Flexible Licensing Model Comes to ANSYS’ CAE Portfolio
ANSYS has just released a new pay-per-use licensing model to access its computer-aided engineering (CAE) simulation software portfolio. The ANSYS Elastic Licensing gives customers the freedom to use multiphysics CAE tools when they need them.
The new license model is also useful for teams that sparingly need CAE tools and for teams that need to access a variety of ANSYS programs but not all at once.
"Flexibility is critical for a company like ours," said Sukhvinder Kang, chief technology officer for Aavid Thermalloy. "Working on numerous simulation projects with teams across the globe, it is difficult to predict up-front the mix of ANSYS products we will need, where we will need them and how many licenses we will need.”
“Working with ANSYS has proven the value of usage-based licensing to support our constantly changing simulation needs,” Kang continued. “We expect that elastic licensing will give us access to the broad suite of multiphysics solutions that we need to support our customers globally and bring our innovative products to market faster and more reliably than ever."
Customers looking to implement the ANSYS Elastic Licensing can wait a few months to access the license through the ANSYS Enterprise Cloud which is hosted by the Amazon Web Service. Alternatively, customers can access the license sooner through one of ANSYS’ cloud-hosting partners. Some of the cloud-hosting partners include:
ANSYS has decided to used a phased approach to deploy the Elastic Licensing due to marketing positioning, clarity of purpose and the different scales of development and testing. As a result on-premise and ANSYS Enterprise Cloud deployment will be available at a later date.
One benefit to working on the cloud is that the customers will be able to move between the ANSYS platform wherever there is an internet connection and without having to worry about their license set up. ANSYS is looking to implement this level of freedom for its on-premise lease and pre-paid licensing.
“Our elastic licensing provides the flexibility for customers to use simulation in precisely the way that best fits their particular business,” said Ray Milhem, vice president of enterprise solutions and cloud for ANSYS. “Customers aren’t forced into any single option. Instead, they have a wide array of choices across deployment and licensing options, enabling the broadest possible use of simulation. This is all part of our quest to make simulation available to every engineer.”
Flexible Simulation Licensing Trends in the CAE Industry
One goal of the CAE industry is to get simulation software into the hands of more engineers. However, traditional licensing models still has management from small- to medium-sized businesses asking whether simulation is affordable yet.
Key CAE industry leaders (including vendors, academics and users) discussed how traditional licensing modes for simulation software can affect its uptake at the Analysis, Simulation & Systems Engineering Software Summit (ASSESS).
The consensus is that industry needs to offer more flexible licensing models to use simulation software. As a result, the industry has seen a trend towards pay-as-you-go licensing.
ANSYS Elastic Licensing is the latest to capitalize on this flexible licensing trend, joining the ranks of other vendors like Dassault Systèmes’ extended tokens on the 3DEXPERIENCE or Altair’s HyperWorks Units which function on a per-solver job basis.
Would you prefer to use a flexible license, prepaid or a combination? Would you be able to afford to work on the cloud (on- or off-premise), HPC or off your personal workstation? Comment below.