February 2014 Summaries

Fluid-structure interactions (FSI) are complex multiphysics problems involving the interaction of a movable or deformable structure with a fluid flow, and they are critical in fields such as aerospace and biomedical engineering. This complexity is exemplified in the modeling of blood flow in flexible arteries, where challenges include the non-Newtonian nature of blood, the multi-layered composition of arterial walls, and the dynamic deformation of these walls in response to blood pressure changes. Rescale's platform supports these intricate simulations by providing access to high-performance computing resources and a vast library of analysis software like ANSYS Workbench, which is used to model the coupled fluid and structural dynamics in such scenarios. By enabling engineers and scientists to conduct these simulations with greater accuracy and without long queue times, Rescale offers a valuable solution to the computational demands posed by these sophisticated analyses.

During a Rescale hackday, the author explored integrating in-browser remote desktop functionality using the Guacamole library, which facilitates remote desktop access by translating protocols like VNC, RDC, and SSH into a custom protocol. Guacamole comprises a daemon for protocol translation, JavaScript libraries for rendering, and a web application for communication. Although the default Java servlet web app presented integration challenges with Rescale's Django stack, the author quickly ported a hackday-level version to Python. Essential to this integration was managing socket connections through a system of locks to ensure thread-safe communication, although the current implementation relies on a global dictionary, limiting scalability. Despite this, the author praised Guacamole for its versatility and provided a sample Django/Guacamole project on GitHub, highlighting the HTTP tunneling approach's advantage for supporting older browsers.

Rescale has launched a new hardware profile called "HPC+" that enhances computational and interconnect capabilities, coupled with SSD storage, resulting in a substantial improvement in performance. During beta testing, users experienced a 25-40% increase in speed and performance per job, and now, in production, the "HPC+" configuration is offered at a competitive rate of $0.25 per core per hour. This improved efficiency can potentially lower overall Rescale costs compared to other compute profiles. Users can explore this by logging into their accounts on Rescale's website, where resources for setting up simulations are also available. The initiative is led by Joris Poort, the CEO of Rescale, who has a robust background in engineering and product development, with experience at McKinsey & Company and Boeing, and impressive academic credentials from prestigious institutions.

Rescale places a high priority on customer information security, and to bolster trust in their systems, they engaged an independent auditor to conduct a Service Organization Control (SOC) 2 review as defined by the American Institute of CPAs. The SOC 2 report evaluates systems based on security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy. Rescale obtained a Type 1 report, which assesses the adequacy of controls, and a Type 2 report, which includes testing of these controls, with audits covering a period from June to November 2013. These audits involve verifying system logs, uptime evaluations, and customer issue tracking. Rescale commits to annual audits to ensure ongoing protection and transparency regarding customer data security.