How can SMEs maximise their results with cloud computing? With our EPIC product, we’ve been empowering small to medium businesses for years allowing them to take advantage of on-demand services. So we’re gratified for the publication of the Independent Review of The Future of Compute: Final Report and Recommendations.
In the report, our work with Rolls-Royce is pulled out as a case study demonstrating how our simulation products contributed to the transformation of their design processes. Simulation and modelling have pushed their innovation further and created huge efficiency savings.
Importantly, the report also highlights the benefits of on-demand cloud computing for SMEs, in particular, acting as a catalyst for efficiencies and the flexibility to respond to market changes. One of the key findings is that many more SMEs could benefit from cloud computing. Previously, simulation and HPC were out of the reach of SMEs, who could not invest in expensive systems, but the tech is available for SMEs to harness and reap the rewards.
A Google study showed that SMEs using the cloud grew 26% faster and were 21% more profitable than their peers, while another study (IDC) indicated that the majority of SMEs that use cloud services save money (lowering costs between 10 and 20%). (Tech UK)
However, it seems that there is a gap between the opportunities available and SMEs’ understanding of how to access the commercial benefits. The report states:
“Increased use of compute can boost economic growth, but more support is needed to meet user needs and help new users to navigate this landscape.
“The UK’s public compute infrastructure is fragmented, making it challenging and overly complex to use. Academic and business users, particularly SMEs, find it difficult to navigate the current compute landscape and identify compute resources that meet their requirements. available resources and increasing coordination across the compute ecosystem.”
An EPIC solution for SMEs
SMEs are one of the key audiences who could benefit from our EPIC solution. It is a simulation tool offering secure, simple on-demand access to Supercomputing & Cloud HPC.
EPIC allows small businesses to run at scale with access to a range of supercomputing resources without having to purchase expensive infrastructure, their own cluster, or being locked into one provider. As a pay-as-you-go system, it’s easy for SMEs to budget for EPIC and users can also set spending limits. In addition, EPIC is updated regularly so SMEs do not have to worry about maintenance.
With the increase in hybrid working, EPIC also enables mobility and remote access with colleagues able to collaborate online and share results.
EPIC is designed to be user-friendly with a simple submission interface and ready to get your jobs running on large-scale HPC systems with just a few clicks. Our clients are supported throughout, a huge advantage for SMEs who may feel they don’t have the skills or capacity in-house. We can check your Input decks before submission to spot common errors and provide detailed monitoring and notifications. There is also intelligent advice on where to run your application.
Finally, security is a significant concern for businesses and something that we take extremely seriously. With EPIC, we take this off our clients’ plates by managing the security infrastructure.
We look forward to hearing about the impact of the report and that more SMEs will investigate accessing supercomputing systems.
Find out more about how to benefit from EPIC here.
