RTDS Technologies Unveils Revolutionary Real Time Simulation Platform Leveraging IBM POWER8 Technology

WINNIPEG, Manitoba, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

The new NovaCor™ hardware platform for the RTDS^® Simulator, developed within the OpenPOWER Foundation, offers enhanced capabilities in the field of power system simulation and closed-loop device testing 

RTDS Technologies announces NovaCor: a new hardware platform for the RTDS Simulator featuring the simulation industry's fastest and most complex real time simulation capabilities. NovaCor features the performance of IBM's POWER8 processor and was developed with the support of the OpenPOWER Foundation.

The RTDS Simulator, introduced by RTDS Technologies in 1989, was the world's first fully digital real time power system simulator. For nearly three decades, the simulator's hardware architecture has consisted of processors housed in rack-mounted cards, exchanging data over a backplane. The NovaCor platform features an all-new architecture: each NovaCor unit houses a powerful multicore POWER8 processor, designed by IBM to deliver performance for emerging workloads. Rapid communication between the ten cores of each processor eliminates the need for backplane data transfer, allowing for much faster and more complex real time power system simulation than ever before.

"The NovaCor platform will allow users of the RTDS Simulator to do more with less," said Rick Kuffel, Director of RTDS Technologies. "Users can purchase a NovaCor unit and license anywhere from one to ten of the available processing cores depending on the scale of simulation they wish to perform. In terms of simulated network size and complexity, NovaCor is notably more powerful than our previous hardware platform."

Membership in the OpenPOWER Foundation was essential to the development process. RTDS Technologies was able to leverage the performance capabilities of POWER8 processing technology into an optimum solution for real time simulation. RTDS Technologies is the world's first (and currently the only) power system simulator developer to join OpenPOWER. 

"RTDS is an example of the results achieved through the rapidly growing and diverse ecosystem of the OpenPOWER Foundation," said Ken King, IBM general manager for OpenPOWER. "Given that POWER8 is capable of being deployed in any number of custom server configurations to reach a wide array of market segments, it's well suited to provide the performance needed to support new and emerging workloads."

"RTDS Technologies is proud to be a member of the OpenPOWER Foundation," said Trevor Maguire, Director of RTDS Technologies, "and exceedingly pleased with the support provided by IBM during the development of NovaCor. As a company, we have always focused on technological development, working with research and development initiatives such as IEEE Working Groups in order to contribute to innovation in the power systems industry. Being part of the OpenPOWER Foundation and working with IBM has been an opportunity to contribute to the revolution of the IBM Power architecture and to ensure that the RTDS Simulator maintains its position as the industry standard for real time power system simulation - the most technologically advanced simulator of its kind on the market."

The NovaCor hardware platform is now available for order and is fully compatible with the RTDS Simulator's existing software platform, input/output and other auxiliary cards, and previous generations of processing hardware. Learn more at http://www.rtds.com/novacor.

About RTDS Technologies Inc. 

RTDS Technologies provides power system simulators and simulation support to customers in over 40 countries around the world. RTDS Technologies introduced the RTDS^® Simulator - the world's first fully digital real time simulator - in 1989, revolutionizing the testing process for power system protection and control equipment. The RTDS Simulator continues to serve as the world's benchmark for performing real time power system simulation today. Users of the RTDS^® Simulator include the world's leading power system equipment manufacturers, electric utilities, research institutes, and universities.

For further details visit http://www.rtds.com.

Media Contacts
Kati Sidwall
RTDS Technologies Inc.
+1 204 594 9713
kati@rtds.com