Kuala Lumpur, 3 March 2022 – Altair Engineering Sdn. Bhd. (Altair), the Malaysian operations of Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ: ALTR), a global leader in computational science and artificial intelligence (AI), reported tremendous above 30% of growth in High-Performance Computing (HPC), Engineering simulation as well as Data Analytics (DA) businesses in the ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand regions for the year 2021.
“With the digital economy continuing to escalate, adopting digitalization in an organization is no longer a matter of choice, but rather a competitive necessity. It’s apparent that as more and more Malaysian enterprises emerge from the pandemic they are aggressively exploring adoption of IR 4.0 technology to reap the benefits of cost optimization and improving product quality through modernization of workplaces,” explained Altair Managing Director for Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Srirangam Srirangarajan. “Beyond technology, our team has been going the extra mile helping Malaysian companies ensure business continuity throughout the pandemic and staying relevant in the competitive market with our solutions,” he added.
In September 2021, Altair and Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) elevated its public-private synergy to set up the Altair Professorial Chair in Applied Scientific Computing to provide sound counsel and practical solutions addressing various industry challenges. The synergy aims to help organizations, especially start-ups, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), and corporations, stay resilient and competitive. The Chair’s consultancy capabilities are available to enterprises of all scales from any industry offering products or services, positioning it as a significant asset to Malaysian enterprises.
In 2021 Altair further secured a position as a prominent technology partner to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), through its agency, the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC), now known as MRANTI, following its convergence with Technology Park Malaysia. The public-private synergy saw Altair offer its industry knowledge and cutting-edge technology to pave the road towards Malaysia’s Techlympics: Youth STEM Competition and help businesses deploy and accelerate innovation through the National Technology and Innovation Sandbox (NTIS). Despite the challenging business environment, Altair seized the opportunity to extend reach to local enterprises and Malaysian youth, intending to elevate and cultivate innovative-thinking habits in the Malaysian landscape.
Sharing his observations on market trends in the region, Srirangam sees good traction in the manufacturing space, while banking continues to be the dominant segment for the group’s data analytics solutions, with Altair keen on providing solutions to assist the Islamic Digital Economy in Malaysia. “Data analytics is essential to derive business value from a large number of clients; keeping increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks associated with Islamic Banking at bay through a variety of established methods for fraud detection ranging from Outlier Detection to more sophisticated custom build processes, including using advanced Decision Trees,” Srirangam explained.
With its regional headquarters located in Kuala Lumpur for 10 years, Altair understands ASEAN countries share ambitious national digital agendas that collectively seek to propel the region towards a digitally enabled economy that is secure, sustainable and transformative. Srirangam observed that Malaysia’s neighbors, such as Singapore, are ahead of the curve in data maturity compared to other countries in the region and is now prioritizing cost optimization. “Altair is quickly becoming the partner of choice in the cost optimization journey of banks and other financial institutions. Indonesia is also actively riding the wave as they continue making strides in the traditional BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) as well as Fintech space,” Srirangam said.
Srirangam highlighted Altair’s commitment to support the global adoption of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for peace and prosperity of people and the planet, now and into the future. “Over the years, we have been consistently focusing on sustainable initiatives in Asia. With a number of proven sustainable technology solutions being used by pioneers in the region and a number of companies across the globe, Altair is confident in guiding a variety of industry segments to achieve their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals a lot more efficiently, and in a lot less time. Altair believes that by adopting technologies and ESG audits, businesses can contribute to environmental sustainability and build climate resilience,” he explained.
Srirangam also announced the recent appointment of Ms Marie Achille as Marketing Manager for the region. With a demonstrated history of working in the software industry and strong simulation knowledge, Achille has rich experience in regional digital marketing, specifically within sales and field marketing. Prior to joining Altair, Achille began her marketing career with the American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce. She later continued her journey at Dassault Systemes, where she held the Regional Senior Marketing Executive SEA / Japan and Korea / Digital Marketing position for more than seven years. Most recently she was the APAC Marketing Manager with Rizing, a gold status partner of SAP, for over two years. “Achille's solid merits in our male-dominated industry would certainly enhance Altair’s exceptional offerings, allowing a positive step towards the path of digital inclusivity”, Srirangam added.
At the global level and against the backdrop of the pandemic and challenging market conditions, Altair recently expanded its presence in the rapidly growing Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) market with the acquisition of UK-based World Programming which develops and distributes software products concerned with numerical analysis, business intelligence and data distribution. Altair has further fortified its portfolio with the acquisitions of Hyderabad-based Cassini, a next-generation cloud-native technology for IR 4.0 that simplifies and accelerates product development cycles and manages the entire product lifecycle, ideal for the manufacturing sector; and S-FRAME Software Inc.
Backed by a decade of experience in Malaysia’s digital landscape, Altair is confident that the convergence of engineering, data, and HPC will be a key driver supporting the rebuilding of momentum and growth for businesses over the next few years.
Srirangam sees three key things happening. “Firstly, digitalization will be all-pervasive to safeguard against any other global event like the pandemic. Secondly, as a natural extension, automation will take over routine tasks and increase efficiency while creating more high-level job opportunities. Finally, to allow risk reduction in a shorter manufacturing time, Digital Twins, a virtual replica of a real-world object that is run in a simulation environment to test its performance and efficacy, will start getting mainstream in large corporations and not only limited to engineering areas,” he forecasts.
“Today, more than ever, speed to market is essential for survival and growth. This highlights the ever-growing need to ensure your business is leveraging technology solutions that best meet your unique business challenges and needs,” Srirangam advised.
About Altair (Nasdaq: ALTR)
Altair is a global leader in computational science and artificial intelligence (AI) that provides software and cloud solutions in simulation, high-performance computing (HPC), data analytics, and AI. Altair enables organizations across all industries to compete more effectively and drive smarter decisions in an increasingly connected world – all while creating a greener, more sustainable future. For more information, visit https://www.altair.com/.
