Modeling and simulation industry gets affordable, flexible high- performance capabilities: Presagis, a leading provider of commercial-off-the shelf (COTS) modeling, simulation and embedded display graphics software for the aerospace and defense industry, announced that it is teaming with HP, Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. to bring interoperable, high-performance capabilities to the modeling and simulation (M&S) industry. The collaboration provides opportunity for a new set of users to affordably take advantage of an established high-performance computing platform and proven COTS simulation software. It will help existing M&S users to enhance the scale and scope of their simulations through powerful, commercially available platforms while, at the same time, diminishing the need for custom hardware integrations and time-consuming in-house software coding. Additionally, this alliance expands the reach of high-performance computing and simulation software to those developing simulations for emerging markets such as emergency management, homeland security, and first response. These developers will be able to effortlessly expand their simulation capabilities with a simple deployment process while reducing development times and integration costs. "As the complexity of simulations increases, there is a need for computing environments to become more sophisticated and deliver a new level of performance. Agencies need to get their MOD-SIM applications up and running in a timely manner. The new Government paradigm is don't build it, buy it," said Nigel Ballard, Government Marketing Manager at Intel. "This collaboration empowers modeling and simulation users to take advantage of the inherent, proven benefits of high-performance technologies for complex applications and realize the benefits of scalable, easy to use COTS technology." According to IT research firm IDC, customer adoption of high performance computing is being driven by a combination of increased performance in processors per compute node, low acquisition price per node and the overall price and performance of compute clusters. By broadening the scope of users that can take advantage of high-performance technologies, the companies' interoperable hardware and software solution will provide the highest level of usability and scalability at an affordable price point increasing productivity across the full range of simulation activities. With these tools, M&S developers can harness huge data sets and complex, multi-entity scenarios through a standard computing platform. "Working together, HP, Intel, Microsoft and Presagis can revolutionize the industry by providing universal access to high-performance support for M&S users," said Patrice Commune, President, Presagis. "Presagis is collaborating closely with these companies to deliver a solution that allows broad user communities to build and deploy the most complex, resource-intensive simulation applications using leading commercial-off-the-shelf technology." In mid-2008, Presagis customers can take advantage of mass market high-performance computing technology from HP, Microsoft, and Intel, beginning with the integration of Presagis Terra Vista and Microsoft's Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003. This initiative aligns with the M&S industry's need to simplify and accelerate the configuration, deployment and development of complex simulation applications. To further support the delivery of new solutions to the M&S market, Presagis is also looking to Microsoft ESP, a platform for visual simulation developers, as a means to explore innovative ways to make powerful simulation solutions more accessible and affordable.