OCF have recently been awarded a contract to supply a computational cluster to Aerospace Sciences at Cranfield University .   Cranfield University is a specialist research and post-graduate teaching university, specialising in engineering and business.   OCF engaged with the Aerospace Sciences group to help to design and deliver a computational resource to support their research and development of computational-fluid-dynamics codes (CFD).   CFD codes are an integral part of the aerospace design process and Cranfield's code will be used in many aspects of aerospace design and engineering to test and validate designs.

OCF partnered with IBM to compete with white-box and other tier-1 vendors to be awarded the contract to deliver the solution.   OCF's solution was regarded as the best value solution, offering the best combination of high-quality components and a complete solution.   OCF worked with the department to specify a solution based upon IBM's eServer 326m server.   The e326m is ideal for this and many other technical computing environments, utilising AMD's industry leading dual-core Opteron CPUs.   A cluster of fifteen dual-processor, dual-core IBM e326m servers was designed, to optimise performance of the system, whilst remaining within the available budget.   To complete the solution, OCF were able to specify third-party storage and networking solution, ensuring that the cluster could be delivered in an operational state.

OCF has liaised with the technical specialists at Cranfield University to specify a complete cluster software build, encompassing all aspects of the configuration, from the specific variant of Linux used, the file-system implemented, right down to the detail of cluster management tools and network configuration.   The result is an OCF solution that was ready to produce results within a very short timescale.   To ensure that the University are able to obtain the best use of the system OCF consultants have worked with University staff to ensure that they are familiar with the system.

OCF view contracts such as this as important in enhancing our industry-leading experience in delivering technical-computing solutions to the aerospace and automotive engineering industries.