Acer to Resell Altair's PBS Professional® and Expand Options for HPC Users

TROY, Mich., June 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Acer and Altair Engineering, Inc. today announced that Acer Group has become a global authorized reseller of Altair's market-leading resource and workload management software product, PBS Professional®.

A leader in worldwide computing, Acer has added PBS Professional as a pre-integrated option on all its high-performance computing (HPC) systems that are configured, deployed and managed as part of the overall system. The integrated solution will drive significant operational efficiencies and cost savings to users seeking to maximize the value of their HPC systems.

"The objective of Acer is to provide truly market-leading solutions that effectively satisfy the needs of end users who are continually seeking adequate combinations of energy efficiency, high-performance, and scalability," commented Sean Stacey, Acer Business Development Manager EMEA-Technical & Productivity Computing. "Along with a global team of experts, Acer also relies on support from key technological partners such as Altair. Thanks to this partnership, Acer is able to offer professional-grade job scheduling to customers seeking robust performance in their clustered environment."

"Now that Acer is an authorized reseller of PBS Professional, more companies worldwide will have access to turnkey HPC solutions," said Bill Nitzberg, Chief Technology Officer for PBS Works at Altair. "The Acer-Altair integration offers a new option for HPC consumers who need robust, scalable, high-end systems to support their compute-intensive work."

Acer's long lasting commitment to the professional world led to a specific focus on the dynamic and fast-growing HPC market. Acer has designed a strong solution offering: its High Performance and Technical Computing portfolio includes high-density and rack servers as well as high-performance storage solutions. Acer's tailor-made solutions package hardware, software and services to make complex HPC environments simple and available to all customers.

Acer High Performance and Technical Computing solutions comprise applications including CFD, Crash Analysis, CAE, CAD, Financial Modeling, Reservoir and Seismic simulation and Risk Analysis. They can also apply to the general needs of specific verticals: automotive, finance, manufacturing, biochemical, pharmaceutical, aerospace, and academic.

"Engineers and scientists can focus on engineering and science, not on IT tasks," said Nitzberg. "With PBS Professional, Acer users now have a proven, secure platform for HPC resource and workload management that frees them from the burdens of the underlying IT infrastructure."

Perhaps the most widely implemented software environment for managing HPC cluster, grid and cloud computing resources worldwide, PBS Professional allows enterprises to easily share distributed computing resources across geographic boundaries. 

Acer now provides PBS Professional as a pre-integrated, user-selectable option on all its HPC servers. Upon selection, Acer automatically configures and deploys PBS Professional throughout the system, so users can get started immediately with no installation or configuration required.

PBS Professional is the flagship product for PBS Works™, a comprehensive suite for optimizing HPC environments that offers additional tools for portal-based submission, analytics, and data management. Acer customers will also have direct access to Altair's Compute Manager, an application-aware Web-based job submission and management portal, as well as PBS Analytics™, a graphical Web-based accounting, analytics and reporting solution.

In addition to PBS Works, Altair provides several leading CAE applications in modeling and visualization, analysis, and optimization.  Acer and Altair plan to explore how to broaden their collaboration in these areas.

About Acer

Since its founding in 1976, Acer has broken barriers between people and technology, enabling users to explore, create and grow. Acer ranks No. 2 for notebook PCs globally (Gartner data 2011). The Acer Group employs 8,000 people across the globe, and revenues for 2011 reached US$15.7 billion.

Acer's channel business model is instrumental to the company's success, while its multi-brand approach integrates Acer, Gateway, and Packard Bell brands in worldwide markets. Acer designs environmentally friendly products and, with its vendors, has established a green supply chain.

Acer is proud to be a Worldwide Partner of the Olympic Movement. That includes supporting the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games and London 2012 Olympic Games.

More information is at www.acer-group.com.

© 2012 Acer Inc. All rights reserved. Acer and the Acer logo are registered trademarks of Acer Inc. Other trademarks, registered trademarks, and/or service marks, indicated or otherwise, are the property of their respective owners.

About Altair

Altair Engineering, Inc., empowers client innovation and decision-making through technology that optimizes the analysis, management and visualization of business and engineering information. It is the only company to create HPC solvers and simulation applications, deliver HPC management tools, and use these applications and tools to solve real HPC issues. Privately held, with more than 1,500 employees, Altair has offices throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia/Pacific. With a 26-year-plus track record for high-end software and consulting services for engineering, computing and enterprise analytics, Altair consistently delivers a competitive advantage to customers in a broad range of industries. To learn more, please visit www.altair.com and www.simulatetoinnovate.com.

SOURCE Altair Engineering, Inc.