Siemens’ NX™ software, the company’s flagship solution for integrated 3D computer-aided design, manufacturing and engineering analysis (CAD/CAM/CAE), is now available in a cost-effective private cloud environment. Siemens worked closely with NVIDIA Corporation to certify the deployment of NX in the private cloud using virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) with NVIDIA GRID™ vGPU™ (virtual graphics processing unit) technology. This technology enables companies to use central servers with remote access, to host software on a virtual desktop. VDI certification eliminates the need to install NX on a local client which helps reduce IT support costs. The new deployment option enhances flexibility and further expands the wide variety of platform choices available to NX customers. As a result, Siemens and NVIDIA were able to help one of their joint customers, Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc. (TAI) successfully deploy NX in a private cloud environment.
“By deploying Siemens’ NX in our private cloud using the NVIDIA graphics environment, we can optimize resources and eliminate strains on IT,” said Serdar Kaya, IT System Engineer, TAI. “Virtual desktop infrastructure and dynamic allocation of graphics processing power for designers and engineers working with NX is a necessity for supporting our vision of moving 400 engineers to virtualized desktops and applications. We are constantly expanding, and our engineers require varying amounts of graphics power each day from project to project. Simply buying and maintaining more workstations and more graphics cards is costly and unmanageable. NX in our private cloud enables us to avoid these costs and to simplify the complexity of management while increasing our user density.”
VDI solutions offer the ability to support server based accelerated 3D graphics plus remote display and user interaction. Vendors such as NVIDIA, a world leader in visual computing, offer server based graphics cards, and the major computer OEMs have developed servers designed to support these graphics cards. As a result, applications such as NX, which is developed by Siemens’ PLM Software business, can run within a company’s corporate datacenter and remotely display the graphics to clients running low power PCs, tablets or even mobile devices. By keeping the compute and graphics processing within their own datacenter the customer gains improved security, easier administration of small sites and faster access to the data residing on the server or local storage systems.
“Siemens is pleased to work with NVIDIA to help companies like Turkish Aerospace Industries take advantage of the new VDI deployment capability of NX,” said Jim Rusk, senior vice president, Product Engineering Software, Siemens PLM Software. “The key business benefits of deploying NX on the private cloud through VDI are cost reduction and flexibility. The VDI approach to deployment has been driven by industry requirements to reduce costs while at the same time, increase innovation. This new delivery platform will help give design engineers greater access to NX technology so they can make smarter decisions that result in better products.”
"Siemens is leading the industry towards securely mobilizing graphics-intensive design applications by certifying NX software on our NVIDIA GRID technology for virtual desktop and application infrastructure,” said Justin Boitano general manager of the NVIDIA GRID business, NVIDIA. "By supporting their applications with NVIDIA GRID virtual GPU, Siemens can deliver – from any device – the same industry leading 3D visual experience that was previously only achievable on a workstation."
