New enhancements benefit automotive, aerospace, fuel cell, and electronics industries

Paris, France – October 01, 2009 – ESI Group (ISINFR0004110310), a pioneer and world-leading supplier of digital simulation software for prototyping and manufacturing processes, announced today the latest release of the ACE+ suite of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Multiphysics simulation software. Version 2009.2 includes new enhancements of significant benefit for automotive, aerospace, fuel cell, and electronics customers.

Shorter prototyping process The ACE+ suite allows the acceleration of the product development process by accurately simulating multiple physics in a single solution. Built around the CFD-ACE+ multiphysics solver and including specialized technology tailored to solve difficult applications, the tools within the suite can analyze complex physical phenomenon at the macro, micro, and even nano scales. The suite, also comprised of advanced automated meshing using CFD-VisCART’s adaptive mesh generation, substantially reduces the time needed to prepare complex geometries compared to traditional hex or tetrahedral meshing methods. This unique combination of specialized solver technology and advanced productivity tools makes the ACE+ Suite a powerful asset for customers. Version 2009.2 includes significant updates to the CFD-ACE+ Advanced CFD and Multiphysics solver, CFD-FASTRAN density-based solver for high-mach flows, CFD-GEOM modeler and mesh generator, CFD-VisCART adaptive automated mesh generator, and CFD-VIEW visualization tools. Those enhancements have been made to increase usability, robustness and accuracy.

Benefits to select industries Automotive customers will receive an increased benefit from the implementation of a new advanced turbulence model and the inclusion of automated boundary layer meshing in CFD-VisCART, which has dramatically improved both the speed and accuracy for large aerodynamic simulations. New aerospace applications were addressed in this release with the ability to allow thermal coupling between CFD-FASTRAN and CFD-ACE+ to simulate high-mach re-entry heating of spacecraft.

Fuel cell design engineers continue to benefit from a multi-year investment by the US Department of Energy to refine the multi-phase and porous media capability of CFD-ACE+, allowing ESI customers to simulate more accurately the electrical, structural, and water management performance of these complex electrochemical energy conversion devices. Finally, the semiconductor manufacturing process simulation toolset received improvements for analyzing capacitive coupled plasma (CCP), which is one of the most common types of industrial plasma sources.

“The latest release of the ACE+ Suite includes many new features and developments designed to further improve our value proposition of high productivity coupled with highly accurate physics for the applications we have targeted”, said Joseph Strelow, Director of Virtual Environment Solutions at ESI. “This release benefits significantly from the expansion of our global CFD services activity which is becoming the driving force behind this application-focused approach to development”.

More details about the release are available at http://www.esi-group.com/products/Fluid-Dynamics

About ESI Group

ESI is a world-leading supplier and pioneer of digital simulation software for prototyping and manufacturing processes that take into account the physics of materials. ESI has developed an extensive suite of coherent, industry-oriented applications to realistically simulate a product’s behavior during testing, to fine-tune manufacturing processes in accordance with desired product performance, and to evaluate the environment’s impact on product performance. ESI’s products represent a unique collaborative and open environment for Simulation-Based Design, enabling virtual prototypes to be improved in a continuous and collaborative manner while eliminating the need for physical prototypes during product development. The company employs over 750 high-level specialists worldwide covering more than 30 countries. ESI Group is listed in compartment C of NYSE Euronext Paris. For further information, visit www.esi-group.com.

Press Relations

ESI Group: Elise Lavoue elise.lavoue@esi-group.com Tel: +44 (0) 1865 784 833