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Blade WorkstationProof of Concept and Pilot
Peter J. Goodwin - Software Analyst [email protected]
Surendra Meduri - Technical [email protected]
About Applied Materials
Company Profile
Applied Materials, Inc. (*Nasdaq: AMAT) is the global leader in nanomanufacturing technology solutions with a
broad portfolio of innovative equipment, service and software products for the fabrication of semiconductor chips,
flat panel displays, solar photovoltaic cells, flexible electronics and energy efficient glass. At Applied Materials, we
apply nanomanufacturing technology to improve the way people live.
Founded in 1967, Applied Materials creates and commercializes the nanomanufacturing technology that helps
produce virtually every semiconductor chip and flat panel displays in the world. The company recently entered the
market for equipment to produce solar arrays and energy efficient glass.
Applied Materials service products improve yield enhancement and increase nanomanufacturing productivity.
To support our customers, Applied Materials employs approximately 14,500 people throughout the world. In fiscal
year 2007, Applied Materials recorded revenues of approximately U.S. $9.73 billion.
For more information visit www.amat.com
Introduction
Applied Materials has a complex multisite
implementation of TeamCenter Engineering to ensure
optimum performance for the user, but repeated
transfers between sites can sometimes cause data
integrity issues.
A number of users engaged in cross site collaboration
were spending a significant amount of time
transferring files back and forth between sites.
Applied Materials Site Configuration
Multisite Architecture with sites in:
Santa Clara, CA
Austin, TX
Boise, ID
Xi’An, China
Bangalore, India
Users in Santa Clara would begin a design, then that evening a designer in Bangalore would pull the design to their local site so they could continue to
work on it, then the original designer would pull it back to Santa Clara and so on
Issues
Traditional Remote Desktop solutions such as RDC
are fine for modifying structures in PSE and other non-
graphically intense actions, but lack the graphics
response required for effective CAD use.
Web based solutions such as eMeeting also lack the
graphics performance necessary for effective
collaboration.
Proof of Concept Details
In the second half of 2007 Applied Materials conducted a Proof
of Concept evaluation of HP’s Blade Workstations and Remote
Graphics Software for use in the remote access of CAD data
from TeamCenter Engineering
8 Blade Workstations were installed in a Test Lab adjacent to the
main Data Center in Austin, TX which houses the TeamCenter
servers, along with a virtual server running software to manage
user access to the blades. This allowed the workstations to take
advantage of the Gigabit network within the datacenter.
What are Blade Workstations?
They function as remote workstations, users log in remotely via a
custom graphics client, all applications are executed on the blade, with
the users system acting as a graphics terminal.
Blade Workstation Configuration
Dual Xeon 5160 processors @ 3.0 GHz
4 GB Memory
nVidia Quadro FX 1600M Graphics
OS – Windows XP SP2
Installed applications
TeamCenter Portal 9.1.3
UG-NX 3
HP Remote Graphics Sender
HP Remote Graphics Software (RGS)
RGS uses proprietary graphics algorithms in
conjunction with dedicated graphics hardware to provide
the graphics performance required for CAD
applications.
Session Allocation Manager
Session Allocation Manager (SAM) is a software application run on a separate server that controls access to the Blade Workstations. Users log in thru a small client program installed on their PCs.
Workstation Management
Workstations can be assigned to groups, and users assigned to that group will be routed to the next available workstation in the group. This allows the administrator to ensure availability within groups while reducing the number of workstations required.
Users can also be assigned to a specific workstation, effectively removing that workstation from the pool, but guaranteeing the user always has a workstation available.
Functionality Testing
Testing performed in a lab environment in Santa Clara,
CA using 3 standard computer configurations deployed at
Applied Materials (2 desktop, 1 laptop)
Laptop also tested from an external location using VPN
Machine Specifications
Desktop – Dual 2.13 Ghz Core 2 Duo E6400, 2GB, Nvidia Quadro4 FX1400 128MB
Engineering – Dual 2.33 GHz Xeon 5140, 2GB, Nvidia Quadro 4 FX1400 128MB
Laptop – 2.0 Ghz Core 2 Duo T7200, 2 GB, ATI Mobility Fire GL V5250 128MB
Measurements
Log in time
3D Model load time
Small model – 40 parts
Medium model – 344 parts
Large model – 689 parts
Results
All tests results are the average of at least three tests performed on different days and at different hours of the day.
Santa Clarato
Santa Clara
Santa Clara to Austin
Santa Clara to
Austin Blade
Santa Clara to
Santa Clara
Santa Clara to
Austin
Santa Clara to
Austin Blade
Desktop Laptop
Login 27s 9m46s 21s 27s 9m15s 18s
Open - Small 1m10s 8m30s 1m21s 1m35s 6m08s 1m05s
Open - Medium 4m 40m52s 3m53s 4m42s 40m53s 3m17s
Open - Large 5m55s 1h22m 4m49s 6m31s 1h27m 4m22s
Engineering Desktop Laptop VPN
Login 18s 9m36s 26s 5m35s 3m32s 19s
Open - Small 36s 7m49s 38s 6m52s 9m13s 1m17s
Open - Medium 3m15s 40m15s 1m46s 54m01s 1h04m 2m58s
Open - Large 5m25s 1h19m 3m17s 1h40m 1h 53m 4m 17
Conclusions
HP Blade Workstations provide login and model load
times as well as graphics performance equivalent to
local access for the following scenarios
Users who need to move between locations.
Users can disconnect from the blade session without
logging off, and reconnect again at their destination.
Users assigned to locations remote from the TeamCenter
server.
Users working remotely via VPN.
Open Issues
UG-NX Customizations are not transferred from user to
Blade.
Printer mappings do not carry over from user to Blade.
Some USB devices are not initially recognized, and must
be disconnected and reconnected.
Older hardware requires BIOS update to fully utilize
remote capabilities.
Next Steps
A Pilot involving 32 Blades is currently underway.
Initial User response has been very encouraging.
A Proof of Concept demonstrating Design Supplier
collaboration will be starting shortly.
Will allow designers to collaborate with outside experts
without exporting design information beyond the firewall.
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