SCALES - A data management platform for easy-to-use high-performance computing for industry
The use of high-performance computing (HPC) resources for engineering applications within industry holds tremendous potential. HPC helps to increase the speed of product development cycles through realistic simulations of complex relationships for validation purposes.
HPC centres offer optimal conditions for this, as hardware and software are optimised for highly detailed simulations based on the latest state of the art.
Challenges for SMEs
The use of HPC resources poses particular challenges for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). On the one hand, SME are only to a limited extent aware of
the availability of HPC resources. Even if SMEs have access to HPC, they perceive its utilization as a technical hurdle, since the use of HPC resources requires specific, non-standardized expertise in setting up simulation workflows and associated data management, which usually requires HPC specialists. SMEs often do not have the necessary personnel resources. For this reason, for many SMEs the use of HPC resources is out of scope in “everyday business”.
The solution
The data management platform “SCALES” reduces the challenges mentioned above. The platform provides secure data transfer to HPC resources with a graphical user interface that simplifies the process for industry users. The user-friendly web front-end supports flexible work for engineers with HPC resources.
SCALES provides a management function for users and HPC resources, a function for creating and managing individual simulation projects as well as a function for uploading input files, starting simulation runs and downloading simulation results.
In a pilot phase, SCALES was tested with six different organizations from various sectors, including the automotive industry, water management and healthcare.
Findings
The consideration of the way how users work fosters the use of HPC. Therefore, SCALES provides an important contribution for companies. In principle, the companies were in favour of using European HPC resources “as-a-service”. In general, organizations prefer national HPC centres.
In terms of usability, there was a desire for software that covers all essential functions for HPC simulations as a single access point. Interaction with other applications, for example query of simulation status, is perceived as obstructive by users.
Discussions with users revealed that further technical support is needed for collaboration within HPC simulations. One reason is the high level of information protection requirements for industrial engineering applications: Therefore, project management functions with differentiated authorization concepts are useful. In an organization that has access to HPC resources, not every user with HPC access should also see all simulation models and results. If several organizations cooperate in a project, authorisation management becomes even more important. These findings are incorporated into the further development of the data management platform SCALES.
