I have been having the Microsoft Hololens developer edition for some weeks now and I am amazed how a great product it is, when I got unbox the package I could quickly see that this was not a typical “developer” product aka “beta” product it seem finish and ready for shipping for the masses.
I created a video of how great Citrix is working together with Hololens, you can see it below
Below video gives you an idea how it might look like working on either a Word document or heavy GPU CAD application such as Autodesk AutoCAD from the Hololens. The applications are not installed on the Microsoft Hololens, they are running from servers securely and pixels are only streamed to the Microsoft Hololens, this is what is called remote graphics, and now possible in Augmented Reality. Powerful technology and many use cases for this new workstyle.
Today Microsoft is now shipping the Hololens Commercial edition.
The Commercial Suite includes the Development Edition, enterprise features for added security and device management, and a warranty. Transform your business with Microsoft HoloLens.
Kiosk mode. With HoloLens kiosk mode, you can limit which apps to run to enable demo or showcase experiences.
Mobile Device Management (MDM) for HoloLens. Your IT department can manage multiple HoloLens devices simultaneously using solutions like Microsoft InTune. You will be able to manage settings, select apps to install and set security configurations tailored to your organization’s need.
Identity. Azure Active Directory and next generation credentials with PIN unlock.
Windows Update for Business. Controlled operating system updates to devices and support for long term servicing branch.
Data security. BitLocker data encryption and secure boot is enabled on HoloLens to provide the same level of security protection as any other Windows device.
Work access. Anyone in your organization can remotely connect to the corporate network through a virtual private network on a HoloLens. HoloLens can also access Wi-Fi networks that require credentials.
Windows Store for Business. Your IT department can also set up an enterprise private store, containing only your company’s apps for your specific HoloLens usage. Securely distribute your enterprise software to selected group of enterprise users.
I want to share this with you all, Luke Wignall and his team from NVIDIA have created some great AppGuides, that helps with understanding how many users can you put on a NVIDIA GRID system with either K1/K2 in a VMware environment. These guides are made together with vendors such as Autodesk. The guides focus on following apps Autodesk Revit.
In this blogpost my goal is to highlight the great work NVIDIA have done creating the scalability app guides and these guides helps you if you want to virtualize Autodesk Revit with NVIDIA GRID and VMware Horizon. The guides are great – cause they give an idea what you would require in a virtualized environment and these can be reused for other virtualized platforms such as Citrix and Microsoft – keep in mind that results might be different. If you would like to get more informations about how the setup is configured and which methodology i recommend you read the AppGuide, you can download it in under source in the end of this article.
The appguides gives a great idea to understand the impact of CPU and how the GPU are giving value.
About Autodesk Revit 2015
Autodesk Revit is Building Information Modeling (BIM) software with features for architectural design, MEP and structural engineering, and construction. Revit requires a GPU as you rotate, zoom, and interact with drawings. It also creates heavy CPU load as it manages all the elements of a drawing via a database, which means we need high performance storage as well. The heaviest Revit CPU usage occurs during data-rich operations like file open/save and model updates. As a result both CPU and GPU need to be considered in architecting your vGPU solution. The size of your drawing file, the concurrency of your users, and the level of interaction with 3D data need to be factored into defining your user groups.
Results Appguide for Autodesk Revit 2015
The following are results of our testing, looking for the greatest scalability while still within performance expectations. Its important to note that your users, your data, and your hardware, will impact these results and you may decide a different level of performance or scalability is required to meet your individual business needs. As the RFO Benchmark does not currently exercise some of Revit’s newest GPU capabilities, and was built to push the limits of dedicated hardware versus the shared resources of VDI, the decision was made to stop testing once the host’s CPU was approaching 100% utilized and test times had climbed past twice what we were finding on the a single physical workstation with dedicated resources. We then met with the Autodesk Revit team, discussed the results, reviewed the tests in action, and determined with eyes on that this was still within what a typical user would deem acceptable and usable. It’s been well documented that storage performance is key to providing high performance graphics workloads, especially with many users and ever-growing file or model sizes.
FYI – Lower scores are better, representing less time to perform the activity in below tables.
Here are the results when we push for more scalability, bringing the maximum number of VDI guests to 20 and 24. We have added a 15 second staggered start to emulate synthetic human behavior.
Revit 2015 users per server
Based on our findings, NVIDIA GRID provides the following performance and scalability metrics for Autodesk Revit 2015; using the lab equipment shown below, using the RFO benchmark, and in working with Autodesk and their emphasis on usability. Of course, your usage will depend on your models but this is guidance to help guide your implementation.
I want to share this with you all, Luke Wignall and his team from NVIDIA have created some great AppGuides, that helps with understanding how many users can you put on a NVIDIA GRID system with a K2 in a VMware environment. These guides are made together with vendors such as ESRI. The guides focus on following apps ESRI ArcGIS Pro.
In this blogpost my goal is to highlight the great work NVIDIA have done creating the scalability app guides and these guides helps you if you want to virtualize ESRI Pro with NVIDIA GRID and VMware Horizon. The guides are great – cause they give an idea what you would require in a virtualized environment and these can be reused for other virtualized platforms such as Citrix and Microsoft – keep in mind that results might be different. If you would like to get more informations about how the setup is configured and which methodology i recommend you read the AppGuide, you can download it in under source in the end of this article.
The appguides gives a great idea to understand the impact of CPU and how the GPU are giving value.
About ESRI ArcGIS Pro
ESRI ArcGIS Pro 1.0 is a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) application for mapping, visualizing, editing, and analyzing spatial data. Esri recommends a GPU for best end user experience, but as ArcGIS Pro 1.0 also generates heavy CPU load, this also needs to be considered in architecting your vGPU solution. The size of your map data, the concurrency of your users, and the level of interaction with 3D data all need to be considered when defining your user groups.
Results NVIDIA Appguide for ESRI ArcGis Pro
The following are the full results of our testing. The baseline was the 45 second draw time sum – anything greater than that value represented a worsening UX while less would be a better UX. Looking for both performance and scalability, we tested looking for the greatest number of virtual desktops, and therefore the greatest scalability, while still within performance expectations and the threshold of 45 seconds. It’s important to note that your users, your data, and your hardware will impact these results and you may decide a different level of performance or scalability is required to meet your individual business needs. Tests were also run to look for potential NUMA issues that can negatively impact performance. This is where the physical GPU and its PCI-e channels are tied to one physical CPU, while the virtual desktop is running on the other physical CPU, so communication with the physical GPU has to move over the QPI between the two physical CPUs. This creates a bottleneck and can cause performance issues. However, in our testing, the application is sufficiently CPU bound that NUMA affinity made little difference. The results in the table below show the decrease in performance as we increased vCPU counts, and then the increase in scalability with synthetic human behavior (think time):
ArcGIS – users per server
Based on NVIDIA Performance Engineering Lab findings, NVIDIA GRID provides the following performance and scalability metrics for Esri ArcGIS 3D Pro 1.0. These metrics are based on tests with the lab equipment shown in the graphic below, using the Esri API based “heavy 3D” benchmark and in working with Esri to determine acceptable performance. Of course, your usage will depend on your models, but this is guidance to help guide your implementation.
Hi all, if you are looking for an event that is all about CAD, CAM, CAE, PLM, Rendering, 3D technologies, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and 3D printing then is FREE!! then DEVELOP3D LIVE is the event to join. Rachel Berry opened my eyes going there last year 2015 and she made me come all the way from Denmark to Warwick and it was worth the long trip 🙂 If you are looking for travel advice Hotels and such I recommend you read Rachel Berry blogpost, I use myself Kayak.com 🙂 that always saves my life when i am traveling around the world and if you want it cheap use Airbnb.com.
My things learned from DEVELOP3D LIVE 2015
I went there and had high expectations and I was in for a surprise. It was all about above and much more I saw for the first time Carl Bass the CEO of Autodesk, Gian Paolo Bassi the CEO of SolidWorks, Jon Hirschtick the CEO of Onshore and the founder of SolidWorks, Nikola Bozinovic the Founder and CEO of FRAME, and many many more.
I got my hands on the HP Zvr for the second time, I saw the unit for the first time at NVIDIA GTC in 2013 and HP have acquired the company. I also saw another favorite Augmented Device the HP Sprout, which is an amazing unit. 3Dconnexion was off course also there so all my favorite CAD peripherals and next gen tools.
Below is the picture of Carl Bass CEO of Autodesk talking at DEVELOP3D LIVE last year and Rachel Berry trying Fra.me solution
Meet the Speakers of DEVELOP3D LIVE 2016
I am looking very much forward meeting a good friend of mine Adam Jull from IMSCAD Global.
Adam and his team have been early adapters of HDX 3D Pro like myself, so its great to see a pioneer talking at Develop3DLive.
I am also looking very much forward meeting the NVIDIA team + my favorite CAD genius Rachel Berry and also see if AMD have something interesting to show like the Multiuser gpu if its ready for that time.
Get your ticket for free here for joining the awesome CAD event in beautiful Warwick. If you never been to UK well this is your reason to go, learn from the best and brightest people on CAD and see the beautiful country side of England. Two awesome things.
