Autodesk Embraces Software as a Service with New Inventor Optimization Technology Preview

By providing nearly infinite computing power, Inventor Optimization Technology Preview allows users to extend the Digital Prototyping functionality of their Inventor desktop application with high performance simulation. This easy to use web-based simulation helps designers and engineers to better tackle the pervasive problem of reducing the weight and the amount of material used in a design while improving product quality and safety. Minimizing weight can reduce material and transportation costs, and contribute to more sustainable product designs.

An intuitive tool, Inventor Optimization is designed for use by all Inventor users, not just simulation specialists, keeping in line with Autodesk’s commitment to making its 3D design software accessible to the broadest possible audience.

“We’ve relied on Autodesk Inventor software for more than five years to help design our concrete and asphalt plants globally,” said Andrew Sears, mechanical engineer at Balzer Pacific. “The Inventor Technology Optimization Preview allows me to send complex simulations to the cloud, while keeping my desktop computer free to keep working on other projects. By testing our Inventor 3D models in the cloud, we can consider many more design alternatives.”

The Technology Preview also offers Inventor users the ability to:

* Optimise Designs with Ease – An intuitive interface allows for quick and easy simulation set-up so an Inventor user can reduce weight and material used while improving product quality and safety.
* Work in Parallel - While the software is performing multiple simulations “behind the scenes” in the cloud, the designer or engineer can continue to do other work on his or her desktop. When the design optimisation is complete, the technology preview’s job monitor automatically notifies the user through multiple communication channels.
* Tap into Superior Performance - Offloading simulation to the cloud helps unleash the true power of simulation by enabling users to simulate many different design configurations in parallel, to access sufficient memory required and the overall capacity needed to perform simulations in less time.

Inventor Optimization represents a response to customer demand for web-based access to information and a continuation of Autodesk’s long tradition of investment and operational experience with software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions. For over a decade, Autodesk has been a pioneer in SaaS applications for the design industry, starting with Autodesk Buzzsaw, one of the world’s largest project hosting services.