Hydro processors power university research

(June 7, 2004) Hydro is supporting research at RWTH University in Aachen, and Technical University of Cologne, both in Germany, by donating server hardware worth EUR 240,000.

One of the many synergy effects from VAW´s integration with Hydro is that some brand new server environments – valued at EUR 240,000 – became redundant in the common IT-architecture. They’re now serving productive new tasks.

SPONSORSHIP: "As an innovative company, we maintain close contacts with research and development institutions," says Dr. Dieter J. Braun, president of Hydro Aluminium's Automotive sector.

"As an innovative company, we maintain close contacts with research and development institutions – in particular, Aachen. Here we find smart new ideas, extremely competent project partners and some of the best, if not the best work within aluminium research and the development of high-potential applications," said Dieter J. Braun, president Hydro Aluminium Automotive.

Hydro knows research today is largely driven by strong processor power. The Aachen Institute for Metal Forming, will use the donated computer capacity to accelerate electronic publication of recent scientific results and to bundle servers into simulation clusters, which will empower calculating optimization processes in forming technology.

The Aachen Institute for Metallurgical Process Technology and Metal Recycling will also build virtual places for confidential knowledge exchange, with the help of the sponsored hardware. The former Hydro-servers will also enable the Institute for Automotive Technology at the Technical University of Cologne to start new calculations on crash and streaming simulation.

The sponsor project will also strengthen direct ties between the institutes and individual Hydro sites, emphasized out Hydro Aluminium Rolled Products Grevenbroich plant manager Udo Litzenberger. The former IT environment at Hydro Aluminium Neuss will partner with metallurgists at the Aachen Institute, while Hydro Aluminium Rolled Products Grevenbroich will benefit from improved rolling process models calculated on servers it has donated to the Aachen Institute for Metal Forming,

"This sponsorship demonstrates the so-called ‘magic aluminium triangle’ in the Neuss district of Germany. It simultaneously froms one part of an important innovation triangle – together with our R&D center in Bonn and Aachen University," commented Litzenberger.

By donating its "old" servers, R&D Bonn is strengthening contact between its own automotive technology and the Institute of Automotive Technology at the Technical University of Cologne – expediting the task of finding new, improved car applications.

Delivery of the servers was carried out voluntarily by Hydro IS Partner.