Bangalore, February 24, 2007: Altair Engineering a global leader recognized for innovative product development, advanced engineering software and grid computing technology has announced its launch of Robust Design – Center of Excellence with The German-Malaysian Institute (GMI) in collaboration between the Governments of Malaysia and Germany promoting the transfer of technology through technical education and training. The collaboration between Altair Engineering and GMI highlights setting up Center of Excellence for Robust Industrial Design and sponsorship of Altair’s OptiStruct/HyperWorks Software (suite of products) for German-Malaysian Institute.



The joint collaboration will be effective for a period of 3 years and will promote the application of virtual prototyping and simulation technology for product designers and engineers. The team of CAE experts from Mekarprise – (Altair’s local Malaysia based partner) have provided training on Altair’s HyperWorks to GMI’s faculty and students to ensure better efficiency with the advanced syllabus of HyperWorks.



HyperWorks suite of advanced computer aided engineering (CAE) software, is an integrated engineering framework for maximizing product performance, automating processes and improving profitability within an open and flexible environment. Built from the core up to be programmable, automated and interoperable with all major commercial CAD systems and CAE solvers, HyperWorks enables innovation by providing high-end, value-based product design solutions within one common engineering environment. This technology is used across a range of industry-sectors such as automotive, aerospace, defence, oil and gas and consumer goods, all of which play a dominant role in Malaysia’s economy.



According to Pavan Kumar, Managing Director, South-East Asia, Altair Engineering, the vision of the Robust Industrial Design Center of Excellence (RINDUC) is to be a state-of-the-art center for Robust Industrial Design in Malaysia equipped with well trained manpower and the latest software/hardware. Altair’s collaboration with GMI will be a great opportunity to benefit as an ecosystem of industry/academia collaboration.



According to Dr. Yusoff Bin MD Sahir, Managing Director, German-Malaysian Institute, GMI undertakes to introduce Robust Industrial Design as part of the course curriculum and educate about Altair OptiStruct/HyperWorks, so that our students can excel in their CAE careers, by leveraging use of Optimisation based designs.



According to Dr. Raj Godhia, Managing Director, Mekarprise Sdn Bhd, this center will provide valuable support for the development of technical know how for Malaysia’s future generation engineers and product designs using Computer-Aided Engineering and Robust Industrial Design.



About Altair HyperWorks:

Altair HyperWorks is a framework of design engineering tools unparalleled at delivering performance enhancing benefits across all areas of design and engineering - directly improving the bottom line for manufacturers. Developed for use in any industry or Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) environment, where products need to be highly engineered, HyperWorks provides modeling, assembly, optimization, visualization and process automation and Data Management CAE tools.



About Altair Engineering:

Through product design consulting, advanced engineering software and high performance computing technologies, Altair Engineering increases innovation for clients around the globe. Founded in 1985 and privately held with offices throughout 14 countries, Altair's unparalleled knowledge and expertise in product development and manufacturing extend throughout North America, Europe and Asia. As the developer of Altair® HyperWorks® - The Engineering Framework for Product DesignTM, Altair is the leading provider of high-end, open CAE software solutions for modeling, visualization, optimization and process automation. The company’s grid computing software, PBS ProfessionalTM, is a workload management solution for high performance computing environments, LINUX clusters and desktop cycle harvesting that delivers an ROI within one year. For detailed information about Altair, visit www.altair.com



About Mekarprise Sdn Bhd:

Established in April 2002, Mekarprise offers a range of modeling, simulation and enterprise computing services and solutions for numerically intense compute environments. These solutions help customers to reduce their overall product development cycle, increase utilization of computational resources and helps users experience dramatic improvements in Speed, Cost and Quality. Mekarprise serves key customers in ASEAN and Asia region in the Academia, Defense, Consumer Electronics, Automotive, Precision Engineering and Transportation sectors. Mekarprise Sdn Bhd. was set up to provide local sales and technical support to its customers in Malaysia, as part of Mega Computing Pte Ltd expansion program. Mega Computing (S) Pte Ltd was established in June 1997. Mekarprise is the distributor in Malaysia for software products such as HYPERWORKS, ISIGHT, PBS PRO and PARAMICS.