MSC.Software Corp., a leading global provider of virtual product development (VPD) products including simulation software and services, today announced the availability of MSC.Nastran for 32- and 64-bit AMD Opteron processor-based systems. The 64-bit version of MSC.Nastran on AMD Opteron processor-based systems has demonstrated performance improvements of up to 15% compared to similar engineering simulations run on a 32-bit architecture. "Many of our customers use our software to solve extremely large engineering problems and MSC.Nastran for AMD Opteron processor-based systems can help them solve these problems faster and even tackle extremely large problems they may have not been able to attempt before," said Bill Weyand, chairman and chief executive officer of MSC.Software. "We look forward to continuing our work with AMD and our other partners so our customers can use the latest technology and improved simulation solving times to reduce product development time and costs." "This release gives users the first benefits of our work with MSC.Software to deliver production-quality 64-bit MSC.Nastran on AMD Opteron processor-based systems with Direct Connect Architecture," said Pat Patla, director, Server/Workstation Marketing, Microprocessor Business Unit, Computation Products Group, AMD. "AMD and MSC.Software share a commitment to improving performance, productivity, and cost-effective solutions for analysis-driven organizations." The 64-bit MSC.Nastran for AMD Opteron processors currently runs on SuSE 9.0, SuSE 9.1 and RH 3.0 operating systems. For more information on MSC.Nastran, please visit http://www.mscnastran.com. Background: MSC.Software (NYSE: MNS) is the leading global provider of simulation software and services, that helps companies make money, save time and reduce costs associated with designing and testing manufactured products. MSC.Software works with thousands of companies in hundreds of industries to develop better products faster by utilizing information technology, software, services and systems. MSC.Software employs more than 1400 people in 23 countries. For additional information about MSC.Software's products and services, please visit www.mscsoftware.com.