Audi AG:
Windows Computing Cluster Provides More Design Flexibility for Innovative, Cutting-Edge Automobile Lights
“We can now evaluate several different prototypes in a short period, which allows us to select the best design.”
Johannes Scheuchenpflug, Coordinator for Light and
Visibility Simulation, Audi AG
Overview
Country: Germany
Industry: Automotive
Employees: 58,000 worldwide (as of December 2009)
Organization
Audi AG is one of the world’s leading producers of premium automobiles. For more than a century, the Audi brand has enthralled with its innovation, design, and production quality. As the first automobile producer to recognize the potential offered by revolutionary light-emitting diode (LED) technology, Audi has implemented an overarching strategy for all its vehicle series and is setting the pace globally for using LEDs for exterior lighting.
Challenge
Individual 32-bit PCs were always bumping up against the limits of 32-bit addresses, which led to disruptive crashes and adversely affected the development process. Only a limited number of computations could take place, which meant that it wasn’t possible to simulate several design prototypes in a short period.
Solution
By introducing Windows HPC Server 2008 computing clusters that integrated seamlessly with Audi’s computer-aided design system, a single 64-bit simulation platform was created. It is used early in the automobile lighting design process, as well as during later development phases.
Benefits
• Considerably higher throughput for computations and precise single calculations
• Easy administration and more reliability
• Allows for viewing many design prototypes in a short period
• Optimization for the entire development process
