International Truck Leverages SGI Altix Cluster to Improve Engineering Analysis Performance
SGI Altix XE Outperforms Opteron-based Cluster for MSC.Nastran For Improved Design Time and Material Selection for Trucks
SUNNYVALE, Calif., March 19 -- To improve overall design time and material selection for curbside delivery trucks to 18-wheelers, the Truck Development Technology Center (TDTC) of International Truck and Engine Corporation, the operating company of Navistar International Corp. selected SGI technology to boost performance in a variety of engineering software applications for full-vehicle heavy truck analyses. The International Truck TDTC facility in Ft. Wayne, Ind. purchased and installed the new SGI(R) Altix(R) XE cluster solution, powered by Intel(R) Xeon(R) processors, in October for finite element analysis (FEA), computer-assisted engineering (CAE) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to improve overall design and material selection for Class 4 through Class 8 trucks -- everything from a curbside delivery truck to an 18-wheeler.
"We chose Altix XE because we needed to be more efficient as far as compute power, system reliability and storage capability," said Craig Harmeyer, senior IT specialist, Truck Development Technology Center, International Truck and Engine Corp. "We were running into performance issues, where we required better performance than what we were getting from the Opteron cluster we had. Another primary issue was reliability and that has been greatly improved with the SGI Altix XE system. The SGI system is definitely more flexible and robust, and as a result my analysts are achieving significantly faster turnaround with the SGI system."
The largest analyses use MSC.Nastran(TM), part of the MSC.Software SimOffice(TM) product portfolio, to perform finite element analysis that can evaluate, for example, when a truck component can fail or how to optimize the design of a component for the best use of material, primarily steel. Analyzing the right amount of steel reinforcement is both a safety and a cost issue in the manufacturing of trucks: designers don't want to use too much, which could add unnecessary weight and cost, or too little, affecting both safety and durability. Using SGI technology helps many manufacturers deliver safer vehicles faster and more cost-effectively.
Through SGI solutions partner Hoff and Associates, International Truck's TDTC purchased a high-performance SGI Altix XE cluster running Red Hat(R) Enterprise Linux(R) 4.0. The SGI Altix XE cluster and storage drives are integrated on a Myrinet(R) high-speed interconnect and configured with the ability to run a host of CAE applications including very large MSC.Nastran analyses, as well as ANSYS(R), LS-DYNA(TM), Fluent(R), Altair(R) OptiStruct(R), MSC.Adams(R), ABAQUS(R) and others. The Altix XE cluster configuration is ideal to handle the computational needs of the multiple and diverse application types used by International Truck.
"In our testing of the Altix XE cluster -- an identical configuration to International Truck's system -- a 3-5X performance gain was achieved over the AMD Opteron system that were benchmarked against, running MSC.Nastran," said Don Coburn, director of HPC solutions for Hoff and Associates. "The types of analyses which International Truck performs present unique needs for high-speed computing and the SGI cluster solution was optimally configured or 'tailor-made' for their mixed workload comprising diverse applications. Their demands for I/O, RAM and raw computing capacity far exceeded the capacity of their existing Operton compute cluster. By selecting SGI's new Altix XE cluster solution, we had the ability to effectively run models and achieve a throughput and reliability they simply could not achieve with their older Opteron-based computing platform."
"One of the key challenges was to architect a solution that most optimally addressed the specific workload requirements of International Truck. The technical expertise of Hoff and Associates and their engineering insights in the ability to judge the needs of the customer, and custom-design the Altix XE cluster configuration to meet the customer's workload and throughput needs was the primary reason why we could deliver an order of magnitude superior application performance," said Himanshu Misra, engineering analysis segment manager, SGI.
About International Truck
A wholly owned subsidiary of Navistar International Corporation , International Truck and Engine Corporation is a leading producer of medium trucks, heavy trucks, severe service vehicles, mid-range diesel engines, parts and service. International and its affiliates sell their products, parts and services through a network of nearly 1,000 dealer outlets in the United States, Canada, Brazil and Mexico and from more than 60 dealers in 90 countries throughout the world. Additional information is available at: http://www.navistar.com/.
About Hoff and Associates
A professional engineering services organization founded in 1990, Hoff and Associates delivers comprehensive engineering solutions and Turnkey High-Speed Compute (HPC) Solutions for the CAE industry. With its deep background in nearly every compute-intensive CAE software, Hoff customizes every HPC Compute System for each unique environment in order to maximize system performance and increase throughput. What truly distinguishes Hoff as an HPC provider is its deep application expertise and close relationship with CAE software developers. Hoff's internal CAE staff utilize nearly every popular CAE code in the market today on a regular basis and can troubleshoot specific application-related issues related to site installation. Some of the many advantages of Hoff's HPC Systems over traditional systems include: complete Turnkey Solutions, far superior performance, unlimited scalability, unequalled reliability, dramatically lower acquisition costs and Complete Technical Support.
SGI -- Innovation for Results(TM)
SGI , delivers a complete range of high-performance server and storage solutions along with industry-leading professional services and support that enable its customers to overcome the challenges of complex data-intensive workflows and accelerate breakthrough discoveries, innovation and information transformation. SGI solutions help customers solve their computing challenges whether it's enhancing the quality of life through drug research, designing and manufacturing safer and more efficient cars and airplanes, studying global climate, providing technologies for homeland security and defense, or helping enterprises manage large data. With offices worldwide, the company is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., and can be found on the Web at http://www.sgi.com/.
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