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The Details
Spatial is selling its
Component Business Division to Dassault
Systemes for US$21.5 million in cash, plus cross-licensing
agreements for component and Internet technologies. The products
include the ACIS 3D Toolkit, IntraVISION, and JetScream.
The Division will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dassault,
operating under the Spatial name -- much like SolidWorks. Mike
Payne, current cto of Dassault, becomes ceo of the new Spatial
company.
What becomes of the old "Spatial?" The company is changing
its name to PlanetCAD, Inc. (the name of one of its Web sites),
and will focus on its Web engineering application services business.
Dassault is increasing its minority investment in PlanetCAD.
(All of this is subject to approval by shareholders in September.)
How badly is Spatial doing financially? For the three months
ended March 31, Spatial's revenues rose less than 1% to US$4.1
million; the net loss was US$1.5 million. The consensus estimates
were that Spatial would continue to lose money for next year.
Spatial shares reached a 52-week high on 14 Mar of US$12, but
have since fallen to US$3-7/8. Analysts target the 12-month price
at US$7.50 - $15 per share due to PlanetCAD and expected subscriber
growth. PlanetCAD.com has 7,000 members.
The purchase price of $21.5 million represents approximately half
of Spatial's current US$44.4 million market capitalization ( =
total number of shares x price per share). The rule-of-thumb is
usually to sell at 10x annual revenues, which would indicate a
selling price of US$41 million ( = $4.1 million x 4 quarters x
10 x half the company).
Spatial's Conference Call
Spatial Technology last week held a conference call directed at financial analysts, who tend to be largely interested in things that make share prices go up. Spatial said the sale of ACIS to Dassault Systems would benefit shareholders because it allowed the company to concentrate on the "Internet side" -- namely PlanetCAD.com. Selling ACIS benefits by:
When asked why they chose Dassault and not, say, Autodesk,
Spatial replied that they were looking for a company that could
be relied on to continue providing Spatial with updates to ACIS.
As well, they saw Dassault as having a track record in allowing
divisions to run independent (ie, SolidWorks).
The conference call revealed some technical tidbits of interest
to CAD users. One benefit trumpeted during this call (and during
Autodesk's call -- more later) was the direct CATIA-ACIS two-way
translator, which would be featured on PlanetCAD.com and a planned
co-branded Dassault Web site. When questioned further, Spatial
admitted the translator would not be written all at once. It would
be a multi-phase process that implemented one aspect of translation
at a time. The translator agreement was for four years, with time
extensions possible. By the end of the answer, it sounded as if
the translator was a long ways away, and may never be fully completed.
When asked if SolidWorks would be switching to ACIS, the answer
was "Not for now." SolidWorks is optimized for ParaSolid;
there will be no changeover to ACIS until it benefits the customer.
Pressure from the ACIS marketing department would be resisted!
In a related press release, Dassault president Bernard Charles
said the ACIS acquisition was key to Dassault's strategy of "3D
everywhere, anytime, and for everyone." When asked how Microsoft
would fit into that strategy, future Spatial ceo Michael Payne
replied that he did not think Microsoft would include ACIS with
every copy of Windows 2000. BusinessWeek Interactive, however,
reports that Microsoft has expressed an interest in Dassault's
digital manufacturing systems, and could partner with the company.
Merrill Lynch analyst Jay Vleeschhouwer says, "Microsoft
wants to create an environment around Windows for business processes,
including manufacturing." Amusingly, BusinessWeek calls CAD
models "3-D mock-ups."
You can listen to Spatial's 45-minute call at www.vcall.com/NASApp/VCall/EventPage?ID=25941
Autodesk's Conference Call
In a curious preemptive move, Autodesk
held a conference call for the media one day before Spatial's
call. Vp Robert Kross admitted that he and his mechanical CAD
team were shocked initially at the prospect of one of their biggest
competitors owning a key piece of technology used in most pieces
of Autodesk software. He emphasized that everything would turn
out all right, although there may be some short-term disruption
during the ownership transition.
Mr Kross called Autodesk "the largest consumer of ACIS,"
which makes solids modeling possible in AutoCAD, Mechanical Desktop,
Inventor, etc. He came up with four reasons why the Dassault sale
is good news, some of which can be read as negative toward Spatial:
1. Strong management at Dassault will result in a better quality
product.
2. Dassault will be integrating some of their technology into
ACIS.
3. ACIS was built by "theoretical folks"; now it will
be built by "CAD folks."
4. It will become easier for Inventor and Mechanical Desktop to
exchange data with CATIA (or not, for reasons described earlier).
Mr Kross speculated that SolidWorks will be under pressure to switch from ParaSolid to ACIS. His own Inventor product may go dual kernel one day -- ACIS and ParaSolid -- as have some other CAD packages, such as IronCAD.
Contradicting rumors of its imminent bankruptcy, IMSI
this week announced it achieved operating profits and positive
operating cash flow for the quarter ending June 30. Revenues were
US$3.7 million.
Ceo Geoffrey Koblick said, "The company has several challenges
ahead with respect to our balance sheet. While IMSI continues
to be in default under its loan agreements, our creditors are
working with the company by providing time to remedy this situation."
IMSI is the developer of TurboCAD, FloorPlan3D, ArtToday.com,
and HomeDesignToday.com
PC World's report on PC Expo includes a photo of the world's ugliest PC, the FX3 from Hyun Ju Computers.
Win3D is an 3D interface for Windows 95/98. The replacement interface provides 3D access to your applications and settings. Free 2.3MB download from www.clockwise3d.com/products/Products.html
I recall when the 28.8Kbps modem was described as the fastest speed a phone line could ever support. Now, the latest modem standard, v.92, increases the upload speed from 33.6Kbps to 47Kbps with "the best connection." Download speed remains the same at 56KBps (or less). The Register calls this new standard "one last upgrade before death by DSL." Expect to see v.92 modems toward the end of the year.
Two alternatives to proprietary databases are MySQL and PostgreSQL.
CAD News Headlines
-- July 04 --
Real
Intent Ships Verix
-- July 05 --
Spatial
Plans to Sell Component Business to Dassault
Cephren
Online Collaboration Helps Construction, Architects
Attachmate
Windows2000 Product Fits Enterprise X Users
Cimatron
Launches "Quick Tooling" Application
AssetX
Helps Firm Create New Application in Record Time
Informative
Graphics Announces Agile 6.0 Integration
Bricsnet
Announces Ausam Agreement
Vizacom
to Buy Systems Integrator interMETHODS Limited
Thomassen
Compression Chooses Cyco Document Software
IAI Seeks
AEC Standards at Atlanta Summit
Mogus
Media Expands Autodesk Relationship
GM,
Unigraphics to Hold Live Worldwide Net-Conference
Mac
3D/CAD Roundup, June 2000
-- July 06 --
Spatial
Claims ACIS Sale will Benefit Shareholders
Autodesk
Reacts to ACIS Sale to Dassault
Alibre
Featured as Microsoft .NET Associate
Autodesk
Announces Quarterly Dividend
Informative
Graphics Joins ASP Industry Consortium
-- July 07 --
Informative
Graphics to Release Brava! 2.3
Pressure
Vessel Design Made Easy with PV/Designer
Design4Advantage
Launches Low-Cost Data Translation
Discreet
Begins Supply of Mental Ray Advanced Rendering
Delcam
Expands North American Reseller Network
-- July 10 --
Autodesk
Introduces New Internet Design Platform
Autodesk
Introduces Internet Solutions for Building Industry
Autodesk
Unveils Versatile Internet-Integrated Solution
Autodesk
Announces AutoCAD LT 2000i
Autodesk
Increases Mechanical Software Functionality
Mentor,
Dassault Team to Design Electomechanical System
Buzzsaw.com
Tools Allow 3D/i Record Time Completions
GraphStore
Prices Management Software Under $1000
Compaq
Picks Cyco AutoManager Document System
IMSI
Achieves Operating Profit
BorgWarner
Cooling Systems Chooses SolidWorks Software
BadaBiz,
CADD Edge Serve Online Shoppers
Piranha
Sells Compression Technology to McCann-Erickson
PADS
Software Announces Interconnect Solutions Success
STEAG
Selects NetVendor to Automate B2B Sales
Adept
Introduces Flexible Front End System at Semicon
Knights
Technology Introduces Yield Management Software
Bentley
Donates $25K for Digital Design Research at Penn
SpellRX
for AutoCAD Introduced by HLB Technology
Revit
Technology Names David Collard CFO
Nemetschek
Lures Manager from Parametric
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