What is Azure Modeling and Simulation Workbench?
Azure Modeling and Simulation Workbench is a fully managed, secure on-demand environment for engineering design and simulation. Instead of assembling an HPC environment from VMs, a scheduler, license servers, storage, networking and access controls by hand, the service provisions these building blocks automatically. The core architectural unit is the chamber: an isolated, secure environment where teams run their engineering applications and manage workloads.
The service solves a concrete problem in contract and collaboration engineering: setting up a secure design environment often takes weeks, and working across company boundaries puts intellectual property at risk. Azure Modeling and Simulation Workbench reduces setup to hours and protects each party’s IP through two-way privacy. Its primary domain is semiconductor and EDA (electronic design automation) development. The service remains in public preview; current availability details should be confirmed with Microsoft before starting a project.
Core features
- Chambers: Isolated, secure network environments where teams run engineering applications. Two-way privacy keeps each team’s IP separate, while shared storage volumes enable controlled collaboration.
- Workload-specific compute: VM options across General Purpose, Compute Optimized and Memory Optimized, plus a scheduler and license servers for EDA tools, so the environment matches the workload at hand.
- High-performance storage: Private and shared storage with high availability and scalability, built on Azure NetApp Files. Capacity and performance tiers are adjustable.
- Secure access: Authentication and role-based permissions through Microsoft Entra ID. Connectors provide access via VPN, Azure ExpressRoute or allowlisted IP addresses, with no direct internet connectivity to the chamber.
Typical use cases
Semiconductor and EDA design: Chip development teams run compute-intensive design, simulation and verification workloads in dedicated chambers. The service targets this domain and is backed by the Azure MSWB Alliance Program with members including Cadence, Intel, NetApp, Siemens and Synopsys.
Secure multi-vendor collaboration: Multiple partners work on a shared design without exposing their intellectual property. Two-way privacy separates each team’s IP, while shared storage volumes enable targeted exchange for joint debug or co-development.
On-demand engineering environments: Organizations with fluctuating project loads spin up design environments at short notice and set chambers to idle once work is done. Costs then accrue only for active usage.
Benefits
- Fast provisioning: design environment setup reduced from weeks to hours
- IP protection through isolated chambers and two-way privacy during collaboration
- Consumption-based billing with daily aggregation and an idle option for chambers
- EU data residency via the Sweden Central region
Integration with innFactory
As a Microsoft Solutions Partner, innFactory supports you with the adoption and operation of this service.
Typical Use Cases
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Azure Modeling and Simulation Workbench?
Azure Modeling and Simulation Workbench is a fully managed, secure on-demand environment for engineering design and simulation. It bundles workload-specific VMs, a scheduler, license servers, remote access, high-performance storage and access controls into isolated chambers. Automated provisioning reduces the setup of a design environment from weeks to hours.
When should I use Azure Modeling and Simulation Workbench?
The service suits compute-intensive engineering workloads such as semiconductor and EDA design, where multiple teams or partners collaborate and intellectual property must stay protected. Typical scenarios are chip development, joint verification and multi-vendor design flows with controlled data exchange.
How much does Azure Modeling and Simulation Workbench cost?
Billing is consumption-based: per deployed chamber SKU, per 10-pack of user licenses per chamber and per storage unit consumed. The compute resources used are billed as pass-through. Charges aggregate on a daily active-usage rate until a chamber is set to idle or removed.
How does the service protect intellectual property during collaboration?
Each chamber is an isolated, secure environment. The model supports two-way privacy between collaborating parties: each team's IP stays protected in its own chamber, while shared storage volumes enable controlled collaboration. Access runs through Microsoft Entra ID, role-based permissions and connectors via VPN, Azure ExpressRoute or allowlisted IP addresses with no direct internet connectivity to the chamber.
Note: All product information on this page has been compiled with care, but is provided without guarantee and may be outdated or incomplete. Cloud services evolve rapidly — features, pricing, SLAs, and availability change frequently. Authoritative and up-to-date information can only be found on the official product page of Azure (official documentation). This page does not represent an offer by Azure.
