Altair, the $350 million American simulation technology major, is eying India, the growing world’s fifth largest auto mart, to make it among Asia’s biggest markets. The company is focusing on Internet of Things (IOT), electric mobility, 3D printing and automation to grow its business in Asia’s third biggest economy. It is aggressively tapping automobile, aerospace and defence markets, among other businesses in the country.

Altair, a leader in the computer aided engineering (CAE) field, has now made a strong entry into the digital twin space by the introduction of an IOT platform which gives users the ability to combine real world data with a high fidelity 3D finite element model.

This combination allows users to feed real time sensor driven data into a digital CAE model and re-run the simulations, thus providing a preventive diagnostic solution which is specific to that particular product. Altair India has made significant investments in India to bring these advances to the Indian market.

Altair competes with American firms Ansys and MSC Software, and French firm Dassault in the Indian market. After operating for 14 years in the country, the Indian arm’s sales revenues grew 15 per cent in calendar year 2016 to Rs 220 crore year-on-year basis. The co?m?pany is now targeting to continue its growth trajectory with more clients being ad?ded to provide its technology and customised services.

“India is one of the key markets for us for growth and one among Asia’s bi?ggest markets over the next few years,” Michael Hoffm?ann, Senior Vice Presid?ent, math and systems at Altair told Financial Chronicle.

He said every three mo?nths series of new suites of software are released in the market to increase speed, reliability and productivity.

Hoffmann said Altair is developing a broad application of simulation technology to synthesise and optimise designs, and processes for its diverse clients in the country to better their business performances. These technologies will be vital tools in the hands of Indian engineers elevating further the frugal engineering philosophy.

Its clients in India range from Tata Motors to Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Ford, Me?rcedes-Benz, Hyundai, As?h?ok Leyland, among others. “Our engineering software enabling innovation, reduced development times, and lower costs through the entire product life-cycle fro?m concept design to in-service operation have helped our clients improve their businesses,” Hoffmann pointed out.

He said Altair’s simulation-driven appro?ach to innovation is po?w?ered by its integrated suite of software which optimises design performance across multiple disciplines encompassing structures, motion, fluids, thermal management, electromagnetics, system modeling and embedded systems, while also providing data analytics and true-to-life visualisation and rendering. At present it has over 30 software products for simulations for automobile sector in the country.

“Electric mobility, the internet of things (IOT), 3D printing and automation is driving our business growth in India,” Pavan Kumar, ma?naging director at Altair India told Financial Chronicle. He said a group of engineers were already working on development products and platforms based on Internet of Things for diverse applications to cater to em?erging requirements like s?m?art parking, water, energy management and in smart cities.

end-of