Simulation Software offers GPU acceleration support.
Press Release Summary:
XFdtd® v7 is available with XStream® GPU acceleration, which provides capacity to accelerate solving of electromagnetic simulation problems. Using NVIDIA's CUDA architecture, XStream leverages graphics processing units (GPUs) available on modern video cards to make accelerated FDTD numerical computations. This 3D electromagnetic simulation software can finish calculations in minutes as compared to hours when using CPU only.
Original Press Release:
Remcom Announces Massive Speed Increase with Updated GPU Acceleration and Free Bundling with XFdtd® EM Simulation Software
Remcom has released a new generation of GPU acceleration for its 3D electromagnetic simulation software, XFdtd®. Using NVIDIA's CUDA architecture, XStream leverages the powerful graphics processing units (GPUs) available on modern video cards to make ultra-fast FDTD numerical computations. Remcom also announces that capability for one GPU will now be built into XFdtd Release 7 at no additional cost.
State College, PA -- July 29, 2009 -- Remcom announces that its XStream® GPU acceleration (http://www.remcom.com/xf7/xstream) now provides the capacity to solve electromagnetic simulation problems up to 300 times faster than a modern 64-bit CPU. In addition, Remcom announces this updated version of XStream will now be bundled at no additional cost with XFdtd Release 7.0 (XF7), the latest release of Remcom's 3D electromagnetic simulation tool.
XStream tremendously improves EM simulation performance by leveraging the powerful NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs) available on modern video cards to make ultra-fast FDTD numerical computations. Remcom's new generation of XStream enables XF7 calculations to finish in minutes as compared to hours using a CPU only. This solution has the potential to save customers months of simulation time in delivering products to market.
A license to employ a single GPU for EM computation will now be an included feature in both XF7 Pro and XF7 Bio-Pro. Remcom's inclusion of the technology at no cost enables all customers to take advantage of its benefits and provides additional value to the XFdtd family. Customers will have the option to purchase additional capability for multiple GPUs.
"Existing XStream customers will experience speeds up to twice as fast as the previous release without the need to upgrade their existing hardware," said Jim Stack, manager of Remcom's training, applications and consulting team. "By employing the power and flexibility of NVIDIA's CUDA architecture, all customers will enjoy the freedom to choose from a broader range of GPUs to fit their particular budget and simulation speed needs."
Scott Langdon, product manager for Remcom's EM software tools, added, "In our collaborations with customers, we've learned that speed has become one of the most critical requirements in performing EM simulations. The ability to perform complex calculations in less time is a competitive necessity; with the increased accessibility of high-end GPUs, Remcom realized that providing this extra boost in speed, at no cost, would provide an even greater benefit to our customers. We felt this extra value should simply be a standard part of the software."
NVIDIA's CUDA architecture and the associated C Compiler toolkit enable developers to use the CPU and the GPU together in a co-processing model. Computationally intensive applications like electromagnetic simulation use the massively parallel computing of the GPU while the sequential part of an application's code runs on the CPU, dramatically decreasing time to results.
XF7 is the latest version of Remcom's 3D EM simulation (http://www.remcom.com/xf7) tool for antenna design and analysis, biological EM analysis, microwave circuit design, and other EM simulation applications. New customers will receive the XStream capability automatically with a new purchase of XF7 Pro or XF7 Bio-Pro. Customers who are already using XStream are entitled to another license for an additional GPU. All current XFdtd customers with an active Remcom Professional Support contract can enable the new functionality immediately by downloading a free upgrade.
Also, Remcom is offering an introductory special to new customers: for new purchases through the end of 2009, Remcom will provide a voucher for a free CUDA-enabled NVIDIA GPU (value up to $1,300). Contact Remcom for details.
For more information about XStream and its use in speeding EM simulations, visit Remcom's website at www.remcom.com/xf7/xstream.
About Remcom: Remcom has been a market leader in the field of electromagnetic simulation software for 15 years, creating the first universally usable full wave EM solver to be based on the Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD (http://www.remcom.com/xf7-fdtd-method/)) method. In addition to its flagship product, XFdtd®, Remcom provides a suite of innovative software and services for antenna design (http://www.remcom.com/AntennaDesign.html) and propagation. Remcom is committed to its customers' unique needs, offering flexible licensing options for installations of all sizes as well as custom engineered solutions.
NVIDIA and CUDA are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the United States and other countries.
Contact Information
Stefanie Lucas
Remcom Inc.
http://www.remcom.com
814-861-1299
