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Ansys Blog

November 20, 2020

Ansys Cloud: Configured and Optimized for HPC with Microsoft Azure

Ansys Cloud provides easy access to cloud-based high-performance computing (HPC) resources directly from Ansys simulation applications running on your desktop. Developed in partnership with Microsoft Azure and optimized for Ansys solvers, Ansys Cloud provides easy access to near limitless computing resources.

Seventy-five percent of Ansys customers say they face hardware barriers that prevent them from fully using the power of the software. Most of them work on computers with a low number of cores, and this problem has been exacerbated by the recent work-from-home situation.

Secure and Flexible Cloud Computing

With Ansys Cloud, we partnered with Microsoft to deliver a unique HPC solution that features an optimized workflow, unprecedented performance and holistic support. The HPC solution benefits from Microsoft's high level of security and follows industry best practices for security architecture.

With more elastic usage options than ever, Ansys Cloud enables you to work and pay only for what you need using the newly released Ansys Elastic Currency and Ansys Hardware Currency licensing options. You can work on the cloud, on-premises and even bring your existing licenses to use with Ansys Hardware Currency in the cloud.

Microsoft continues to deliver new generations of virtual machines optimized for the computing demands of simulation, both for batch HPC solves and graphics-intensive interactive use. Increasingly, Ansys Cloud is offering you a breadth of choices to enable you to optimize your simulation in terms of hardware cost, license utilization and solution turnaround time. Ansys Cloud has added five new hardware configurations that increase RAM, memory bandwidth and interconnect speed up to 4x. Cores per node have also increased up to 8x.


In-Browser, Interactive Simulation

To complement powerful on-demand HPC resources, Ansys Cloud has added a new capability to run Ansys applications interactively in a browser with no need to download the application locally. This  in-browser support enables  you to complete the interactive parts of your simulation workflows.

The new in-browser offering also allows access to an interactive cloud-based virtual desktop while avoiding the firewall limitations of the previous generation. As with the HPC resources, Ansys Cloud allows you to choose an interactive remote workstation optimized for your needs. There are options that include server-side graphics processing units (GPUs) for graphics performance as well as virtual desktops with up to 120 cores for heavy computations.

This new in-browser offering also enables design optimization and parametric design variation workflows if the model can fit on a single machine. This allows you to run more applications and more physics directly from the browser than before. Ansys Cloud continues to offer easy access to cloud-based simulation resources while steadily expanding the scale, flexibility and breadth of product support, all delivered securely and performance-optimized in partnership with Microsoft Azure.

Want to try Ansys Cloud to form your own opinion? Why not try Ansys Cloud for free for a 1-month trial and experience the power of HPC.