DHI Water & Environment has decided to move its most computationally heavy software programs to the new Microsoft® Windows® x64 platform to meet customers’ needs for better performance so that current applications can run faster and more accurately. The high-performance 64-bit environment supports much larger addressable memory than the 32-bit environment and furthermore offers better performance in terms of speed and reliability allowing customers to push DHI Software application beyond the limits of the 32-bit hardware.
Microsoft® Windows® x64 Promotion Film featuring DHI (click on picture on the right)
click for Latest News and Events (revised 27 May 05)
Note! The streamed video (27 Mb) can be viewed with the QuickTIme player, but it takes a little while before it start as our present web server do not support instant streaming. Follow the same link to download the QuickTime player.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When the Flexible Mesh versions of DHIs 2D and 3D modeling systems MIKE 21 and MIKE 3 were introduced, the limitation on how large an area a model reasonalby could describe was removed. Global models could be built, but the reolution was still somewhat constrained by the 32-bit limitations in direct accessible memory. The virtually unlimited physical memory following with the new MS x64 platform has transcended this memory limit, and a high-resolution global model is now used for operational wave forecasts at DHI.
The software that DHI develops and markets is used by individuals, researchers, engineering companies and authorities to model often very complex systems like ecosystems, flooding and tsunamis. Many of these software packages require processing of an enormous amount of data and are often associated with long computational time. Two attractive benefits of the x64 platform for DHI’s business area are the scalability and the faster performance allowing for much larger setups, e.g. simulating tsunamis over large areas and at the same time in greater detail, and likewise being able to simulate urban flooding due to heavy rainfall or hurricanes - areas where the software has been pushed to the limit of what is feasible on today's 32-bit platform.
Another example of a large memory intensive application is the creation of 3D animations. An enormous amount of floating point operations is required when rendering background, foreground and result files in 3D perspective views. DHIs visualization tool for creating professional animations, MIKE Animator, has thus experienced considerable performance increase with the migration to the MS x64 platform.
DHI strives to bring the newest scientific developments to the desktop of the users – and not only to the supercomputer or massive parallel environments where only few organizations can leverage the scientific progress in their daily works.
The first programs that have been migrated to the Windows® x64 platform are the three-dimensional model, MIKE 3, for water flow, the Spectral Wave model, MIKE 21 SW, and the visualization program MIKE Animator.
"MIKE 3 and MIKE Animator running on Windows XP Professional x64 Edition demonstrate how 64-bit technologies take scientific computing to a whole new level”, said Brian Marr, senior product manager for x64 Edition at Microsoft Corp. “We’re very excited about the fresh new scenarios this creates for customers.”
Note: Product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.
N e w s a n d E v e n t s (Chronologically)
DHI Assists Microsoft with a new Windows version (DHI e-newsletter 'The NetWork' March 05)
Microsoft Corporation has chosen DHI as one of three software vendors for a promotional film of their new Windows x64 platform and in mid-February a film crew arrived at DHI, Denmark, from the US for the filming. Last year, Microsoft Corp invited DHI to assist in the preparation of the next version of Microsoft Windows - Windows for 64-bit computing (x64) to be released in the first half of 2005.
DHI was encouraged by Microsoft to join a Technology Adapter Program (TAP) for Windows 64. During the program period Microsoft's Windows 64 product teams assisted with consultancy. The TAP will give DHI both a first mover advantage on the new 64-bit computing platform as well as a great opportunity to piggybacking on the Microsoft launch platform for Windows 64. In addition to being show-cased by Microsoft up to the Windows 64 launch we have also been given the possibility to participating at national and international Microsoft conferences; for example, in the Windows 64-bit launch taking place in mid-March at the Microsoft Partner Summit in Seattle. DHI has also been invited to participate at CEBIT, Hanover, Germany, on March 10-16 2005.
DHI and Microsoft® joined efforts on CeBIT
(DHI e-newsletter 'The Network' April 05)
As part of the cooperation with Microsoft® DHI joined their exhibition at the CeBIT in Hannover, Germany.
Matthias Pätsch (DHI Germany) and Andreas Schönberger (Production solution Marketing Manager, Microsoft Germany) at CeBIT 2005, exhibition booth Windows x64 platform, presenting DHI 64-bit application
"Raise the Speed Limit" (DHI e-newsletter 'The Network' April 05)
Microsoft will be launching the Windows x64 products at WinHEC 2005. An integral part of this launch is showcasing a wide variety of solutions based on x64 technology. The Fast Lane area of WinHEC will be featuring some of the most exciting new x64 based solutions coming to market. As a key launch partner, Microsoft have invited DHI to participate in this area combining our software application with one of Microsoft's strategic hardware partners, Fujitsu-Siemens, who will be demonstrating DHI Software on their system in the Fast Lane area. Read more about WinHEC 2005 - http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/winhec/default.mspx
From the WinHEC Fast Lane Area (DHI e-newsletter 'The Network' May 05)
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates opened the third decade of Windows, on April 25th at WinHEC (Windows Hardware Engineering Conference), by announcing the availability of Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition and Windows Server (TM) 2003 x64 Editions. These 64-bit enabled OS editions provide new opportunities for memory and computationally intensive applications in areas such as gaming, data warehouses, 3D graphics and scientific computing. The x64 OS versions, which are expected to be the mainstream Windows platforms by the end of 2006, were received with enthusiasm by the WinHEC audience.
Right: Thomas Beck (DHI HQ) and Arnold Engelmann (DHI Inc) at the Micosoft WinHEC 2005, April 25-27, Fast Lane Area, presenting x64 applications.
One of the highlights of the WinHEC event was the x64 Fast Lane, in which more than 20 partners demonstrated their x64 solutions to the 2800 WinHEC attendees. In partnership with Fujitsu-Siemens, DHI succesfully demonstrated x64-enabled versions of DHI Software running on Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. As such, DHI is now among the world's leading software vendors supplying native 64-bit software, utilizing the performance enhancements and extended memory capabilities of the Windows x64 platform.
64-Bit Partners (DHI e-newsletter 'The Network' May 05)
You can find more information about the Microsoft's 64-Bit industry partners and their press material on http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/winhec/partner.asp
DHI's partners in Microsoft's Technical Adaption Program (TAP) for the Windows x64 bit launch testing and applying DHI Software on a x64 Windows platform are:
- Waterforecast.com (Denmark)
- ABPmer (UK) and
- USGS (USA)
The joint DHI/Partner applications fullfil needs such as providing accurate global metocean forecast data on a spatial scale never seen before and making use of high-resolution models that describe the complex physical, chemical and biological processes in marine and estuarine waters, ie integrated applications with DHI Software that addresses societal needs and ecological problems.
Microsoft 64-bit Press Briefing
To cater to the diverse EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) press community, Microsoft hosted a unique Microsoft 64-bit Press Briefing event in London on April 25th 2005. The Press Briefing provided a 360-degree view of 64-bit – from a business viewpoint, to ‘deep-dive’ technical sessions – tailored for media from across the EMEA region, covering both personal, high-end and enterprise computing. DHI Water & Environment participated in this event as one of three Microsoft partners demonstrating the x64 capabilities as well as participated in a round-table discussion on the x64 business perspectives.
Dell 64-Bit Press Conference Copenhagen 9 June 2005 (in Danish)
Her får danske journalister mulighed for at høre om den nye 64-bit Windows og hvilken betydning, det får for de danske virksomheder og brugere. Dell, Microsoft og DHI deltager med eksperter inden for alle områder af hardware og software.
64-bit Windows er som bekendt landet. Men hvad betyder det egentlig for os? Har 64-bit betydning for almindelige forbrugere, eller er det kun noget for virksomheder? Hvilke fordele giver 64-bit egentlig? Koster det mere? Hvem laver programmer til det, og hvornår kommer de? Hvorfor kan man kun købe 64-bit Windows som OEM-produkt? Hvor hurtige er gamle 32-bit programmer på en 64-bit computer med 64-bit Windows? Kommer Microsoft nu til at tage markedsandele fra Unix-systemerne?
Få svar på spørgsmålene fra en række eksperter fra Dell, Microsoft og DHI, der vil dække alle disse vinkler på et samlet pressemøde. Ved at investere 2½ time kan danske journalister få overblik over en af de mest ventede lanceringer, når det gælder standard it-arkitekturer. Yderligere information fra Dell: www.dellinfo.net
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For more information about the migration to the Windows® x64 platform, please feel free to contact: Erland Rasmussen ebr@dhi.dk, Henrik Kofoed-Hansen hkh@dhi.dk or Lars Cresten Ekebjaerg lce@dhi.dk