Altair launches new applications to run, monitor and manage workloads and results efficiently

6 Feb 2012 Troy - Altair Engineering has introduced two advancements in the field of high-performance computing (HPC), with the release of its Compute Manager and PBS Desktop applications.

Compute Manager is the first foundational block in Altair's plans to build a modern, Web-based enterprise simulation platform, providing an affordable solution to increase HPC productivity. Offered as part of Altair's HyperWorks Enterprise service-oriented architecture (SOA) platform, Compute Manager is application-aware and enables users to submit, manage and review workloads on distributed resources in a natural manner that streamlines complex analysis with a few mouse clicks.

Users are able to submit jobs through a Web-based interface, manage workloads, and immediately review and download the results. Users also can plot curves and create animations without needing to first download the results. Compute Manager is application-aware, which means that jobs can be set up on distributed resources with easily configurable applications definitions, therefore supporting virtually unlimited solver formats. Those jobs are then monitored both graphically and analytically, making results visualization with secured access possible from any Internet-enabled device.

In the coming months, Compute Manager will be integrated with three new sister applications within HyperWorks Enterprise: Simulation Manager, Performance Manager, and Process Manager. While all of the elements in the HyperWorks Enterprise edition will work in an integrated manner, they can be used as independent modules as well.

"By placing users first, Compute Manager offers an extremely intuitive and friendly way to organize, automate and manage the contents of a high-performance computing job", stated Sam Mahalingam, Altair's senior vice president of enterprise products. "Data and process management then become an enjoyable and highly efficient experience."

With its modern service-oriented architecture, Compute Manager provides users and system managers with a complete set of capabilities to configure and maintain settings within their HPC environment. Some of its high-level benefits include:

• An easy-to-use Web-based interface for submitting and monitoring jobs in PBS Professional clusters
• The ability to browse and modify remote files with minimal effort required to write, modify and test complex application scripts
• Automation of job-submission tasks
• A consistent job-submission and monitoring interface
• Automated staging of input and output files
• Diagnosis of remote jobs without downloading huge results files

Altair will demonstrate how Compute Manager can maximize HPC capabilities during live webinars held throughout the day on February 28. To access more information and register for a webinar, you can visit http://www.altair.com/Cmwebinar .

In addition to launching Compute Manager, Altair recently released PBS Professional 11.2. This latest version of PBS Professional scales easily to support hundreds of thousands of processors - from clusters to the largest systems - and ensures administrators get the maximum value from their computing infrastructure. It also offers an enhanced graphical interface for submitting and managing PBS Professional jobs on the front end.

The new PBS Desktop app is a job submission tool for supporting PBS Professional jobs from the desktop and is free with the purchase of PBS Professional. PBS Desktop allows HPC users to submit jobs for processing by simply dragging and dropping workloads from their local desktop workstations.

PBS Desktop runs on both Windows and Linux operating systems and offers users the option to eliminate the practice of submitting jobs through command lines and manually transferring files into the system for processing and out again for viewing once the job is complete. It enables users to inspect jobs while they are running, ensuring that jobs in process, such as creation of computer models, are progressing in the manner anticipated. PBS Desktop then automatically returns a copy of all the files to the user's desktop as soon as the job is completed.

"The release of Compute Manager and PBS Desktop marks the beginning of the next level of efficiency and ease for engineers engaged in high-performance computing for everything from crash analysis to animation and weather prediction", stated Sam Mahalingam. "Simulations originate on many types of devices these days, and Altair's high-performance computing tools focus on helping engineers use the resources at their fingertips in a very user-centric way. We are making the process of managing simulation projects more intuitive, more natural, and more efficient."