Using the cloud to make better decisions in shorter timescales to maximise business performance

在正确的时间做出正确的决定是所有工业部门的根本。无论一个组织是公共公司还是私人公司，也不管它在哪个行业运作，显然都需要以具有成本效益的方式提供物有所值的服务。为了提高决策质量，仿真建模在工业中得到了广泛的应用。模型允许用户提出假设条件，以确定如何实现性能最大化。好处包括更大的信心、成本避免以及减少资本和运营费用。然而，在没有必要的计算机资源的情况下，决策的时间框架被拉长。这有可能诱使用户走捷径，从而可能导致糟糕的决策。新冠肺炎疫情加剧了这种风险；由于仿真专业人员在家工作，对计算资源的访问受到严重限制。仿真模型是真实系统的表示；它们包括许多方面的可变性。例如，进行手动操作所需的时间或事件的结果(例如，通过或未通过测试)。因此，模型必须重复运行，并且必须从基于多次运行的一组聚合结果中得出结论，以确保其在统计上有效。由于工业模型需要数小时才能运行，这就产生了对高性能模拟体系结构(HPSA)的需求，其中复制并行运行以压缩时间尺度。在家工作的模拟分析师无法访问HPSA-显然需要解决这一问题，以保护英国工业及时做出高质量决策的能力。该项目将为模拟专业人员创建基于云的高性能计算服务。已经在模拟方面进行了大量投资的公司将能够在远程工作的同时继续实现好处。此外，已经使用模拟并希望在压缩的时间范围内做出高质量决策的公司可以在没有通常的硬件和软件前期成本的情况下这样做。Saker是唯一有资格创建这项服务的人，他已经成功地制作了云中桌面网格的原型。我们有动力、专业知识和技术诀窍，今年将这种颠覆性的数字技术推向市场，并寻求Innovate UK的协助。虽然很难量化这项服务将带来的节省规模，但我们估计，通过更好、更及时的决策，客户将节省数百万英镑。

Making the right decisions at the right time is fundamental in all industrial sectors. Regardless of whether an organisation is a public or private company, and irrespective of the industrial sector in which it operates, there is a clear need to deliver value for money in a cost-effective manner. Simulation modelling is widely used in industry to improve the quality of decision making. Models allow users to ask 'what-ifs' to identify how performance can be maximised. Benefits include greater confidence, cost avoidance and reducing capital and operational expense. However, without the necessary computer resources the timeframes for decision making are elongated. This has the potential to tempt users into taking shortcuts which may result in poor decision making. The Covid-19 pandemic has intensified this risk; with simulation professionals working from home, access to computing resources is severely limited.Simulation models are representations of real systems; they include numerous aspects of variability. For example, the time taken to undertake a manual operation or the outcome of an event (e.g. passing or failing a test). A model must therefore be run repeatedly, and conclusions must be drawn from an aggregated set of results based on multiple runs to ensure that are statistically valid. With industrial models taking hours to run, this gives rise to a need for a High-Performance Simulation Architecture (HPSA) where replications are run in parallel to compress timescales. Simulation analysts working from home do not have access to a HPSA - there is a clear need to address this in order to protect the ability for British Industry to make quality decisions in a timely fashion.This project will create a cloud-based high-performance computing service for simulation professionals. Companies that have already made a significant investment in simulation will be able to continue to realise benefits whilst working remotely. Additionally, companies that already use simulation and want to make quality decisions in compressed timescales could do so without the usual hardware and software upfront costs. Saker is uniquely qualified to create this service having already successfully prototyped a desktop grid equivalent in a cloud. We have the motivation, expertise and know-how to bring this disruptive digital technology to market this year and seek Innovate UK's assistance to do so. Although it is difficult to quantify the scale of the savings that the service will deliver, we estimate that clients will save millions of pounds through better, timely decision making.