Given the advancing impact that COVID-19 (coronavirus) is having on the world, and the ensuing anxiety and uncertainty it is causing, now is a time for global communities to band together and support each other.  For me, the health and safety of our employees (Altairians), customers, partners and their families is paramount.

Like a growing list of companies, we instituted a remote work policy last week for our people globally and have taken steps to ensure our systems are able to run optimally. Meetings, both internal and external, will be held virtually, and we have curtailed all travel until the situation improves.

Altair is committed to and capable of continuing to provide the same excellent level of service and technical support to which customers have become accustomed. Our team is comfortable and familiar with remote work, as it is a normal part of our everyday life.

While many organizations may struggle with this new reality – as discussed in this Wall Street Journalarticle – it’s simply part of our culture. We have been encouraging and supporting our employees to work outside of the office long before it was considered a perk, so we are well positioned to not only weather this storm, but to continue to support everyone in our ecosystem.

Our systems are fortified to provide the highest level of technical support and service for customers, and our IT team is always responsive and focused on ensuring Altairians globally have the connectivity and access to do their jobs from anywhere. Below, are some solutions and resources we are making available to customers to help them maintain their productivity.

To address issues related to remote working such as maxing out corporate VPNs, cost, security issues and productivity loss, customers can move existing licenses seamlessly from on-prem servers to hosted servers utilizing Altair Hosted HyperWorks Units (HHWUs). HHWUs are an existing Altair solution used by many customers globally for several years, proven to be safe, robust, and provides the following benefits:

• Enable employees to work from anywhere without overloading corporate VPN servers or drilling a hole into the firewall for license access.
• Data remains secure with prevailing security policies on the device of choice as the software is only requesting a license on a secure network channel.
• Reduce IT overhead of maintaining on-premises license servers (reduced cost of hardware) and supporting them.
• Ease of access and execution of Altair software from anywhere/everywhere and on public cloud infrastructure.

In addition, we can provide temporary software licenses for clients working from home without access to their enterprise Altair software solutions with no additional fees or charges.

If customers wish to move their HyperWorks Units from on-premises to Altair hosted servers or require temporary software licenses, they should contact their account representative.

We are also offering an increased number of online instructor-led training courses and self-paced eLearning courses. To make access to these courses easier, we have removed the login for introductory level courses until further notice.

Academic ebooks are available here. They offer an overview of the analysis types and tutorials that walk users through the use of Altair software to perform operations.

Who knows, maybe this prolonged period of everyone working away from the office, many at home with loved ones, will accelerate change or spur the next great innovation? Sometimes breaking away from normal routines helps one see the world in a different light, leading to solving a hard problem or even coming up with the next ‘big thing.’

I am confident global communities will unite and overcome this crisis, and I am especially confident in the strength and resilience of our Altair family. We are committed to offering flexibility and supporting this unique situation as families with school age children at home establish a new working rhythm for the short-term.

As we respond to this new reality, we will remain focused on driving our business forward and supporting our customers and partners. We will do everything in our power to keep our employees, customers, and partners safe and productive. We are committed to maintaining our service and support at a very high level during this uncertain time, and we are available to help you in any way we can.

Thank you all for your support, stay safe, and best wishes for better times ahead soon.
For more information about Altair’s response to COVID-19, click here.