Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
rest of the time focus on the core business. This is exactly what Grid and Cloud
computing offer: Computing on demand.
Before SESIS, and the corresponding Grid interface at the shipyard, it was
necessary to mail detailed information about technologies and materials that were to
be used for constructing the ship or to provide information over the phone. Several
iterations were necessary before the suppliers and the shipyard had all the data that
they needed in the same version. Sometimes phone and mail were not sufficient and
the engineers had to travel to meetings. Travelling of highly skilled personnel is a
cost factor that should not be underestimated. Every time modifications to the data
were made (either at the supplier or the shipyard) the process of exchanging data
started again. With SESIS and the Grid it is easy to share and work on the same data.
Everyone can have immediate access and works on the same version, at the same
time, without introducing high travelling costs.
To sum up for the end users (i.e. shipyards and suppliers) the expected benefit
of the proposed Grid-enabled collaborative simulation technology that was demon-
strated within the Business Experiment were:
• Easier and cheaper co-operation and joint development between shipyard and
supplier.
• Cost reduction by avoiding travel expenses of highly qualified personnel, by
having results faster and hence more time to react or to find a more optimal
solution.
• Access to resources which are not available locally or which are only needed
temporarily on a PAYG (Pay-As-You-Go) charging model (i.e. reduced cost-of
ownership).
• Acceleration of the ship design processes.
• Reduction of technical and financial risks in the ship design.
• Co-operation with the IT service provider and technology integrators helping to
concentrate on core tasks and competences rather than IT business.
For an IT-Service provider the advantage of this Business Experiment is that it opens
the door to an entirely new business sector. If the engineers at the shipyard make use
of Grid technology and benefit from it, other engineering companies might become
interested in this technology as well.
Since SESIS and its Grid interface are very flexible (due to the modular design),
it is also possible that other engineering sectors, like the automobile industry will
become interested in running jobs at the service provider site via SESIS and its Grid
interface.
10.1.4 Partners involved in the Business Experiment
The Business Experiment was carried out by the following five partners:
The
Flensburger Schiffbau Gesellschaft m.b.H & Co. KG (FSG) is a shipyard,
which focuses on construction of so-called RoRo-ferries, container ships and other
highly specialized vessels. In recent years the main focus has been on RoRo ferries
(see for example fig. 10.2).
