FIFTY2 is a growing tech start-up and think tank in the field of computer science, mechanical engineering, computer graphics, numerics, and mathematics. With PreonLab, our particle-based simulation software for free-surface fluids, we empower engineers to develop sustainable, innovative, and safe products at lower costs, in shorter time, and with minimal ecological impact. PreonLab is unique in its ease of use, high performance, and visualization capabilities.
In 2007, FIFTY2 co-founder Markus Ihmsen started his research on particle-based simulation methods at the University of Freiburg, in the southwest of Germany. Driven by a fascination to capture real world phenomena with bits and bytes, Markus developed new ways to more efficiently and accurately simulate fluids.
During his research, he met Jens Cornelis, and together they developed IISPH, an implicit particle solver which was way more robust and efficient than the state of the art at that time. This was a major breakthrough which served as the roots of our PreonLab software, leading to a cooperation with Disney Pixar. Requests from other industries followed and the potential of their new particle-based method was obvious.
In 2015, after eight years of research and achieving his PhD, Markus founded FIFTY2 together with his research colleague, Jens Cornelis. They named it after the place of the software’s origin: the university building 052. Today, FIFTY2!
Together with Andreas Henne and Christoph Gissler, Markus and Jens started to create a wave around particle-based simulation methods. They set the goal of building the ultimate fluid simulation tool. The first Version of PreonLab was released in 2016 and quickly gathered attention on the market.
Two years later, in 2018, AVL became our sales partner and made PreonLab available on the global market. Since then, more and more players, primarily from the automotive sector, have been using PreonLab for virtual testing in the prototype phase. Compared to conventional simulation software, these new customers find that PreonLab reduces their time and costs enormously due to the fast calculation time and ease of use. Users can start to work productively by themselves after only a short introduction. Today, PreonLab is used by more than 52 companies in 12 countries.
PreonLab provides a lot of value to our customers. That makes us happy. But we believe that there is more to gain for all of us. Thus, we are investing all our revenue in research and development in order to continuously increase the usability, efficiency and reliability of PreonLab. In response to the challenges our customers face, our vision of accurate simulation becomes more real with every release.