Blade Workstation speeds MCAD design process.May 2, 2008 -
Based on HP BladeSystem infrastructure, HP Blade Workstation provides secure, real-time, interactive access to 3D CAD applications and data, from virtually anywhere. Residing in data center, workstation can be configured with 1 or 2 Intel® Xeon® dual-core or quad-core processors. Dedicated NVIDIA FX 1600M hardware graphics card computes and renders interactive desktop image, which is sent via HP Remote Graphics Software operating over standard computer network.
(Archive News Story - Products mentioned in this Archive News Story may or may not be available from the manufacturer.)
Original Press release
Hewlett-Packard Co. (Corporate Headquarters)
3000 Hanover St.
Palo Alto, CA, 94304-1185
USA
HP Brings Power and Flexibility of Blade Workstations to MCAD Market
PALO ALTO, Calif., April 29, 2008 - HP today unveiled the HP Blade Workstation
Solution for the mechanical computer-aided design (MCAD) market, HP's centralized
workstation architecture that is now tested and certified to provide secure, real-time,
interactive access to 3D CAD applications and data - from virtually anywhere.
The offering speeds up the MCAD design process by helping to improve worker
productivity and collaboration, making it ideal for customers in this fast-paced market
who are increasingly faced with the need to consolidate databases, set up remote offices and provide secure, shared access to MCAD applications.
"HP's client virtualization and remote access expertise, combined with our deep industry partnerships, deliver an entirely new and more flexible working environment for the MCAD market," said Jeff Groudan, vice president of marketing, Desktop Solutions
Organization, HP. "Centralizing computing power in the data center and allowing
remote access from most any location can allow engineers to improve collaboration with
their peers and clients, creating optimal levels of productivity and security while reducing overall IT costs."
Based on the HP BladeSystem infrastructure, the HP Blade Workstation Solution has been
tested and certified on a variety of leading MCAD applications, enabling users to quickly and seamlessly access CATIA, Siemens UGS NX, PTC Pro/ENGINEER, Autodesk
AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, SolidWorks and MicroStation - as well as related
applications such as Autodesk Revit - all running securely on blade workstations in the
data center.
"The HP Blade Workstation Solution allows MCAD engineering professionals to work
together and make decisions in real time, with more secure access to workstation
resources, applications and data," said Barbara Tabb, director, alliance program
operations, Dassault Systemes. "HP blade workstations are a great hardware choice for
our customers using Dassault Systemes 3D PLM applications."
The HP blade workstation, which executes user applications and resides in the data
center, is designed to deliver maximum performance for MCAD applications and can be
configured with one or two high-speed Intel® Xeon® dual-core or quad-core processors
and a dedicated NVIDIA FX 1600M hardware graphics card that computes and renders
the interactive desktop image.
The interactive desktop image is sent via HP Remote Graphics Software (RGS), an
advanced network utility designed to take full advantage of the compute and graphics
resources of the HP blade workstation. The image also delivers real-time interactive
access to users of MCAD applications, regardless of location. RGS works seamlessly,
over a standard computer network, with complex applications including 2D design, 3D
solid modeling, rendering, simulation and video animation.
The architecture provides interactive remote access to HP workstation-class computing
and visualization power as well as high-speed, encrypted image transfer through
standard LAN, WAN or VPN connections to almost any access device, such as HP thin
client devices or Microsoft Windows®-based workstations, PCs or notebooks. This
significantly streamlines the design process through more effective collaboration and
helps meet customer and regulatory mandates for highly secure data protection.
A remote client infrastructure can provide MCAD customers a variety of benefits,
including:
o Faster access to data - Minimizes the time-consuming downloading and uploading of
CAD files over lower-speed networks by placing workstations in the data center with
high-bandwidth connections to product data management systems. Remote sites' data
access is dramatically improved with RGS, which sends encrypted, compressed pixels
of the screen image rather than unsecured data models across the network, and returns
only keystrokes and mouse clicks.
o More effective collaboration - Allows geographically dispersed design teams to view
and interact with large digital prototypes in real time. RGS allows the remote HP blade
workstation screen image to be shared with multiple simultaneous users with either
view-only or full-interaction access so they can interactively collaborate to make better decisions, faster.
o Improved productivity for remote workers - RGS supports a new mobile and
collaborative work paradigm that helps eliminate distance barriers that can impede
global organizations. RGS untethers engineering professionals from their desks,
allowing them to connect to their high-performance workstation resources when and
where they need them (from the office, conference room, manufacturing floor, remote
site, home, etc.) over a standard network connection. The workstation resources are
always on and available, with data and applications already loaded, dramatically
improving productivity.
o Increased data security - Aids in the protection of a company's intellectual property by moving MCAD applications and data back into a secure data center where they can be more easily managed, monitored, backed up and protected. Mobile and remote
employees can access high-performance workstation resources without proprietary
data being transferred from the blade workstation. Only encrypted, compressed screen
images are sent, many times per second, to end-users on receiving systems. The
centralized architecture also enables both private and public sector organizations to
better implement security mandates to protect valuable data and security-restricted
applications.
o Reduced IT costs - Reduces management costs by centralizing and consolidating
workstation resources, applications and design databases into a single point of
management within the data center. This consolidation, when combined with users'
ability to access resources from HP thin clients or Microsoft Windows XP desktops, also
reduces desk-side hardware and support costs while nearly eliminating change and
local maintenance costs associated with dynamic product development environments.
o Increased resource utilization and flexibility - Enables IT to define pools of optimally configured blade workstation resources that can be allocated and shared across a broader range of users to optimize application performance and resource utilization.
Resources can be easily moved between pools and re-imaged to balance resource
needs across programs. End-users can enjoy cross-platform, on-demand access to
Windows XP-32, Windows XP-64, HP-UX and RHEL compute and visualization
applications from a single desktop with single keyboard and mouse interaction.
Engineers can now focus on engineering and leave the application and system
management functions to IT.
About HP Remote Client Solutions
Blade workstations and PCs are at the heart of the HP remote client portfolio of desktop virtualization solutions, which also include its industry-leading thin client portfolio and HP Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), remote deployment, and management software and services.
The HP portfolio of remote client solutions helps business customers dramatically reduce security risks and management and support costs by centralizing computing hardware and sensitive data within the data center. HP remote client hardware and software offerings provide customers the industry's broadest selection of reliable, interoperable devices that are fully supported and customizable through HP Services and HP Factory Direct to meet specific business requirements.
Pricing and availability
The HP Blade Workstation Solution is available worldwide today. Customers should
contact HP or an authorized HP reseller for a custom consultation to learn how the
solution can be designed to meet the unique needs of their business.
More information about HP blade workstation offerings for the MCAD market is
available at hp.com/go/bladeworkstations.
About HP
HP focuses on simplifying technology experiences for all of its customers - from
individual consumers to the largest businesses. With a portfolio that spans printing,
personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure, HP is among the world's
largest IT companies, with revenue totaling $107.7 billion for the four fiscal quarters
ended Jan. 31, 2008. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at
www.hp.com.
Intel Xeon is a trademark of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Microsoft, Windows and Windows XP are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp.
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