Microsoft Server Product Portfolio
Customer Solution Case Study
Institute Promotes Automotive Innovation
with Accessible, Easy-to-Use HPC Solution
Association Régionale de l’Industrie Automobile
Customer: Institut Automobile du Mans
Website: www.institut-automobile-dumans.fr
Customer Size: 5 employees
Country or Region: France
Industry: Manufacturing—Automotive
and industrial
Partner: Serviware
Partner Website: www.serviware.com
Customer Profile
The Institut Automobile du Mans (IAM),
based in Le Mans, is an association
dedicated to the economic development
of the automotive sector in the Loire
region of France.
Software and Services
 Microsoft Server Product Portfolio
− Windows HPC Server 2008
Hardware
 Twin Bull NovaScale R422 server
computers with four Intel Xeon E5472
quad-core processors and 32-GB RAM
 Bull NovaScale R423 server computer
with Intel Xeon E5420 quad-core
processor, 16-GB RAM and 1-TB
storage capacity
 InfiniBand DDR interconnects
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“For us, the Windows platform was clearly the right
choice, for users and administrators alike. At the
Institut Automobile du Mans, we’re not HPC specialists,
so we needed a manageable solution.”
Frédéric Dupé, Project Lead, Institut Automobile du Mans
To provide the automotive industry in France’s Loire region with
software simulation capabilities, the Institut Automobile du
Mans implemented a high-performance computing (HPC)
cluster and made it available to the institute’s members. The
128-core cluster, deployed with the help of Microsoft Registered
Partner Serviware, runs the Windows HPC Server 2008 operating
system to offer an intuitive environment for administrators and
users.
Business Needs
The Institut Automobile du Mans (IAM)
helps foster the automotive industry in
France’s Loire region. The institute assists
companies with industrial performance,
encourages industry communication,
promotes education, and supports
innovation.
Innovation in the automotive industry has
long included digital simulation for
modeling mechanics and determining how
a vehicle will handle acceleration, braking,
and so on in different situations. These
calculations have become increasingly vital
not just to major carmakers, but also to
original equipment manufacturers and
smaller industry businesses.
However, investing in simulation solutions
has not always been a priority for smaller
companies in the automotive industry due
to the perceived cost, complexity, and
other constraints of the available solutions.
“Digital simulation represents a huge gain
in productivity, and even in
competitiveness. But very often, our
members lack the resources to purchase
the necessary equipment,” notes Christian
Pouplier, Director of the Institut
Automobile du Mans. Additionally, many
smaller companies only need simulation
capabilities occasionally, which makes it
difficult for them to justify an investment
in their own on-site clusters.
To help its smaller member companies take
advantage of digital simulation, IAM set out
to create a solution that would give those
companies convenient access to highperformance computing (HPC) when they
needed it. The institute wanted to provide a
reliable, robust platform that would make it
easy for industry members to conduct
simulations and increase their performance
and productivity.
Solution
In September 2009, to make digital
simulation more available to its members,
the Institut Automobile du Mans developed
a cluster solution, known as CISNA. The
organization decided to run it by using the
Windows HPC Server 2008 operating
system. This was not an obvious choice for
an operating system; in the world of
supercomputers, academic and research
institutions tend toward open-source
systems. However, IAM recognized that the
needs of businesspeople and researchers
are not always the same. Its member
companies’ employees were accustomed to
working in a Windows-based environment
and would therefore find CISNA more
approachable if they did not have to learn
to use a different operating system.
“For us, the Windows platform was clearly
the right choice, for users and
administrators alike,” states Frédéric Dupé,
Project Lead for the Institut Automobile du
Mans. “At the Institut Automobile du Mans,
we’re not HPC specialists, so we needed a
manageable solution. Supporting an HPC
solution in the Windows environment is
easier for our own internal IT staff as well as
for those of our members.”
To assist with the deployment, IAM turned
to Serviware, a consulting company and
Microsoft Registered Partner that focuses
on the successful implementation of
information systems with an emphasis on
scientific IT and storage. Serviware worked
with IAM to refine the solution’s
requirements and created the computing
architecture for CISNA. IAM and Serviware
used deployment tools that are built into
Windows HPC Server 2008. IAM relies on
HPC Cluster Manager for ongoing
administration and, for security and
confidentiality reasons, completely
redeploys the cluster for each customer.

User familiarity. IAM members are
more likely to actually use the cluster
because it is based on an environment
with which most automotive-industry
researchers are already comfortable.
“Simulation software users can easily
launch calculations themselves, without
having to resort to complex command
line scripts,” says Dupé. Members also
appreciate the range of simulation
software that is available for Windows
HPC Server 2008.

Ease of administration. The IAM IT
staff finds it straightforward and
efficient to care for CISNA because of
the familiarity of the Windows HPC
Server 2008 operating system. “Our
administrators didn’t need any
specialized training to manage the
cluster,” says Dupé. “Managing the
cluster takes the same amount of time
as managing a regular Windows Server
2008 computer.”

Ability to advance research. With its
choice of Windows HPC Server 2008,
IAM offers a powerful digital simulation
service to its members. “Our cluster
definitely helps us meet our primary
objective, which is to contribute to the
economic development of the
automotive sector in our region,” says
Dupé.
The solution includes a 128-core array and
gives IAM members access to 1.5 teraflops
of processing power. IAM has deployed a
variety of software to the cluster, including
Altair Radioss, ANSYS FLUENT, Dassault
Systèmes Simulia, and Livermore Software
Technology Corporation LS-Dyna.
Benefits
By offering CISNA and Windows HPC
Server 2008, the Institut Automobile du
Mans is helping its members further their
automotive research efforts while working
in a comfortable, familiar environment.
“We weren’t looking for pure performance
alone, but for a reliable and robust
solution. The benefits of Windows HPC
Server 2008 are very clear here,” says
Dupé. “The arrival of Microsoft in the HPC
arena is relatively recent, and when you
look at its momentum, it bodes well for
the future.” The benefits of relying on
Windows HPC Server 2008 for the
institute’s CISNA solution include:

Easy access to computing resources.
Using a Windows HPC Server 2008
cluster, IAM makes it possible to offer
services to several subscribers
simultaneously, and each member can
take advantage of a private network for
working with the computing array in a
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS
SUMMARY.
Document published September 2010
confidential space. “The accessibility of
Windows HPC Server 2008 helps our
members improve their industrial
efficiency and innovate,” explains
Guillaume Glangeaud, CISNA Project
Lead for the Institut Automobile du
Mans.