Dell Launches New Entry-Level and Rack-Mountable Workstations
“Workstation performance for about the price of a desktop” — That’s how Dell pitches its new entry-level workstation T1700.
The new unit is available in small form factor and mini-tower configurations. They’ll be powered by Intel Xeon processor E3-1200 v3, based on Intel’s next-generation Haswell architecture. The chip maker is heavily promoting Haswell as the technology to increase power efficiency. GPU options for the T1700 includes AMD FirePro and NVIDIA Quadro cards. According to Dell, the T1700 is “industry’s smallest entry-level tower workstation.” Continue reading
Grabcad Workbench (Beta): Browser-Based Project Management and Collaboration App
Grabcad, cofounded by Hardi Meybaum, is best known as an online community, a popular destination for like-minded designers and engineers to share their models and collect feedback. With an emphasis on friendship and professional networking, Grabcad has so far been more social than commercial. But that’s about to change.
Grabcad’s new product Workbench (currently in Beta) is a cloud-hosted, browser-based project management and collaboration application. No installation, no download, no thin client. Once you’re logged in, you’ll find yourself in the project hub with a list of files managed in Workbench and the latest notifications. Continue reading
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Dispersed Team Nabs $1 Million Prize in DARPA FANG Challenge
It’s no surprise that the winner of the $1 million prize in DARPA’s Fast Adaptable Next-Generation Ground Vehicle (FANG) mobility/drivetrain challenge was a three-person team with members dispersed in Ohio, Texas, and California.
The challenge, the first of which kicked off in January, aims to spark innovation around the design of the vehicle, not only from inside traditional defense industry circles, but also from the outside world. Equally important to the competition, however, was putting a new genre of development tools to the test in the hopes of significantly compressing the design-to-production cycle of complex defense systems, according to Army Lt. Col. Nathan Wiedenman, program manager for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Continue reading
Leave a commentIs Our CAD Use All Wrong?
Are CAD jockeys just that—folks who are adeptly skilled at working the CAD tools to do surface modeling and other complex tasks—or are they engineering wizards simply employing a tool to get the job done?
The question of whether the “D” in CAD is more about enabling good drafting or good design is the subject of a heated debate in the Desktop Engineering LinkedIn Group. Cydesign’s Derek Cheng posited the idea that drafting is not the same as design. He says companies can run into trouble if they leverage CAD too early in the cycle to create beautifully meshed and rendered 3D models prior to do the mathematical work that is foundational to good design.
Dassault Systemes Snatches Up FE-Design, Gets into the Optimization Craze
FE-DESIGN GmbH, a German company with a product line named after a famous Italian opera, is going to become part of Dassault Systemes (DS), a French 3D software giant.
Today, in a transaction of undisclosed amount, DS acquired the Germany software maker known for its optimization packages: TOSCA Fluid and TOSCA Structure. DS already has a robust collection of simulation products, marketed under the SIMULIA brand. By acquiring FE-DESIGN, DS is boosting its current simulation offerings with the optimization technology in FE-DESIGN’s TOSCA products. Continue reading
