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From CAD User Mechanical Magazine  Vol 22 No 4 - APRIL/MAY 2009

Dr Peter Collins, CEO, dezineforce, makes the case for Software as a Service in engineering design

Interest in the software as a service (SaaS) business model is growing rapidly. Already popular in areas such as sales and HR, with companies like salesforce.com leading the way, SaaS has the potential to dramatically transform the use of software, in a range of industries, by cutting the costs of using software tools and applications. The list of companies offering such services is growing daily, so much so that Microsoft has joined the fray with the recent launch of its own SaaS hosting platform.

The appeal of SaaS is obvious - as the effects of the global recession begin to bite, SaaS gives companies and organisations the opportunity to use the latest software without the hidden costs of traditional software use, particularly hardware, consulting, IT support and maintenance. The big question is how effectively SaaS can be adopted in more complex activities such as engineering design.

At dezineforce we have been developing solutions to the limitations and inefficiencies of the computer-based design process for over ten years with a view to becoming the first global player to offer a fully integrated, SaaS-based engineering design optimisation service.

Working with an exceptionally qualified development team, including Professors Simon Cox, Director of the Microsoft Institute for High Performance Computing at the University of Southampton, and Andy Keane, Director of the Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre for Computational Engineering at the University of Southampton, we can now offer an easy-to-learn, easy-to-use design optimisation service which promises to

transform the way in which design engineers work.

REMOVING THE LIMITS

Driven by the design engineer over the Internet, the dezineforce service offers easy and flexible access to a unique combination of design optimisation tools, high-performance cluster computing and industry-leading simulation applications for structural, fluid dynamics and mechanism analysis. Because it is delivered over the Internet it can be accessed from anywhere in the world, by whomever the subscribing company chooses, facilitating collaboration between teams at different locations.

The inherent advantages of the SaaS model are particularly relevant for computer-based design. Instant availability means subscribers can immediately focus on designing, rather than wasting time time in the definition, acquisition and configuration of commodity technology. Inbuilt flexibility of use enables immediate and essentially infinite availability to grow capacity in response to demand. No more the dilemma of whether to invest in additional capacity before winning the design contract, or losing delivery time after the win while procuring that capacity.

The dezineforce service gives subscribers access to a broad range of proven tools including software for the analysis of design behaviour and proprietary optimisation tools for systematic design improvement, all running on powerful compute clusters. Other advantages include visualisation tools for making sense of results and data archiving to facilitate design re-use, design and process audits and compliance management.

COST ADVANTAGES

There are also significant cost benefits to a SaaS approach to engineering design compared to conventional approaches. Recent research (www.catalyzt.com) has compared the cost of the SaaS and conventional approaches to computer- based design in companies engaged in the design of components, sub-systems and complete systems.

Importantly, the analysis covered the complete cost of computer-based design direct IT costs, designer time and risk management. It compared the costs over a three-year cycle and came to a definitive conclusion: a well-designed and executed SaaS service such as the dezineforce solution can dramatically cut the cost of engineering design.

At low volumes, the cost is typically 40 percent less than that of conventional Results visualisation tool, used to aid the understanding of optimisation studies design approaches. At higher volumes, it rises to a massive 70 percent saving through multi-user exploitation of IT resource, including licences, hardware and support, higher designer productivity and better risk management. This last factor includes minimisation of late-in-design-cycle changes, late delivery penalties and warranty claims and product recalls, through the exploration of design options early in the design cycle that systematic search and optimisation techniques makes possible.

The costs of SaaS offerings from providers such as dezineforce are predictable and transparent - fixed, all-inclusive subscription fees that eliminate nasty surprises such as additional consulting or IT support bills, or design delays and consequential costs arising from computing system failures or data losses.

NEW DESIGN CAPABILITY

As significant as these cost advantages for many users of the dezineforce service is, the scope for design houses and manufacturers, large and small, to raise their design capability to an entirely new level.

The length of the design cycle is collapsed - in recent cases from a year to three months, from several months to two weeks - by dezineforce's unique combination of integrated design-simulateevaluate processes and execution of these computationallyintensive processes on high performance compute clusters. For manufacturers this means less time to market, for design houses greater competitiveness in bidding for design contracts.

Better designs result from being able to explore the complete range of design variants with comprehensiveness previously unthinkable in commercial timeframes. The systematic dezineforce approach to design evaluation is equally valuable in assessing compliance of a given design under a range of operating conditions.

SAAS: THE FUTURE OF ENGINEERING DESIGN?

The global market for engineering software, currently of the order of $13bn annually, has grown at double-digit rates for many years, driven in considerable part by a shift to computer-based design processes.

The SaaS model eliminates the hidden costs of the conventional computer-based design process. Integrating the stages in the design-simulate-evaluate process to a seamless whole, as dezineforce has now done, accelerates the process and enables designers to make better-informed decisions. Both will promote the further adoption of computer-based design, worldwide, and will sustain the growth of this market for some time to come.

www.dezineforce.com

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