DISCOVER OUR WORLD

LEADING INNOVATION AND MESHLESS RESEARCH

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.

Alexander Oliva Technical Sales Specialist at AVL
PreonLab evangelist
I am a Technical Sales Specialist at AVL. In this role, I am responsible for supporting our PreonLab customers from technical side as well as my AVL colleagues on sales side. Always looking for new simulation challenges. Read full interview here
Jan Viher Team Leader at AVL
Sea adventurer
I am a Team Leader and a Business Developer at AVL. My responsibilities include supporting team members while working on various topics, but I also try to stay close to our clients through execution of webinars and sales support! Read full interview here
Jens Cornelis Managing Director
Full time nerd & Red Cross worker
I am a co-founder and managing director of FIFTY2. As such, I am focusing on the finance, marketing and administration of our company. Keeping close contact with both, our sales team and our customers, makes my day and keeps me learning and dreaming. Read full interview here
Aju Abraham Application Engineer
A music and travel enthusiast
I am an application engineer, who ensures the quality of PreonLab as a CFD software by validation and benchmark studies. As time went on, I started focusing more on the thermodynamic applications of the software. At FIFTY2, every day is different with challenging tasks at hand. Read full interview here
Loïc Wendling Application Engineer
DIY and RC cars aficionado
I am an application engineer working on quality control and research. I make sure that the results from PreonLab are as accurate as possible and scout new applications that will give PreonLab an edge. Read full interview here
Haralambi Todorov Software Developer
Cycling enthusiast
I am a software developer and, at the moment the latest addition, to the PreonLab team. For the last nine months, I've been working on a variety of components of the software, implementing customer's feature requests. Read full interview here
Andreas Henne Software Developer
19x Kicker King at FIFTY2
I’m a programmer and work on PreonLab. In the early days, I worked on virtually all aspects of the software at some point - whatever was most urgent. As our team grew, I focussed more on the simulation core. One of my main topics is performance – keeping the solver fast and finding ways to make it faster. Read full interview here
Markus Ihmsen Managing Director
Endurance athlete & youth soccer coach
I am co-founder and managing director of FIFTY2. In this role, I am responsible for the growth of the company and each individual. I love forming teams out of brilliant individuals, supporting them in developing the next big thing. Read full interview here
Shreyas Joshi Team Lead Application Engineering
Coffee consumer in chief
My primary responsibility is to ensure that application engineering team is working smoothly and efficiently. Furthermore, in the direction of assessing the projects and industries in which PreonLab can be optimally put to use, and to determine what more should be added to address our ever increasing customer base. Read full interview here
Nikola Galvan Full Stack Developer
Language master
I work as a full stack developer. We are building a revolutionary workflow and management application for PreonLab. Like everyone in my team, I work on the front- and backend of the application using a variety of technologies but mainly Angular and the Django REST framework. Read full interview here
Marc Gissler Software Developer
Fulltime scientist and part-time chef and farmer
In the last few years, my area of responsibility has become more focused. I am mostly involved in the research and development of PreonLab, implementing feature requests from customers, but together with Elias, I also handle IT topics like in-office infrastructure and home office connectivity. Read full interview here
Lisa-Marie Baier Assistant to our Managing Directors
Allround talent
My area of responsibility is quite diverse. I work in internal and external communications, as well as in HR management, marketing, recruitment management, event planning, accounting and of course as assistant to our managing directors. It’s great that we communicate on an equal footing and get along very well. That not only makes the work easier, but also more enjoyable. Read full interview here
Saba Golshaahi Sumesaraayi CFD Engineer
Beats and rhythms enthusiast
My job is validating our particle-based CFD solver against well-established benchmarks, working close to the development team in testing new features as well as supporting PreonLab users are my most important tasks at FIFTY2. What I like most about working with my team is the way amazing ideas and solutions flourish during discussions with each person sharing a unique perspective. Read full interview here
Jing Tai Tune CFD Engineer
Finally watched the Lord of The Rings entire trilogy (in one sitting)
I wrote my Master’s thesis at FIFTY2 about implementing and testing a new physics feature of the PreonLab solver. Now I’m a fulltime CFD Engineer and occupy a hybrid role between the Application Engineering team and PreonLab team to develop the physics features for PreonLab. The FIFTY2 team is excellent at what they do, and the end result is a group that is incredibly high performing as a whole. Read full interview here
Max Flamm CFD Engineer
Read all Game of Thrones books
I’m working as a CFD-Application Engineer to support our clients all over the world by their challenging tasks. Besides this, I also validate our CFD solver with scientific benchmarks and create showcases for commercial purposes. I love our cooking sessions and the vibe of not just being at work, rather being part of the group of specialists who develop the best simulation software possible. Read full interview here
Thomas Konrat Junior Marketing Referent
Football jersey collector
My main focus lies on our Social Media channels. I plan and create our content, for example by preparing texts or editing videos and making sure that we always have enough in the pipeline. What I love the most about marketing is the fact that I can be creative in my job. There are many different ways to get to the final result every time I prepare a video. Read full interview here
Alhajras Algdairy Software Developer
Black belt in Kung Fu
I am working at a web-based software, which deals with frontend tasks (designing how the user interface should look like), backend tasks (implementing the functionality of the frontend GUI), and the IT infrastructure. In our diverse team each team member has the power to contribute and bring something new to the table. Read full interview here
Thomas Rinklin Software Developer
Music addict and multi-instrumentalist (guitar, drums, piano)
The main thing I work on is PreonPy, our Python programming interface. I also work a lot on tooling, like our test framework making sure PreonLab behaves according our expectations and on our build pipeline. The coolest thing about working at FIFTY2 is working with all those excellent people here, who challenge and support me in software engineering. Read full interview here
THE COMPANY STORY

VISIONARY MINDS AND ORDINARY GEEKS

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 2013 we have realized that our research has a market potential.
Markus Ihmsen

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!

DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION

RELEASE OF PREONLAB 1.0

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.

EVEN MORE TO GAIN

FOCUS ON R&D. AND THE FUTURE.

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.

PREONLAB OFFERS AN ENORMOUS TIME ADVANTAGE OVER CONVENTIONAL CFD METHODS. ONLY A SMALL AMOUNT OF MANPOWER AND TIME HAS TO BE INVESTED IN GEOMETRY PREPARATION AND CROSS-LINKING.
Merkle & Partner GbR
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