One licence instead of hundreds of product IDs

Simulation teams collect licences the way workshops collect tooling: a CFD seat here, a Nastran solver there, a systems tool for one project, an optimiser nobody else can access. Simcenter X Advanced, released in December 2025, replaces that with one named-user subscription covering four domains: CFD with Simcenter STAR-CCM+, systems with Simcenter Amesim, mechanical with Simcenter 3D, Femap and Simcenter Nastran, and design exploration with HEEDS.

The applications install on your own workstations from Siemens Software Center and your models stay on your side. Only the licensing is cloud based, and cloud HPC is there as an option when you need it. Here is how the pieces fit.

1. Named users for the desktop, tokens for the solvers

Each named user gets unlimited pre- and post-processing across all four domains, 24 hours a day, on a single workstation. That covers geometry preparation, meshing setup, model building and results review in every application.

Solving and advanced capabilities draw on a shared pool of Simcenter X simulation tokens. Tokens are checked out when a solver starts and checked back in when it finishes; they are not consumed. Each solver capability has a token rate, and the pool floats across users worldwide, so a team in one office can use capacity another office is not using overnight. Administrators can assign tokens to individuals or groups.

The service runs from three regions, the US, the EU and Asia Pacific, and is ISO 27001 certified.

2. The same solvers, unchanged

Simcenter X Advanced does not introduce new simulation codes. STAR-CCM+ brings multiphysics CFD with built-in design exploration. Amesim includes the multi-physics libraries for hydraulic, thermal, pneumatic, mechanical, electrical and electromechanical systems, with industry libraries for powertrain, thermal management, vehicle dynamics and aerospace available on tokens. Simcenter 3D Engineering Desktop includes the acoustics, low-frequency electromagnetic, margin of safety, motion, noise and vibration and rotor environments, alongside Femap and the E-machine design desktop.

For an existing Simcenter user the setup, the processes and the results are the same, which is the point: the cloud benefits arrive without disrupting the work. Solver starter packs make the mechanical side easy to size, for example 35 tokens for Motion, Nastran Basic and 2D low-frequency electromagnetics together.

3. Cross-domain workflows and MDAO

Because one licence covers all domains, a workflow can chain them: a STAR-CCM+ thermal result feeding a Simcenter 3D stress case, an Amesim system model providing loads, and HEEDS driving the whole loop.

HEEDS under Simcenter X Advanced gives every named user full workflow authoring, post-processing and all the portals, with results shared online through HEEDS Connect. Tokens unlock execution: unlimited parallel processes, single and multi-objective optimisation, design of experiments, adaptive sampling, the AI simulation predictor, Python scripting and reduced order modelling.

On the CFD side, tokens cover per-core meshing and solving with no limit on CPUs or GPUs, plus battery, in-cylinder and SPH physics. Capacity scales with the job rather than with a licence file.

4. An AI chat over 45,000 pages of documentation

The Simcenter documentation runs to roughly 18,000 pages for Simcenter 3D, 17,000 for STAR-CCM+, 6,000 for Amesim, 2,500 for Femap and 1,100 for HEEDS. Simcenter X Advanced includes an integrated AI chat that reads it for you: ask which turbulence model suits a case or how a contact is defined and get an answer grounded in the manuals, with the modelling fundamentals and best practices behind it.

Simcenter X Advanced also includes built-in simulation data management powered by Teamcenter X Essentials. Simulation files are organised and stored, changes are tracked, and colleagues across domains can find and reuse each other's models. It is ready to use on day one and can grow into full simulation process and data management later.

5. Setting it up

Onboarding runs through the Siemens Xcelerator Admin Console, the same console used by every other Xcelerator product. Your administrator registers users against the subscription and allocates tokens by group. Each user receives a welcome email with a link to Siemens Software Center, which installs the applications, keeps versions in step and applies updates.

Cloud licensing is enabled automatically on install and is supported from Simcenter Amesim 2511, STAR-CCM+ 2510, Simcenter 3D and Femap 2506 and HEEDS 2510. A user can switch an application back to a local licence server if needed.

Named-user add-ons are available for Amesim, including the Git client for versioned model libraries and FMI export for co-simulation with other tools.

How to get it

Simcenter X Advanced is a named-user subscription with a token pool sized to your solver workload. If your team already runs Simcenter products on premise, the applications and models carry across; what changes is the licensing and the administration. Optional cloud HPC for STAR-CCM+ on Siemens-managed infrastructure can add capacity for peaks without buying hardware.

Siemens Xcelerator Academy provides self-paced online training across the Simcenter domains, and NomuTech runs instructor-led courses online or in person anywhere in the Middle East.

NomuTech supplies, implements and trains on Simcenter across the Middle East. Bring us your list of solvers and how often each one runs, and we will size the pool: talk to us.