimizes geometric shapes for the best computational fluid dynamics and air flow.

Sculptor employs a unique method of identifying the optimal shapes for a customer’s design parameters and does so in a fraction of the time that it would take using traditional methods. Yet Optimal Solutions wanted to shorten engineers’ time-to-result even further. “Many of our customers’ models are so complicated, such as those for airplane bodies, that an enormous number of different equations must be solved simultaneously,” says Dr. Mark Landon, Chief Technology Officer at Optimal Solutions. “Every time a single shape within a design is changed even slightly, engineers need to conduct new analyses. They can run thousands of analyses for a single model.”

To reduce analysis run time, customers often conduct calculations in parallel by using large server clusters or clusters made up of desktop computers running the Windows 7 operating system. “Clusters can be expensive to acquire and manage, and

they are fixed in size, offering only so much compute power at any given time,” says Phil Belnap, President of Optimal Solutions. “Procuring additional compute resources usually involves time and effort.”

In most companies, multiple engineers need expensive cluster resources concurrently, often more than are available. That situation creates a backlog of work, expanding design time and decreasing engineer productivity. “Our customers want to market their designs as quickly as possible,” says Belnap. “Some of our Formula One auto-racing customers need to modify certain racecar designs before the next race, which could be only a week away. They don’t have time to wait for compute resources to become available.”

SolutionOptimal Solutions turned to cloud computing and the ability to “burst” to the Windows Azure platform to extend compute capacity for Sculptor. The company adapted its application so that Sculptor users who run the Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 SP1 operating system on a single head node or cluster can quickly satisfy peak demand by adding worker roles in Windows Azure to their compute resources. “Our customers run Sculptor on everything from a single workstation to a cluster with thousands of cores,” says Belnap. “By using Windows Azure, they can

Customer: Optimal SolutionsWebsite: www.gosculptor.comCustomer Size: 6 employeesCountry or Region: United StatesIndustry: Professional services

Customer ProfileIdaho Falls, Idaho–based Optimal Solutions develops software that helps engineers optimize geometric shapes to achieve the best computational fluid dynamics in industries including aerospace and motor sports.

Software and Services Microsoft Server Product Portfolio− Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 SP1

Windows Azure Platform− Windows Azure

For more information about other Microsoft customer successes, please visit: www.microsoft.com/casestudies

Microsoft Server Product PortfolioCustomer Solution Case Study

Developer Helps Engineers Find Optimal Fluid Dynamics Designs Faster at Lower Cost

have as many nodes as they need, whenever necessary, which enables engineers to balance time and budget as they work to complete design analyses.”

As of June 2011, Optimal Solutions has tested Sculptor in a “burst to Windows Azure” scenario on a racing motorcycle shape-optimization study, which it scaled to 100 Windows Azure worker roles. By using a parametric sweep, the company was able to run the study’s optimization calculations 100 times faster by using Windows Azure than it could by using an on-premises workstation, without the need for a large, on-premises compute cluster. “We are investigating the best way to address Sculptor licensing to include the use of Windows Azure, such as a pay-as-you-go model that is similar to the Windows Azure subscription model,” says Belnap.

Optimal Solutions anticipates an extremely positive reaction from Sculptor customers to the offer of scalability on demand. Some may have questions about the security of cloud computing, but Optimal Solutions believes that Windows Azure has the security needed to safeguard proprietary data. “People can keep their money in the bank or under their mattresses,” says Belnap. “Banks take pains to ensure that money is secure, and my feeling is that Microsoft does the same with Windows Azure.”

BenefitsBy designing Sculptor software to burst to Windows Azure for peak compute power, Optimal Solutions is giving its customers the opportunity to perform analyses more quickly and cost-effectively than before. “We are creating a great synergy: a powerful tool like Sculptor combined with the flexible resources of Windows Azure,” says Belnap. “Customers can spend less time and money to reach truly optimal design solutions.”

The benefits of incorporating Windows Azure burst capabilities include:

Faster, more accurate results for shorter time-to-market. Optimal Solutions expects that customers will be able to run hundreds of jobs in the time that it would previously have taken to run just one. As a result, customers can make

better design decisions based on more complete data. “Engineers will be more responsive to business needs and get the best designs to market more quickly, without incurring huge additional design costs,” says Belnap.

Greater adoption for increased profitability. Optimal Solutions believes that adding Windows Azure burst capabilities will contribute to increased revenue for the company. “Incorporating Windows Azure will drive use of Sculptor because companies no longer have to add or free up compute resources to enable multiple engineers to take advantage of it simultaneously,” says Belnap. “I estimate that we’ll see a 50 to 60 percent increase in license sales in the next two years because of the addition of Windows Azure ‘burst’ capabilities.”

Expanded market opportunity. Giving Sculptor the ability to burst to Windows Azure will not only encourage more use from large existing Sculptor customers, but also make the product a viable choice for smaller companies and new industries that historically do not invest in compute clusters. “It easily costs up to [U.S.]$700,000 to get the software, hardware, and training to perform calculations using a traditional setup,” says Belnap. “But using Windows Azure gives smaller firms—architecture and engineering companies, for instance—a lower cost of entry, with no need to invest in a huge cluster to gain analysis resources. Those firms now have an affordable means of getting fast results that can help them be more competitive in their markets.”

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

Document published June 2011