Altair

Altair announces major updates to its software

June 3, 2020 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

Altair, a global technology company providing solutions in product development, high-performance computing (HPC), and data analytics, announced a significant software update. All of Altair’s software products have been updated with new features, including intuitive workflows that empower users to streamline product development, allowing customers to get to market faster.

The software update release expands on the number of solutions available for designers, engineers, and others to drive better decisions and accelerate the pace of innovation. It broadens the scope of the new user experience, enables access to more physics, data analytics, and machine learning, and makes the Altair software delivery method more flexible and accessible.

Some of the highlights:
• Structures
–Altair HyperWorks – new interface to Altair’s solution for high-fidelity computer-aided engineering (CAE) modeling and visualization, making learning easy and productivity high
–New subsystem entity for modular model configuration
–Altair SimLab – fatigue optimization
–Altair OptiStruct ¬– includes the addition of new explicit solution and expanded implicit non-linear solutions including 2D axisymmetry
–Altair SimSolid – includes advanced 3D seam weld connections to further improve speed
–Altair Radioss – employs a dramatic reduction in runtimes for virtual drop testing of electronics devices

• Fluids and Thermal
–HyperWorks CFD – provides engineers and experienced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) specialists with the most productive CFD pre- and post-processing capabilities to-date
–Altair AcuSolve – GPU acceleration yields 3-4 times increased speed while also supporting nucleate boiling, radiation, condensation/evaporation and multiphase fluid-structure interaction (FSI)
–Altair ultraFluidX – includes a new, more accurate wall model and overset grid technique
–Altair nanoFluidX – is three times faster than the previous version

• Industrial Design and Structures
–Altair Inspire integration of Altair SimSolid solver includes support and connector reaction forces, instantaneous reaction time modeling large PolyNURBS models, and improved geometry generation from optimization
–Inspire Studio – advanced morphing of any geometry type

• Manufacturing
–3D printing simulation available in Inspire with new unit cell lattice generation

• Electromagnetics and Multiphysics
–SimLab – electric motor modeling and coupling with AcuSolve and Altair Flux; accommodates ECAD file import (ODB++)
–Altair Feko – provides a component library tightly integrated with CADFEKO
–Altair FluxMotor now includes thermal and acoustics evaluation
–Flux includes several enhancements including those for modeling iron losses and skew type motors

• Systems Modeling
–Altair Activate – performs multi-physics system modeling with hardware-in-the-loop and Internet of Things (IoT) for digital twin development
–Integration of EDEM bulk material modeling with multibody dynamics simulation and hydraulics ideal for heavy equipment and agricultural applications
–Altair MotionView – has a two-wheeler vehicle dynamics library for motorcycles and scooters
–Altair Compose – OpenMatrix Language available in Jupyter Notebook
–Altair Embed – supports three additional target and two additional target families from ST Micro, VRTOS code modifications for MISRA compliance, and OpenCV DNN (Deep Neural Network) module integration

• Data Analytics
–Recent release of Altair Panopticon – platform for user-driven monitoring of real-time data – includes major update of cloud-based deployment, enabling users to build, modify, and share custom-designed functions and content easily via standard web browsers; hotfix to enable deployment at Nomura
–Altair Knowledge Hub – improved messages for troubleshooting and robustness; security hardening; more flexible Windows deployment; deployment on Azure; transformations including continuous binning and lookup join (refactoring for performance) and more
–Altair Monarch – complex Excel input support – “Excel Trapping”; PDF extraction improvements; user experience and UI improvements; enhanced column list and more
–Altair Knowledge Studio – new features including Keras model, model stacking, and pivot table; variable transformations node improvements with dataset and variable preview and re-ordering

• Smart Product Development
–Altair SmartWorks – major re-architecture of the edge orchestration and augmentation; ability to validate the edge application in real-time environments and deploy at scale

• HPC and Cloud
–Altair Access – updated “work from home” features; more responsive 3D remote visualization; internationalization; better job resource charts; two-factor authentication and single sign-on; share support on mobile
–Altair Accelerator – EDA workload support on AWS (with Rapid Scaling), Microsoft Azure, and GCP; 10x faster for dynamic workloads; container improvements; REST query API; IPv6
–Altair PBS Professional – scalability improvements towards exascale; Cray Shasta support; container enhancements for converged AI+HPC workloads; better system maintenance support

All products are available through the Altair licensing model, making access to all Altair’s software broader and more flexible.

Altair
www.altair.com/2020

Altair releases HyperWorks 2019, unifying design, engineering, and manufacturing

June 10, 2019 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

Altair, a global technology company providing solutions in product development, high-performance computing and data intelligence, announced the release of Altair HyperWorks 2019, the latest version of its simulation- and AI-driven product development platform. The release expands on the number of solutions available for designers and engineers, under a single, open-architecture platform, to speed decision-making and time to market.
“We want to help our customers explore more ideas, better understand their designs, and improve profitability,” said James Scapa, Altair’s chief executive officer and founder. “Our development focus for HyperWorks 2019 was to increase the solve speed and functionality across our solutions for every stage of product development with optimization and multi-physics workflows for all manufacturing methods.”

Highlights of this release include:

Fast simulation of complex assemblies
Altair SimSolid makes designers and engineers more productive by performing structural analysis on original, un-simplified CAD assemblies in seconds to minutes. SimSolid can analyze complex parts and large assemblies that would take hours or days using traditional structural simulation tools.

Easy-to-learn fatigue life prediction
Altair HyperLife enables customers to quickly understand potential durability issues through an easy-to-learn solution for fatigue life under static, transient and vibrational loading. The intuitive user experience enables test engineers to perform simulations with little or no training. HyperLife helps customers to confidently predict product durability in hours, complementing physical testing, which can take months.

Efficient workflows for multi-physics
Altair SimLab is an intuitive workflow platform for simulating multi-physics problems. Automatic feature and part recognition can make simulation cycles more than five times faster. Design exploration is easier with synching to popular CAD tools. The multi-physics workflows feature deeply embedded solvers; including statics, dynamics, heat transfer, fluid flow, electromagnetics analysis, fluid-structure interaction, and electromagnetic-thermal coupling.

Superior high-fidelity modeling
HyperWorks 2019 includes the most robust Altair HyperMesh version yet. New features enable the generation of the largest, most complex finite element models. The model build and assembly tools in HyperMesh make managing large, complex assemblies easier than ever. This allows CAE to keep pace with design changes by rapidly swapping new parts and assemblies into existing models, managing multiple configurations, mesh variants and part instances. The direct mid-mesh generation makes it possible to create shell meshes straight from solid geometry of complex castings and injection molded parts.

Enhanced user experience for fast concept modeling
The HyperWorks platform already includes Altair Inspire, Altair Activate and SimLab delivering class-leading solutions with intuitive and consistent user-interfaces. In this release Altair HyperWorks X is included with a new set of workflows for geometry creation, editing, morphing and meshing employing this same user experience. The easy-to-learn mesh morphing features of HyperWorks X will bring efficiency to teams working on simulation models early in product development. These workflows enable concept level changes to be made directly on an existing FEA model bypassing CAD generation and accelerating decision-making.

Expanded non-linear solver functionality
Analysis with Altair OptiStruct is increasing at companies performing stiffness, strength and fatigue-life simulations; fueled by the significant process improvement it provides. The single-model, multi-attribute workflow enabled by OptiStruct delivers time and cost savings. Design decisions can be made faster by engineers performing linear, non-linear, and durability analysis – using one optimization-ready model.

Altair
www.altair.com
altair.com/HW2019

Designed by engineers with nature’s help

March 29, 2019 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

Engineers are increasingly turning to the already perfected designs found in nature to create lightweight and optimized products. And one software program—also inspired by nature– optimizes the CAD model for the job at hand

Jean Thilmany, Senior Editor

Want an example of efficient, environmentally friendly design? Look to nature.

When engineers take a biomimetic approach to their projects, they’re taking inspiration from how plants and animals, even the microbes around us, work. Nature has had eons to perfect its systems and shapes. Engineers haven’t. But they can crib from nature’s design methods and at least one form of CAD and analysis technology—itself based on biomimicry—can help.

Advances in additive manufacturing techniques mean the unusual geometries found in nature can be attempted and feasibly manufactured today.

For a modern-day example of biomimicry (that is, engineers drawing upon biology for their designs), look at the 500 Series Shinkasen Japanese bullet trains, which can reach speeds up to 200 miles per hour. This train was developed in 1992 to test technologies for future bullet trains. For the 500, designers wanted a fast train that ran quieter than earlier models.

Modeled after the kingfisher, the Shinkansen Bullet Train has a streamlined forefront and structural adaptations to significantly reduce noise.

Designer Eiji Nakatsu modeled the train’s nose after the beak of the kingfisher bird, which dives from air to water with very little splash thanks to its aerodynamic beak. The 500 is not only less noisy than earlier versions of the bullet train, it uses 15% less electricity and travels 10% faster, he says.

A few years ago, researchers in the University of California, Berkeley, Biomimetic Millisystems Lab created an adhesive based on the method geckos use to climb walls or hang from a tree branch from just one toe. They created the self-cleaning adhesive made from the long, slender polypropylene fibers that mimic the millions of hair-like structures called setae on the bottom of a gecko’s toes.

The adhesion is based on the geometry of the fibers: sliding the tape against a surface uncurls the fibers to engage the adhesive while sliding the tape in the opposite direction causes it to unstick, says Ronald Fearing, an electrical engineering professor at the school who led the research.

Because engineers could optimize the geometry of the polypropylene fibers using engineering analysis software, the adhesive can be made much stronger and stickier than a gecko’s feet. Also, the gecko adhesive, unlike conventional adhesive tapes, does not feel sticky to the touch, Fearing says.

Making things lighter, stronger and faster has long been the goal in engineering and biomimetics is one tool that can help. Automotive and aircraft companies—to name just a few—want to decrease the weight of their products as much as possible so they burn less fuel and are easier to handle.

Some of them—Airbus, Boeing, and Volvo among them—are using a topology optimization tool to cut excess material and weight. The tool is itself based on algorithms derived from a natural, biological process.

From the body to the aircraft
Engineers have been using the OptiStruct topology optimization program from Altair Engineering to optimize their CAD models for weight and strength. The program does this in the same way bones grow to be as light and strong as possible, says Janine Benyus. She’s co-founder of the Biomimicry Institute, of Missoula, Mont., which states its mission is to promote the transfer of ideas, designs, and strategies from biology to sustainable human systems design.

The OptiStruct program, developed by Jeff Brennan, is based on the way human bones grow. As a biomedical graduate student at the University of Michigan, Brennan investigated the theory that bone growth responds directly to external stimuli, he says.

He and his fellow researchers created a mathematical model to represent bone growth in the human body, theorizing the model could help point medical researchers toward ways to induce bone growth to treat conditions like osteoporosis. They found that bones grow in response to stress into an optimal structure through trial and error, says Brennan, now chief marketing officer at Altair.

And bones, of course, are not stiff and heavy. Rather, they’re porous, lightweight, but very strong. Many engineered structures could be designed in that same way, he says. Brennan applied the mathematical growth patterns seen in bone to static structures to bring to them that same type of lightweight, strong flexibility.

Brennan’s model is now the basis of the Altair topology optimization program. Engineers use topology optimization to discover the best way to distribute material throughout a structure, given their goals for that structure as well as their set of constraints.

The topology optimization software OptiStruct is based on human bone growth patterns. It’s now included in HyperWorks from Altair. Depicted is the way the software can filter and handle thousands of curves.

Now companies in many different industries use the Altair software to analyze and optimize structures for strength, durability and noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) characteristics and to help improve on existing designs, Brennan says.

For instance, the software was instrumental in helping Airbus reduce the materials used for certain wing and airplane rib assemblies by up to 40 percent, Benyus says.
“It’s pure biomimicry in the sense that by studying bones and then mathematically describing what it is they do to make themselves lighter, we’ve been able to save all of this material, but you wouldn’t look at that plane and say, ‘That’s biomimicry,’” she says. “But there’s biomimicry inside, and I really think that these are some of the most powerful things, these algorithms.”

The software offers engineers a different way of thinking about the design process. They can use topology optimization to specify constraints and them simulate potential designs before they’ve created their initial CAD model, Brennan says. They can choose the best of the potential designs returned to them and then further optimize them and adjust to their own needs, he adds.

The designs suggested by the tool may require some additional redesign or tweaking so as to be manufactured using traditional processes. The tool may suggest unorthodox shapes that just can’t be made with the help of a CNC machine or with an extruder, for example.

Though 3D printing is changing that…
As additive manufacturing continues to evolve it gives engineering companies the capability to manufacture nontraditional designs. Because 3D printers build up materials layer after layer they can print objects with any type of geometry. With 3D printing, for instance, designs can be created in intricate or swirling shapes. It also means patient aids like a prosthetic limb or dental implant can be printed exactly to the wearer’s unique shape and specifications.

A design practice and Airbus researchers teamed to design a partition for its A320 series. The partition is 3D printed for lightness and its shape is based on the structure of slime mold, for strength.

And the printers can now produce objects in a variety of materials. The introduction of engineering-grade metals to 3D printing, along with the already-existing array of engineering-grade thermoplastics, means manufacturers can build parts that are strong, yet lightweight, and that can be used directly in the final product.

Look, up in the air (the design of slime)

Airbus continues in its efforts to reduce the weight of the aircraft by using biomimicry and additive manufacturing.

Bastian Schäfer, an Airbus engineer, believes the capability to 3-D print airplane parts that range in size up to and including the plane’s very skeleton structure will revolutionize air travel. These lightweight additively produced parts will make planes that weigh much less than today’s models. A lighter plane uses less fuel and reduces the amount of greenhouse gases it emits. Planes with a smaller carbon footprint could be bigger and roomier, with improvements like larger and moldable seats, Schäfer said.

For him, the move to a 3-D-printed airliner begins with a printed partition his group unveiled two years ago and continues to perfect.

Schäfer is project manager on what his group calls the Bionic Partition Project. The project itself is under the purview of the Airbus Emerging Technologies and Concepts Group, led by Peter Sander.

Working under Schäfer, the group has created a 3-D printed partition to separate the seating area on the A320 from the galley. The partition weighs 45% less than the 7-feet-tall partitions now used on that model. It’s also substantially stronger, as the team replaced the component’s solid aluminum alloy parts with a number of slender, 3-D-printed metal pieces that connect to form a lattice of the same shape and size as the existing partition. The lattice is then covered in a thin material.

Partitions of this nature are large, weighty, and can be somewhat of a design challenge, Schäfer said. It needs to include a cutout wide and tall enough for a hospital stretcher to pass through and to be strong enough to anchor the two seats that fold down from the frame, which flight attendants sit in for takeoff and landing. And it must withstand impacts of up to 16 g-force. Oh, and it also must be less than 1-inch thick (to save space) and attach to the plane in only four places to decrease the weight of connecting hardware and to make for easy changeout.

With all that in mind, the team turned to nature. The partition’s internal, 3-D-printed structure mimics that of human bones, which, though light, have a high strength-to-weight ratio as they are dense at their stress points. Schäfer’s team designed a lattice structure comprised of metal pieces that are printed individually and then fit together to form the partition.

The Living, an Autodesk-owned design and prototyping studio in New York, also played a part in the project by creating the biological algorithm that would allow for the mimicking of human bones.

“Our algorithm was based on the growth of an organism called slime mold,” says David Benjamin, head of the group.

The mold grows and stretches its form to connect a set of points—or locations of food—with the minimum number of lines. It also has built-in redundancy; each point is connected with at least two lines so if one fails, the point is still connected to the network, or slime body, he says.

“The mold spores are efficient because they use the least amount of material to connect the dots. And they are redundant because when one of the paths is broken, the network can route around the problem and stay connected,” he said. “Although the size and material of the partition is different than that of slime mold, the logic is similar. And in our application, this approach worked very well.”

Schäfer has plans to further improve upon the partition’s existing design and build. He’d like to cut out a step in the manufacturing process by printing larger pieces of the structure at once, rather than printing the individual parts that are then fit together. Printer size now limits this capability.

The partition isn’t in production, but that will probably change within five years as Airbus furthers its move toward lighter planes, Schäfer says.

While no slime mold was injured in the making of the Airbus partition, the lowly organism will soon be helping the planes use less fuel—and emit fewer greenhouse gases—as they fly through the skies.

You may not want to thank the slime mold in person, but the engineers who use it—and well as many other natural designs—for inspiration—may just to do it for you.

Altair Engineering
www.altair.com

Altair Engineering completes acquisition of Datawatch Corporation

February 4, 2019 By WTWH Editor Leave a Comment

Altair Engineering Inc. announced that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of Datawatch Corporation (“Datawatch”). Datawatch provides data intelligence with market leading enterprise data preparation, predictive analytics and visualization solutions that fuel business analytics.

“We are very pleased to welcome the Datawatch team as our newest Altairians with the completion of this acquisition,” said James Scapa, Altair’s Founder, Chairman, and CEO. “With a shared vision around the convergence of simulation and data science, we believe Datawatch’s current and developing products and technologies can significantly enhance the value Altair delivers to our customers. We are well-positioned to execute on the new opportunities Datawatch provides us while building on their vibrant existing business.”

The acquisition of Datawatch was structured as a merger under Section 251(h) of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware following the successful completion of Altair’s previously announced tender offer to purchase all issued and outstanding shares of common stock of Datawatch for $13.10 per share in cash, without interest and less any applicable withholding taxes.

As a result of the merger, subject to certain potential exceptions provided for in the merger agreement, all remaining shares of Datawatch common stock not previously tendered into Altair’s tender offer were converted into the right to receive $13.10 per share in cash, without interest and less any applicable withholding taxes.

Datawatch has requested that Nasdaq Capital Market file a Form 25 with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission causing the delisting of Datawatch’s common stock from Nasdaq Capital Market. Altair expects that Datawatch’s common stock will cease trading as of the close of trading on December 13, 2018.

Altair
www.altair.com

SimLab sT slashes simulation cycle time

January 29, 2019 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

Altair SimLab sT is a turn-key program for the mid-market. It enables a community of designers and engineers to leverage multiphysics simulation to explore design proposals, drive innovation and accelerate product development. Designed to support manufacturers burdened with increasing complexity amid shrinking development cycles, SimLab sT automates every step of the simulation process through shareable workflows with live bi-directional connections to popular CAD systems.

The program features the addition of deeply embedded physics solvers, revolutionary business models, and more:

–User experience opens new markets – The new user experience further accelerates simulation cycle time and expands the addressable markets for high-end multiphysics analysis. This includes SMB manufacturers and design engineers responsible for developing product families sharing common and variant components.

–Live, bi-directional syncing with popular CAD systems – Always stay in sync with the latest design level to evaluate performance and explore proposals with live connections to parametric CAD systems including CATIA, Pro/E, Siemens NX and SolidWorks.

–Embedded physics solvers enable CAD-to-simulation in minutes – The introduction of embedded physics solvers for statics, dynamics, heat transfer, fluid flow and electromagnetics provides a turn-key solution to accelerate multiphysics analyses, coupled simulations, and DOE studies from days and weeks to minutes and hours.

–Freedom to choose the best licensing model for maximum value – SimLab sT is immediately available through Altair’s solidThinking and HyperWorks suite offerings. With advantages and price points, customers have the ability to select the licensing model that enables the right set of simulation capabilities at the best value to their organization.

solidThinking Units (sTU’s) Licensing Option: Provides enterprise access to SimLab sT and all of the products available through the solidThinking suite offering. Sold through Altair’s valued channel network, the more attractive SimLab sT price point provides a compelling offering for SMB manufacturers and organizations starting or upgrading existing simulation capabilities.

HyperWorks Units (HWU’s) Licensing Option: Provides enterprise access to SimLab sT as well as the ability to access all Altair products available through the HyperWorks and solidThinking suite offerings. This licensing option also includes the broadest set of direct CAE readers to run 3rd-party solvers with Simlab and access to more than 150 Altair Partner Alliance applications.

Altair
www.altair.com

Altair and Oracle offer faster high-performance computing in the cloud

October 24, 2018 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

Altair (Nasdaq:ALTR) has expanded its relationship with Oracle to offer on-demand, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technology on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, accelerating external aerodynamics and other complex flow simulations. This new offering, powered by GPU technology, provides a highly-scalable solution at an affordable cost.

There is growing demand for solutions that enable increasingly more complex optimization-driven physics and flow simulations to drive decision-making and innovation. GPUs provide the ideal compute resources to handle these more strenuous workloads. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure offers fast and scalable computing, including GPU instances and best-in-class cloud storage capabilities that preclude the need to unnecessarily move large amounts of data.
Advanced CFD solvers such as Altair ultraFluidX and Altair nanoFluidX are optimized on the Oracle Cloud to provide overnight simulation results for the most complex cases on a single server. ultraFluidX provides fast prediction of the aerodynamic properties of passenger and heavy-duty vehicles, buildings and other environmental use cases. nanoFluidX predicts the flow in complex geometries with complex motion, such as oiling in powertrain systems with rotating gears and shafts, using the Smoothed-Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) simulation method. Both solvers are now available on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, and can leverage GPU instances, bringing the power of HPC to advanced CFD simulation.

Altair
www.altair.com

Altair acquires SIMSOLID

October 17, 2018 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

Altair (Nasdaq: ALTR) has acquired SIMSOLID, a company founded by asking a simple question: “Why does the geometry used in the Design and Structural Simulation worlds have to be so different?”

SIMSOLID works on full-fidelity CAD assemblies to provide fast, accurate, and robust structural simulation without requiring geometry simplification, cleanup, or meshing. Its underlying technology is based largely on the work of Dr. Victor Apanovitch, a former professor at Belarus Polytechnic University and the cofounder of SIMSOLID Corporation.

“We believe SIMSOLID is a revolutionary technological breakthrough which will have a profound impact for product design,” said James Scapa, Altair’s Founder, Chairman, and CEO, “It’s incredibly fast, accurate, and robust and we believe a game changer for our industry.”

The SIMSOLID computational engine is a commercial implementation of novel and unpublished mathematics based on extensions to the theory of external approximations. SIMSOLID controls solution accuracy using multi-pass adaptive analysis, making it extremely fast and memory efficient. Large and complex assemblies can be solved rapidly even on laptop computers.

Dr. Uwe Schramm, Altair’s Chief Technical Officer, notes that, “We are very serious about solution accuracy. Others have tried to accelerate the interface between CAD and simulation by degrading the mathematical robustness. It is our feeling that by rapidly moving forward with the methods in SIMSOLID and expanding them across applications we can have a real effect on how design gets done while maintaining our high standards for computational excellence.”

Altair
www.altair.com/SIMSOLID

Altair Inspire and Altair 365 platforms for simulation-driven design

September 11, 2018 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

Altair announced the release and immediate availability of the Altair Inspire simulation-driven design platform, and the Altair 365 cloud collaboration platform. The Altair Inspire platform enables manufacturers to leverage simulation to drive the entire design process, accelerating the pace of innovation and reducing time-to-market. This new platform brings together simulation solutions for generative design, engineering analysis, and manufacturability under a single, intuitive user environment, appealing to designers and engineers with little or no simulation experience.

“We believe the future of successful product development will rely upon an increasingly broad simulation user community,” says James R. Scapa, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Altair. “These new releases are part of a path toward simulation access for every designer and engineer at every phase of product development from concept to manufacturing to in-service operation.”

Together with the release of Altair Inspire, Altair also debuts its Altair 365 engineering collaboration platform on Microsoft Azure. Altair 365 allows customers the flexibility to access Altair Inspire and the entire solidThinking suite in the cloud under its new solidThinking units licensing model. Whether running on the desktop or on Altair 365, Altair Inspire customers will enjoy the same intuitive user experience and simulation capabilities. Altair 365 offers additional enterprise services including visual collaboration with peers, version control, secure data management and scalable high-performance computing resources.

“We are thrilled to introduce Altair Inspire and Altair 365,” says James Dagg, CTO at Altair. “This platform release vastly expands upon Inspire’s leading generative design and simulation capabilities to include manufacturing solutions for casting, metal forming, and extrusion processes with more to come in the future. Our goal is to make simulation-driven design a reality by continuing to place technology like Altair Inspire in the creative hands of all designers and engineers to drive innovation throughout the development process.”

Altair
www.altair.com/InspirePlatform

Altair introduces new licensing model for the solidThinking Software Suite

August 29, 2018 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

Altair (Nasdaq: ALTR) announced a new software licensing model for its solidThinking suite of simulation-driven design software. Based off of Altair’s patented units-based licensing model popularized through Altair HyperWorks, solidThinking Units (sTUs) will share similar and distinct advantages enabling SMB customers and the design engineering community to drive product innovation with simulation. Under sTU licensing, customers will now have access to all software titles available through the solidThinking suite as well as the ability to seamlessly run these applications on-demand locally or in the cloud.

“We believe the frictionless access to our entire solidThinking suite and cloud resources through this single licensing model is a market first and compelling offering for SMB and some enterprise customers,” says James R. Scapa, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Altair. “The new licensing provides tremendous value and flexibility to organizations that are just beginning with simulation, have limited simulation resources, or require a comprehensive simulation solution that cost-effectively scales with growth.”

The Altair solidThinking suite packages a subset of software titles available through the broader Altair HyperWorks offering to rapidly explore, investigate and create structurally efficient, manufacturable product concepts and electromechanical systems. Inclusive of robust solutions for model-based development, generative design, hybrid concept modeling, multiphysics analysis, manufacturability, and photorealistic rendering, each delivers an intuitive user experience catering to the specialized needs of designers, design engineers, and manufacturing professionals with little or no experience with simulation.

Business advantages under the new sTUs licensing model include:

• Packaged for Broad Coverage, Priced for Value: Packaged as a comprehensive subset of applications available through the broader Altair HyperWorks suite, sTUs are less expensive than HWU’s and priced right for SMB customers.

• Access to entire solidThinking suite: Previously licensed as individual products, under the new sTU licensing, customers will be able to access to the entire solidThinking software suite. For example, customers with a single seat of Altair Inspire™ will now have access to nine (9) different software applications currently available through solidThinking.

• On-demand flexibility to run on the desktop or in the cloud: sTU licensing will soon provide the unique flexibility to run enabled solidThinking software applications locally or in the cloud from anywhere, at any time. This model lowers the barrier of entry for organizations with limited IT and compute resources to ramp up simulation-driven design capabilities. For those with a higher simulation maturity-level, the new licensing allows organizations to easily and cost-effectively scale resources to meet increased simulation demand.

The upgrade to sTU licensing has been designed to be straightforward and is available to all solidThinking customers by contacting their appropriate channel representative:

• solidThinking Lease Customers: seamless, no-cost upgrade to sTU licensing enables immediate access to all software titles in the solidThinking suite as well as the ability to run enabled applications in the cloud.

• solidThinking Paid-up Maintenance Customers: all legacy paid-up licenses will be converted to sTU licensing with all the benefits for the same cost currently paid for annual maintenance.

• solidThinking Paid-up Customers Out-of-Maintenance: regional incentive offers to upgrade to sTU licensing are available for a short time through the end of the year.

Altair
www.solidthinking.com/units

Altair democratizes simulation access for new-tech and emerging-markets entrepreneurs through Global Startup Program

August 21, 2018 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

Bruce Jenkins | Ora Research

Altair on the last day of July announced immediate availability of its “simulation-driven innovation^”software to qualified startup companies through its newly formed Altair Startup Program. “Tailored specifically to the unique needs of the startup community,” the company says, “the global program offers preferential pricing for its simulation-driven design, computer-aided engineering, cloud computing and Internet of Things software solutions.

The program also provides no-cost expert consulting to quickly ramp up startup organizations with the industry’s leading multiphysics optimization platform, Altair HyperWorks, used by thousands of manufacturers worldwide.” For Altair IoT background, see our Altair acquires Carriots IoT platform in bid for IoT leadership in PLM, published in this blog last year.

“The startup community has always been at the forefront of innovation in new and high-growth markets of shared interest,” said Altair Corporate Marketing SVP Michael J. Kidder. “This program provides a powerful vehicle for Altair to connect more directly with hardware startups to help mitigate product performance and financial risks early, realize a successful exit, and cost-effectively scale for growth with Altair’s open-architecture simulation solutions.”

The program includes full-featured access to all Altair software titles, more than 150 Altair Partner Alliance software applications, instructor-led/online/self-paced training courses, expert consulting support and numerous co-marketing opportunities to build startup brand awareness.

“My business could not exist were it not for Altair, and our working relationship has been absolutely fantastic,” says Adam Wais, owner and startup cosfounder of Rolo Bikes. “We chose HyperWorks because it offers us the most powerful tools for our optimization and development tasks all within one suite. I’m not sure we’d have been able to take what we had to market without Altair.”

The Altair Startup Program is also available to, and can be customized for, business incubators and accelerators who are interested in expanding the resources available to support startup portfolios. Altair notes that SMB companies falling outside the Altair Startup Program qualification criteria may still apply for incentivized offers to get started with Altair solutions.

About Altair

Altair says its technology “transforms design and decision making by applying simulation, machine learning and optimization throughout product lifecycles. Our broad portfolio of simulation technology and patented units-based software licensing model enable Simulation-Driven Innovation for our customers.” With more than 2,000 employees, Altair is headquartered in Troy, Michigan, USA and operates 71 offices throughout 24 countries. Altair serves more than 5,000 customers across broad industry segments.

The Altair Partner Alliance (APA) gives customers access to a broad spectrum of complementary software products using their existing HyperWorks Units (HWUs) at no additional cost. They can download and use partner applications on-demand, just as with HyperWorks products. This constantly growing portfolio is intended to extend users’ analysis capabilities to help create better products faster.

Altair Startup Program

Altair HyperWorks

Altair Partner Alliance

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