Altair Introduces its HyperWorks Computer-Aided Engineering Suite for Mac OS X

Altair Engineering, Inc., a provider of simulation technology and engineering services, released the first version of its HyperWorks computer-aided engineering software suite that is designed to run on Mac OS X. The introduction was made at the Americas HyperWorks Technology Conference in Detroit. For more information on the conference, see Kenneth Wong’s preview.

The Mac version of HyperWorks offers the same CAE capabilities and user interface as the original Windows and Linux versions, but Altair says it enables users to capitalize on the Mac’s advanced memory management system, robust platform and fast, Unix-based operating system.

While Windows-based systems have some tools available that can mimic a Unix-like environment, they often come with limitations to their capabilities, especially when working with large files. HyperWorks for Mac offers more flexibility to users, who now can use their platform of choice—whether Windows, Linux or Mac OS X—for their CAE analysis.

Expanding User Base

“With this platform, we extend the availability of HyperWorks to designers and other creative professionals,” noted Paolo Sansalvadore, senior vice president of modeling and visualization, “people who don’t primarily crunch numbers but who interact with the software to visualize their creations and can benefit from the HyperWorks user experience. Altair’s concept and industrial design products, solidThinking Evolve and Inspire, are already available on both Windows and Mac OS X.”

The new software version makes CAE more accessible to a broader range of computer-aided design professionals who are conceiving products on Mac systems. Scientists comprise another user group that will be able to take advantage of HyperWorks running on the Mac, since much of their work is designed and executed on Mac computers.

“Much of my work deals with being able to transform data from very large files into formats that allow further specialized analysis and visualization and having the capability to use the Mac OS operating system allows me to get my work done on one machine without having to deal with compatibility, transfer media issues, etc.,” said Mary Leibolt, a structural acoustics analyst at the Naval Warfare Center, Carderock Division.  “This is especially important for classified work, where data transfer between machines is cumbersome at best. It would be a great advantage to be able to create models on the same machine that I do most of my work—especially for classified applications as data transfer between machines in a secure environment can become quite complicated.”

Additional Platforms

The extension of HyperWorks to the Mac OS is part of the evolution of Altair software to new devices and platforms. A cloud-based software-as-a-service, HyperWorks On-Demand, is also available through a service oriented architecture web-app for running, monitoring and managing simulation workloads and results (Altair Compute Manager). Altair will also offer enhanced mobility through several iOS apps currently under development.

For more information, visit the Altair HyperWorks site and check out the video overview of HyperWorks 11 below.