Nanoscale is now closer than ever. GridwiseTech
assisted FEI
Company, a world leader in producing electron microscopes, in migration
to a modern IT architecture, one that would make their resources more accessible
all over the world.
FEI’s microscopes are high-precision tools that are hugely important in
science, research and industry. They enable users to analyze and characterize
the structures of materials down to the atomic scale. Data resulting from FEI's
microscopes are invaluable in all kinds of materials research, in the steel
industry, to semiconductor manufacturers, and for the emerging nanotechnology
sector. Access to such hardware
was once highly exclusive. To perform a non-routine analysis, a specialist often
had to take his samples on a long-haul flight to examine them with the assistance
of a dedicated microscopist. This meant a loss of time and money as projects
could be delayed by days or months.
GridwiseTech engineers started by investigating the existing highly-distributed
environment and diagnosing the challenges using their proprietary methodology.
A consistent, systematic approach is central to GridwiseTech's high-quality
results. After the positive outcome of the feasibility study, the GridwiseTech
team designed and implemented patterns that enabled FEI’s customers to
share analytical expertise and data more effectively, —and the final system
is designed to make future development straightforward. GridwiseTech's work
delivered a sophisticated and secure resource-sharing infrastructure, one that
now makes it easy for authorized specialists to access expensive resources.
Further, the full capabilities of FEI’s hardware have been unleashed,
keeping its clients happy and maximizing return on investment (ROI).
According to Dirk Jan Swagerman, Director R&D Acht Software Engineering
at FEI Company: "GridwiseTech has proven to be a reliable partner in creating
advanced remote operation solutions for us. Using agile project planning and
tracking, their technical staff was able to get the highest priority features
in the product first. This approach left us with a good product candidate under
challenging budget conditions." GridwiseTech's professional and effective
work resulted in FEI choosing them for a new project. We look forward to the
continued collaboration between our two companies.