Cloud Computing for Computer Aided Engineering
In the framework of the research project Cloudperfect, a survey was created to understand customers' perception and needs about cloud systems applied to Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) simulations.
The prime goal of the survey was to learn more about the pains of the cloud services currently offered from the CAE user point of view. Furthermore, it allowed establishing the requirements and interests of the current or potential cloud customers regarding the future cloud compatibilities.
The survey was structured in three sections.
The first one, composed of six closed-ended questions, was dedicated to the collection of general information about the participants and to sort them between section two (potential cloud adopters) and section three (cloud adopters).
Section two, composed of four closed-ended questions to the potential adopters, helped to identify the reasons why they never used cloud services before.
Section three was composed of six closed-ended questions to the cloud adopters; it collected their feedbacks about the platform they used, their pros and cons.
The questionnaire was designed using Google Modules and distributed sharing link via e-mail, LinkedIn and Twitter.
The objective was twofold: a better insight of cloud system perception necessary both to improve the market and dissemination strategies and to focus the future development of the Cloudperfect platform.
From a pool of 63 respondents, belonging principally to heavy industry (but also consultancy, software development and universities) of small-to-large size, only 22.2% of the interviewed adopted cloud solutions for CAE simulation.
Among those who never used cloud, almost 80% was considering the possibility to use cloud systems in the future; the main reasons they didn’t use before is, for most of them, related to the lack of knowledge, followed by security concerns, complexity in the setup of the system and the cost.
The most important aspect of a cloud system for potential users was security and privacy of their data (as easily understandable, looking at the target group). Then the service has to be reliable and the cost has to be low. The aspects that are considered less relevant are the availability of the service and, surprisingly, the ease of use (the main reason cloud is not used appears to be the lack of knowledge).
On the other hand, those who already used cloud for simulation purposes relied mainly on partner cloud solution or, in case of public cloud services, only on Amazon or Google solutions. More than 90% of the users are satisfied by their cloud experience and are planning to benefit from cloud platforms again.
The feedback obtained by the cloud adopters in terms of encountered drawbacks showed how the major problems are related to license management, complexity in configuration and in finding the correct hardware and, once again, security and privacy concerns.
In summary, the survey highlighted how the cloud technology is an interesting option for CAE engineers, even if today it is only used by few adopters. The major concern is, for the entire respondent group, the privacy of the data, while the major obstacles to a broader diffusion of these systems are the complexity in configuration and usage and the difficulties in the choice of the right cloud resource.
Read the full survey results here.
