london, january 10th, 2013. future facilities, a leading provider of predictive dcim software for data centre design and operations today announced the availability of the 6sigmadc suite release 7.1. the software update offers improved functionality with a major focus on increased usability for modelling and reporting. 

"with higher levels of granularity, 6sigmadc release 7.1 promises even more realistic data centre modelling," said mark seymour, cto at future facilities. "as a result, users of the 6sigmadc suite can expect to see improvements in usability and productivity throughout the data centre lifecycle from design to decommissioning". 

new features such as 'snap functionality' provide continuous visual feedback about the placement of objects relative to one another in the model. in essence, users can now build complex models with both confidence and speed without having to check the alignment of data centre components as they build their virtual facility. 

a powerful new search tool has been applied enabling dynamic searches of the entire 6sigmadc library. the database of equipment images for use within the virtual facility has been further strengthened with the addition of 250 new symbols, as well as the inclusion of a comprehensive catalogue of great lakes' 5-star e, en and es series equipment cabinets. continuous error checking has also been improved, and users now have the option to turn it off while building a model inside the virtual facility. 

release 7.1 also offers improvements to cooling duct design and modelling with easier sketching. this, coupled with the ability to manipulate the graphical view in the snap function, enables users to join transitions from one shape to another with speed and precision, allowing additional cooling vents to be changed effortlessly from 'hollow' to 'solid'. 

other notable features of 6sigmadc release 7.1 include: 

 • thin objects can now dissipate heat from the collapsed surface according to the local heat transfer coefficients

 • controllers are now even more flexible and can be set to control both temperature and pressure simultaneously,
    enabling the user to prioritize one or the other. for example, an acu's fan may be controlled by temperature,
    but can also be set to maintain a minimum pressure within the floor void

 • new solution enhancements have been added, including the ability to freeze flow while continuing solution of
   temperature, a new extension to the parallel solver to speed up convergence of conduction when solving
   on multiple processors, and the ability to choose to store density for later inspection

 • 6sigmapower has been extended to allow full connectivity of the power chain, from utility supply to the socket. 

6sigmadc release 7.1 is available to current users for download from the future facilities user support sitetoday (username and password required). for more details about the release, please call future facilities on +44 (0) 207 840 9540, email [email protected] or visit the company's webpage release 7.1 - out now! 

about future facilities 

future facilities is a leading provider of simulation software for the design, optimization and management of mission-critical facilities and data centers. a leader in computational fluid dynamics (cfd) software, future facilities offers a suite of integrated software products that tackles the challenges of data center lifecycle engineering. 

additional information can be found at www.futurefacilities.com