Simulation as a service is taking off because it removes two significant bottlenecks.

Finite element analysis (FEA) software LS-DYNA from Oasys Software is the most recent addition to the Rescale ScaleX cloud access platform for engineering software. LS-DYNA will be available for hourly, on-demand use in Europe effective today, expanding on an earlier soft launch in the US.

Rescale provides ScaleX, a cloud computing platform for simulation and other software that require high-performance computing (HPC). Over 200 third-party software packages, including LS-DYNA, are integrated onto the ScaleX platform, which users can leverage on the cloud in a software as a service (SaaS) fashion. Rescale partners with major public cloud providers, including Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, to allow users to run simulations on HPC hardware on demand.

LS-DYNA was previously available to European customers under a bring your own license (BYOL) model that permitted customers to use their annual or paid-up licenses on the Rescale platform. With the addition of on-demand licensing, European LS-DYNA customers can now instantly purchase hourly licenses on the cloud to meet their variable simulation requirements and pay by the hour for the licenses they use.

In conjunction with Rescale’s multi-cloud network of on-demand HPC hardware, Rescale says on-demand licenses will allow European LS-DYNA customers to fully leverage the elasticity of the cloud. “Engineers at European enterprises now have the freedom to scale out their LS-DYNA simulations in the blink of an eye, giving their organizations the IT agility that directly corresponds with ROI,” said Joris Poort, Rescale’s CEO.

What do we think?

One of the hottest topics in simulation right now — after “who will Siemens PLM buy next?” — is the subject of cloud access to simulation technology. On-demand simulation eliminates two severe bottleneck for simulation: access to simulation in a timely fashion, and access to significant computing power.