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Challenge
For companies seeking to streamline their R&D process, high performance computing (HPC)
opens doors that no other technology can. The ability to process large amounts of data quickly
and accurately can save manufacturers a great deal of time and expense by cutting down the
amount of prototyping required to creat a finished product. It is this capability which is important
to organisations such as FlowHD, an independent software vendor (ISV) which provides support
software, such as that used for computational fluid dynamics, to manufacturers who use them to
carry out advanced R&D. For SMEs like FlowHD, it can be difficult to access HPC facilities – and
extremely difficult to implement a HPC infrastructure of its own – due to prohibitively high costs
Approach
The Hartree Centre works with partner OCF to allow ISVs to put their own codes onto the enCORE
platform. This means smaller companies can still cater for their customers flexibly, using more
powerful systems when required, without needing to invest in permanent infrastructure. The
Hartree Centre’s HPC experts are also on hand to help in areas such as computational engineering,
code optimisation and algorithmic development, meaning that ISVs have access to additional
resources to meet their requirements to harness the power of HPC.
Benefits
The Hartree Centre’s open approach allows both co-providers and their customers to harness and
benefit from more powerful computing capabilities than they would otherwise be able to access.
The ISVs are able to supply a wider a range of their target market without having to invest all
their capital into building a costly infrastructure, while their customers benefit from the improved
service and its ability to speed up their R&D, increase its competitiveness and reduce the cost
of testing. The Hartree Centre’s assistance ensures that SMEs like FlowHD are free to grow and
become more profitable at a faster rate than ever before.
““Working with the Hartree Centre and OCF’s enCORE service has helped us to work with
large organisations and their supply chains, by providing us with access to some of the
most powerful computing infrastructure in the UK, whilst allowing us to retain control over
our costs, and without the need for large-scale capital investment within FlowHD.”
Matt Hieatt
FlowHD
