A New Computing Workflow Driven by Digitalization

Dear DE Reader:

That pesky IoT (Internet of Things) thing is hastening the transition from traditional workflows to digital engineering. Thanks to IoT, multidisciplinary teams design gear crammed with sensors, software etc. that integrates with other gear yet operates autonomously like the Borg collective. The tools are shared resources and compute-intensive modeling, rendering and analysis software. Today’s Check it Out paper argues that you need big-time computational horsepower from the workstation on up to compete in a digitally driven engineering environment.

“Making the Case for a New Computing Workflow” from DE and sponsored by BOXX Technologies makes so much sense you wanna whack your brow. It steps you through the problems inherent within digital-driven design then outlines potential solutions. It provides details on market and technology trends as well as technical specifications. It has a handy discussion that can help you determine your possible return on investment should you adopt a suggested solution.

Still, the crux is that your multidisciplinary engineering teams—say, design, analysis, electrical and software development—must share data and collaborate throughout all stages of product development even as they click away at their workstations. That means while they split lots of computing resources, they simultaneously need to have the computational oomph to handle their tasks and the graphics power for visualizations that accurately reflect the real-world physical characteristics of the product under development.

The trouble is reality: Analyses and realistic renderings will dominate local workstations and hog shared resources. At best, this means a thousand cuts of lost productivity—sluggish file loading and interactivity times being common examples. At worst, it means downtime while your workstation grinds through a rebuild or waiting for a shared resource to get to your job in the queue.

The paper argues that computing power customized for digital-driven workflows can help solve these problems, and it suggests some doable solutions. You could have powerful local workstations bristling with technologies for assigned roles. For example, overclocked workstations for single-threaded CAD work and multicore workstations supporting hyperthreaded analysis applications. Or along with brawny local workstations you could deploy dedicated systems that handle offloaded compute-intensive jobs like rendering.

Such factors as product complexity and the Internet of Things are causing traditional engineering workflows to evolve into digital-driven design processes. “Making the Case for a New Computing Workflow” looks at how engineering teams can leverage new technology to keep up with this evolution.

“Making the Case for a New Computing Workflow” presents its case well. It gives you much to consider and many options for making your digital-driven engineering workflow succeed. Hit today’s Check it Out link to download your copy.

Thanks, Pal. – Lockwood

Anthony J. Lockwood

Editor at Large, DE