Industry Summary Articles

DXC Technology cited digital twins as a business imperative for the next evolution of digital enterprises.

Digital twins take advantage of the vast amounts of data from connected devices to provide a detailed, data-based model of a physical system. As the internet of things (IoT) connects more and more of these devices within organizations, virtual simulations of physical environments are becoming an increasingly critical piece of an enterprise digital strategy.

“Digital twins have grown to become one of the most useful tools in an enterprise’s toolkit,” said Dan Hushon, senior vice president and chief technology officer, DXC. “By simulating physical environments in a virtual world, organizations are able to make predictions and understand things like propensity to buy, performance boosters, even a patient’s wellness trajectory.”

While pioneering manufacturers first used digital twins decades ago, recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) are spurring their use by mainstream enterprises today. With the vast processing power of HPC, diverse industries have applied digital twins to scale simulations, shorten development timeframes and derive tangible business results. Some of the growing vertical use cases include:

Smart cities: Cities around the world are building models of their smart systems in a virtual world to make predictions, test and learn using data and analytics prior to deployment. For example, they can understand how autonomous vehicles respond to connected traffic lights to make better and more timely decisions that improve outcomes, such as citizen safety.

Healthcare: In a value-based care environment, doctors are under pressure to become increasingly efficient and accurate in their diagnoses. Digital twins can help providers home in on the two or three most important questions to ask a patient to enable a finite diagnosis. Medical device manufacturers can use digital twins to create and test 3D-printed, custom-built orthopedic implants that dramatically decrease a patient’s wait time.

Aerospace and defense (A&D): Companies in the A&D industry leverage digital twins to visualize the status of their products at each step of the production process and in the aftermarket. Digital twins have completely transformed the way some ships and aircraft are designed. For example, digital twins assess the quality of airfoil blades in jet engines by providing manufacturers with a comprehensive process view, including the thrust produced under real-life circumstances.

“Initiatives such as digital manufacturing/industrial IoT aim to generate intelligence from volumes of data (from devices, equipment and controllers) beyond what we are used to in the enterprise,” said Mike Smart, senior analyst and operations officer, NelsonHall. “HPC will help to address this explosion of data generated by digital manufacturing projects such as digital twins.”

Backed by extensive service integration capabilities and world-class HPC experts, DXC helps businesses create replicated models and simulations with digital twins across industries, providing visibility into system performance before physical processes and products are completed.

To view the original press release, please click here.

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