In these uncertain times, manufacturing firms – large and small - are seeking greater agility from their IT investments. And that’s precisely what the Microsoft Azure Cloud, powered by AMD CPU and GPU technology, can offer them. Organizations get the flexibility to scale up and scale down visual cloud resources, spawning new instances as and when projects demand, or when they need to quickly adapt to the fast-changing global business landscape. The AMD powered Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) can be tailored to any workload or pipeline, from task and knowledge workers (D and E series) to product designers (NVv4) and specialists in engineering simulation (HBv2).
The benefits are clear. Workers get instant access to project data and software applications from any device, anywhere in the world. They can move seamlessly between office and home, supporting flexible working (furniture delivery or kid’s sports day) or to react to unforeseen, major economic changes.
Azure NVv4 -- a great remote workstation solution
With the GPU-accelerated Microsoft Azure NVv4 instances, product designers and engineers benefit from the full power of a traditional desktop workstation to run demanding 3D CAD applications like Autodesk Inventor, PTC Creo and Siemens NX. More importantly, with professional GPU hardware and drivers, projects are designed on a certified application platform. This helps ensure full vendor support, regardless of the end user’s location or the device being used.
One of the most compelling arguments for NVv4 is that it offers incredible flexibility. While all 3D CAD software needs GPU acceleration, few applications require an entire GPU, which is what you get – and what you pay for – with other GPU accelerated virtual desktop instances.
Pay for what you need
With NVv4, both the 2nd generation AMD EPYC processors and AMD Radeon Instinct GPUs can be virtualized at a hardware level and and the GPUs partitioned into smaller virtual GPUs. It means instances can be sized to meet the exact workflow requirements of different sets of users, which can significantly reduce costs. A single AMD Radeon Instinct MI25 GPU, for example, is available in Azure in four resource options, offering 1/8 GPU (2GB), 1/4 (4GB), 1/2 (8GB) or a full GPU (16GB) – enabling the NVv4 to support to up to eight (VDI) remote virtual desktops.
Power of virtualization
There are many additional benefits to NVv4 remote desktops in the cloud. Manufacturing datasets are renowned for their size and complexity, containing every little nut and bolt. As all data remains in the Microsoft Azure cloud, users don’t have to wait for files to download locally which can also lead to version control nightmares. What’s more, as the VM only streams encrypted display pixels, Intellectual Property (IP) can be kept secure within the organization and extended supply chain.
Azure cloud – tailored for any workload or pipeline
AMD powered Azure Cloud has a range of available solutions to tackle a variety of workloads and pipelines in manufacturing and design. Powered by 2nd Generation EPYC processors, SMBs and enterprises can feel confident in leveraging the latest Azure general compute instances (D and E series) for office productivity and collaboration tasks or accelerate specialized engineering simulation workloads with Azure’s HPC instances HBv2.
Cloud for Manufacturing – Brief
Read our complete guide to Azure Cloud for manufacturing - which details the specific scenarios, workloads, benefits, and recommendations for deploying your IT infrastructure into the Cloud.
For more resources:
- NVv4 Microsoft GA blog: Link
- NVv4 pricing: Link
- AMD.com/Nvv4: Link
- NVv4 for Design and Manufacturing: Link
George Watkins is a Product Marketing Manager for AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
