A Designer’s Guide to High-Performance Computing

Dear Desktop Engineering Reader:

Were you aware that Charles Dickens' books were mostly published in serial installments? One benefit he derived using this format was that he could write in tidbits from recent developments to help his readers keep their bearings. What you'll find at the other end of today's Check it Out link is part one of a serial ebook. And like Dickens' works, it's better than good stuff. Here's why.

“The Design Engineer’s High-Performance Computing Handbook” is an ambitious project. The idea is to help engineering organizations and teams determine the best combination of computing hardware and engineering software for their design, rendering, simulation and visualization needs. It's not a one-off. This is a living, multimedia resource that will update regularly as technology evolves. This isn't even the whole enchilada. This is Chapter One, “Create a Computing Workflow to Support Simulation-Led Design.” More chapters are to come.

Chapter One sets the format for future installments: Case studies, sidebars on tricky issues, tables of metrics and links to articles, blogs and additional resources expand the main text. The content is engaging from beginning to end.

The synopsis is that Chapter One provides a broad overview of the computing options that support simulation-led design workflows. Most importantly, it provides strategy guidelines to help you develop the right environment to support your workflow. You're led through each guideline in thorough detail. No particular hardware or software is recommended. Rather it's the technologies that are explained. Individual products are cited as representative examples to help you keep your bearings.

The bulk of the chapter focuses on the pros and cons of engineering workstations, tablets and in-house or third-party HPC (high-performance computing) resources. The launch point is from the software since it's the determinant factor in your hardware needs. For example, your hardware needs are different if you're considering extending your engineering connectivity with a tablet or ultra-portable for conceptual or detailed designs. And your concerns are all together different when you're determining when and how to incorporate servers, clusters and other HPC technologies into your simulation-led design process.

“The Design Engineer’s High-Performance Computing Handbook” is a multimedia resource explaining how engineering teams can determine the best combination of computing hardware and engineering software for CAD, CAE, rendering, simulation and visualization.

Chapter One of the “The Design Engineer’s High-Performance Computing Handbook” was produced by Desktop Engineering magazine in partnership with Intel. (This writer had no knowledge of it.) Future chapters will investigate such topics as building a balanced workstation, parallelization, virtualization and mobile computing, according to the series' prologue. Hit today's Check it Out link, sign up and download the HPC Handbook. As a subscriber, you will be notified when future chapters are released. I have great expectations that the coming chapters will be as informative and engaging.

Thanks, Pal. – Lockwood

Anthony J. Lockwood

Editor at Large, Desktop Engineering

Download “The Design Engineer's High-Performance Computing Handbook” here.