TROY, Mich., Aug. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- As manufacturers and brand developers work to bring new, more complex products to the market faster to meet rapidly shifting global consumer demands -- and concurrently to reduce product-development time -- computer simulation, or virtual prototyping, continues to gain importance with business executives to cost-effectively meet these divergent design challenges. The role of computer simulation in today's businesses will be a focal point for some of America's top experts in product lifecycle management (PLM) and engineering software at next month's 2008 Americas HyperWorks Technology Conference, a program of leading global technology provider Altair Engineering, Inc. (http://www.altair.com) held at Novi's Rock Financial Showplace.

The Sept. 16-17 conference, which industry professionals can attend free of charge, will feature an expert panel on "The Relevance of Simulation in Today's Enterprise." The panel will be moderated by Anthony J. Lockwood, editor at large of Desktop Engineering magazine, a media sponsor of the conference. In addition, the panel session will offer viewpoints from such notables as:

    -- Aberdeen Group Research & Service Director Chad Jackson
    -- CIMdata, Inc. Director of Research Kenneth Amann
    -- Collaborative Product Development Associates (CPDA) Chairman Donald H.
       Brown
    -- Cyon Research Corporation Vice President and Chief Visionary,
       engineering-automation consultant and prolific author Dr. Joel Orr

The panel is one of many highlights scheduled during the first day of the conference, which begins with a welcome from Altair CEO James Scapa and a keynote address from Nand K. Kochhar, executive technical leader, Global CAE, for Ford Motor Company. Other keynoters during the conference will include Terry Swack, co-founder and CEO of Sustainable Minds, and Giovanni Greco, director of engineering for Sea Ray. The conference's second day will feature workshops geared towards the HyperWorks user base.

Altair Engineering's Hyperworks is an engineering simulation platform to support product lifecycle management processes. It ranks as one of the leading simulation-driven design solutions for product development across the world's top corporations in the advanced manufacturing community. The annual HyperWorks conference focuses on aspects of PLM in American business and has quickly grown into one of the premier PLM technology events for the advanced manufacturing community. The two-day conference brings together hundreds of industry professionals and technology leaders from a broad range of vertical markets and highlights industry trends in enterprise simulation and the latest on how manufacturers are enabling innovation through simulation.

For more information on Altair's Americas HyperWorks Technology Conference and to register, please visit http://www.altairhtc.com/na .

About HyperWorks

Built upon a foundation of design optimization, performance data management and process automation, HyperWorks is an enterprise simulation platform for rapid design-exploration and decision-making. As the most comprehensive, open-architecture CAE solution in the industry, HyperWorks includes best-in-class modeling, analysis, visualization and data management solutions for linear, nonlinear, structural optimization, fluid-structure interaction and multi-body dynamics applications. For more information, please visit http://www.altairhyperworks.com .

About Altair

Altair Engineering, Inc. empowers client innovation and decision-making through technology that optimizes the analysis, management and visualization of business and engineering information. Privately held with more than 1,400 employees, Altair has offices throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia/Pacific. With a 20-year-plus track record for enterprise analytics, product development and advanced computing, Altair consistently delivers a competitive advantage to customers in a broad range of industries. To learn more, please visit http://www.altair.com .

SOURCE Altair Engineering, Inc.