Regarding ROI in industry, I think that's a good topic for discussion. Like any area HPC is applied to, I would guess that the first thing you have to look at is the capability the equipment gives you. Either in terms of 'we could not run this simulation, or a simulation as detailed as we need' without it, or 'we get the results back in time to influence our decisions', ie. scale and time to solution. Then you have to say what effect that will have on your business goals - either by saying that if we do not have that HPC capacity we will have to do the modelling on other, perhaps more expensive, ways such as crash testing real cars or aircraft engines. Or by saying that if we have the capability we can increase the performance of our product, and thereby gain competitiveness.
I think the time to solution argument is an important one - certainly is where I work! And think of obvious examples such as weather forecasting where you need that forecast to be produced before a certain time. Again time to solution can be quantified int he medical diagnostic arena - you are probably able to say that if you run (say) a radiation dose plan within the time of a clinic it means the patient does not have to come back for a second visit, thereby saving soem amount of money. Apologies if i am stating the blindingly obvious.
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