ebb3 - Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1™ Team
Case Study
Remote Working | Multiple Devices | Security | Cloud | VDI | High Graphical Data
Introduction
For the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 team™, every millisecond counts – not just on the track but at every stage of the car’s life from design inception to the last race of the season. It’s all about achieving the ultimate edge over the competition.
Design teams must continually improve the cars performance
01
To create performance enhancing components
02
To constantly refine and fine-tune
03
To upgrade and replace parts
04
To produce as many design iterations as possible
05
To achieve aerodynamic enhancements
The Challenge
Design-to-launch workflow is time-consuming in the motor industry. It takes up valuable development time and engineer resources. As part of a push to launch a design centre of excellence, the AMF1™ IT team were looking for a digital transformation solution that would meet their accelerated computing requirements and revolutionise the way they operate, collaborate, and innovate.
The Solution
The first priority was switching from CATIA V5 to CATIA V6 3DExperience. The more sophisticated platform would streamline workflows and move design modifications into production faster - the ability to run both platforms simultaneously was crucial to maintaining current project success.
The updated CAD software also introduced challenges from increased graphics requirements, as the latest releases fully leverage GPU acceleration. While improving the performance of physical workstations was one possible solution, that approach was costly. Moreover, it didn’t solve an ongoing problem with collaboration. Whenever the team wanted to work on projects with remote colleagues, they had to haul workstations to a video conference room.
Another organisational goal was to increase office productivity by upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10. With the graphics improvements delivered in Windows 10, the team had to be sure their computer hardware could smoothly handle the increased performance requirements. As the IT team looked ahead, they knew that AMF1™ needed an IT roadmap that didn’t involve constant upgrades to keep up with changing system requirements.
“Collaboration with aspirational and ambitious design teams is key to harnessing the knowledge and expertise required to create high performing solutions.”
Chris Brassington
CEO of ebb3
Results
To ensure the seamless transition to both CATIA V6 3DExperience and Windows 10, the IT team honed in on VDI Digital Workspaces, because they offered better control, manageability, and scalability. Before moving forward, however, AMF1™ reached out to industry experts ebb³.
Working closely with Aston Martin F1™, ebb³ captured their needs and designed the optimum VDI solution. Built on a completely new Windows 10 desktop infrastructure, the new digital workspace allows CATIA V5 and CATIA V6 3DExperience to be run side by side on existing computers.
The result is a reliable, high-performance system that can support the needs of the team without disruptions. The digital workspaces can be accessed at any time, from any place, allowing for seamless collaboration across remote and in-person workers.
ebb³ stay at the forefront of technological advancements and industry trends, ensuring that AMF1™ can leverage the latest innovations and future proof their digital workspace environment. “The team really needed an external resource to show them what was possible,” said Paul Williams, ebb³’s director of service delivery. “They needed virtual GPU (vGPU) accelerated infrastructure that was flexible and scalable enough to grow with future demands. The computing power of GPUs continues to make incredible strides, and we wanted to set them up for long-term success.”
Together, the two teams came up with a plan to deploy digital workspaces to an initial group of 24 designers. To support this test group, the team deployed Hyper converged hardware infrastructure, which were installed with one NVIDIA P40 card per server with NVIDIA Quadro Virtual Data Center Workstation (Quadro vDWS) software. Each server would handle six users, each assigned a 4-gigabyte (GB) profile. After the first phase, the project was expanded to a larger user group.
Experience the Future Today
The future of work is here, and ebb3 is at the forefront of shaping it. Join us in redefining the possibilities, propelling innovation, and achieving unparalleled productivity enhancements. Let our world-class technology solutions be the driving force behind your digital transformation.
