Case Study: European Transonic Windtunnel achieves stable, energy-efficient OpenVMS operations with Stromasys CHARON-VAX

European Transonic Windtunnel - Customer Case Study

European Transonic Windtunnel (ETW) is a leading aerodynamics research facility in Cologne that simulates extreme flight conditions—down to −160 °C, 4.5 bar and up to Mach 1.3—to test scaled aircraft models. For decades ETW relied on a cluster of VAX systems running OpenVMS to control airlocks, model transport and collect real-time measurement data, but the aging hardware and the inability to migrate custom applications threatened the tunnel’s reliable, real-time operations.

EQUIcon implemented Stromasys CHARON-VAX virtualization so OpenVMS could run on modern Windows servers; initial deployments in 2005 and 2009 moved development and production systems without losing functionality or the familiar look and feel. The switch preserved a stable real-time environment, improved performance and reduced IT energy use while maintaining security, and ETW now plans further migrations so its legacy applications can continue to run indefinitely.

European Transonic Windtunnel

Stefan Crump

Computer Systems Coordinator