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Inside this Issue
Bentley Systems Media Day
I wasn't able to attend Bentley's mid-October media
day due to the impending deadline of two book projects. Bentley's
pr department, however, was kind enough to send me the material
that had been handed out to the other editors. Here is a summary
of some the presentations:
Keith Bentley stated the three primary objectives for
MicroStation v8:
- Data exchange, reuse, and interoperability.
- Superior performance and usability.
- Outstanding application development tools.
“Every important design in the world is [AutoCAD] DWG or
[MicroStation] DGN.” DGN was first created in 1980s, and
remained relatively unchanged through MicroStation/J, the previous
release. [Emphasis on “relatively,” since Bentley added
many proprietary extensions to the DGN file format.] In version
8, uStn supports DWG natively; DGN becomes a superset of DWG.
Mr Bentley hinted that DGN's extensibility allows support for
other formats in the future.
The new DGN file format eliminates limits to precision, number
of levels [layers, previously limited to 63], number of vertices,
size of files, size of cells (blocks), naming conventions, and
style libraries. DGN files are up to 50% smaller, and DWG files
up to 60% smaller [hmmm.... I gotta ask about that one]. Automatic
conversion of units, scale, and precision allows mixing of DWG
and DGN files.
Other new features include: 3D volume clipping; associative patterns
and cells; GUI show-hide; design history integrated into the file;
and support for VBA.
Greg Bentley reported that Bentley Systems has surpassed
US$50 million/quarter in revenue, with 300,000 users in 24,000
companies. The company is now #12 in the Softletter list of 100
largest American PC software companies. Bentley's strategy for
increasing revenues is to target current users in the A/E/C field.
He noted that “Autodesk is using a different strategy -–
diversifying in markets completely outside A/E/C [architecture,
engineering, construction].”
The new "MicroStation on the Web" sounds like Autodesk's
Point A portal, a site that “provides Web services from within
MicroStation...have a more direct relationship with Bentley...information,
tools, and resources for the MicroStation user...”
Bentley is pushing its subscription service (called “Select”)
as a source of steady revenue. With Select v8, the customer receives
TriForma, CivilPAK, Schematics, Modeler, or GeoGraphics -–
which the company calls Engineering Configurations. The fee for
product subscriptions is monthly; the commitment is quarterly.
A new form of Select is called “Portfolio,” which provides
a suite of products, such as building design, civil design, or
municipal design. Typical price is US$550 per month.
Malcolm Walter introduced “One to One,” the new direct relationship between Bentley and its customers. Direct billing and shipping started 1 Nov in North America, and spreads to ROTW (rest of the world) 1 Jan. Purchase direct from the Web in 2Q next year. Bentley's dealers become “agents” who receive commission for their role in sales and service.
Has the CAD Industry Out-paced Its Customers?
Editorial by Martyn Day
From the editor: No one has done more to examine the
role of objects and single-building models in AEC than Martyn
Day. Recently he wrote an open email to executives at the major
AEC CAD companies, suggesting that there is a disconnect between
the capabilities of their software, and the needs of their customers.
I saw that disconnect occur nearly ten years ago when the public
relations machinery went into high gear over “objects.”
The eyes of customers glazed over (as did mine) at the talk of
object-orientation, schema, and IFCs.
Here, then, is an edited version of Mr Day's email to Autodesk,
Bentley, Graphisoft, Nemetschek, and Revit:
After spending the last year speaking with architectural practices
of all shapes and sizes, I get the strong feeling the market requires
a lot more education on the benefits and technical issues raised
by the Single Building Model [SBM, where the entire building is
designed in a single 3D model] concept. Even though SBM products
are rapidly maturing, users are not fully open to 3D -- let alone
the benefits of intelligent modeling. I feel the industry has
to do more to prove the concept in technological, process, and
financial terms to key principals. This isn't a job that will
take months; it's going to take years.
The general issues seem to be:
* Architects don't like spending money on technology (they
spend less per head on technology than in agriculture and fisheries).
* Architects are risk-adverse.
* Architects are scared of 3D, and actively switch-off when the
topic is mentioned.
* Architects don't want to do more work, but want to regain their
status.
* Architects aren't at the center of the construction process
(unless a signature architect), and are becoming more isolated
due to design-build, modularization, and so on.
* Architectural CAD managers pay lip service to SBM, but are more
likely to buy copies of cheap 2D drawing packages than upsize
the current CAD system.
* If architects do upsize their system they are more likely to
use the 2D features than 3D.
There is a fundamental mismatch between the technology on offer
and the problem at hand; between the speed of development and
the rate of adoption; between what architects say and what architects
do; between the process in the local construction markets and
in the global-oriented software product; between who vendors are
selling to and who's actually willing to adopt! I don't think
I've ever seen a market so lost before; there is very little clarity.
The CAD folks have always tried to “lead the horse to water
and make it drink.” They've been pushing 3D for years, but
never really cracked the problem of 3D in a 2D workspace. The
AEC customers mainly bypassed that because, at the end of the
day, it's all about producing 2D drawings for on-site use -- while
the developers contented themselves with objects and intelligent
modeling.
There is a danger that CAD programmers are running at such a
pace that customers will never catch up. At the current rate of
adoption, today's generation of modeling systems will be redundant
before customers move significantly toward embracing 3D and SBM.
Customers who bought modeling-enabled CAD software aren't, by
and large, using the technology they possess.
While competitors, all CAD vendors face the same issue of ignorance
when talking to potential customers. While some vendors have a
good-sized 2D installed base, and others are growing, it strikes
me that there could be room for a combined marketing effort to
educate architects on the benefit of SBM.
I sincerely believe that only through a concerted effort by the
industry to educate architects and construction professionals
on the basic concepts and financial rewards of deploying 3D modeling
tools can we move forward with the next generation of tools. Unfortunately,
I'm offering no framework, no fully thought-out plan, just a bare
concept and wondering who's open to the idea.
I think the first step is acknowledging that there is a problem,
and that something should be done.
Martyn Day is group editor of 'MCAD' and 'AEC' magazines <http://www.cadserver.co.uk>
Letters to the Editor
Re: Print Magazines
"My perspective is it goes back to the old argument, 'Will
the Internet and digital technologies replace print?' I think
that has been answered time and again as 'No.' People need tactile
experiences -- we are analog beasts, after all.
"I think some magazines' problems are related to their editorial
focus, such as e-collaboration. As the industry stalls, magazines
find themselves in the uncomfortable position of covering technology
no one's buying.
"I agree that e-collaboration is real, and it is the future.
But how far off? The answer could be many years. I believe magazines,
like tech companies who rushed into the e-collaboration scene
and have since folded, are experiencing bad timing."
- Scott Cullins, Rev2
The editor replies: "The benefit of an email-based
newsletter, such as this one, is its ability to switch focus at
a week's notice, if need be. The reason I named it 'upFront.eZine'
was that the name didn't mean anything CAD-specific.
"As for e-this and e-that, people must learn that new technology
does not replace, but merely comes alongside that which already
exists."
Re: Software-Specific Web Sites
"We try to build our Web sites to be friendly to any browser,
but had to resort to Netscape-only for one of our demos <http://www2.officecad.com/hvacassm>
because Microsoft's Web browser does not support drag-and-drop.
A 'Microsoft IE only' world is limited indeed."
- Mary West, OfficeCAD.com
"Sounds like viewing or working on DWG files <g>.
I've yet to find a truly 100%-compatible DWG editor outside of
Autodesk's inventory. As long as Netscrape and Internet Exploder
continue to avoid full support of W3C specs for HTML and DHTML,
we have to either dumb-down our Web coding to be least-common,
or go with one and run with it.
"That's life; that's software marketing doing its thing
on us all."
- Dave Stein
Re: XP Expands Space by 1GB.
"Is that the maximum virtual memory that can be allocated
to a single process, or what?"
- Gordon Dass Adams
The editor replies: "Here is some more detail: Professional Edition ships with an option to allow application code and data sets to fill 3GB of memory -- either virtual or physical. Managing the extra memory could lead to decline in performance, but the tradeoff may worth it for customers with huge models." http://www.tenlinks.com/NEWS/ARTICLES/cad_report/1121201xp.htm
Re: CAD for XP
"Regarding the topic of XP support, I thought you might be
interested in the following link: http://selectservices.bentley.com/technotes/readme/found/readme_microstation_v80.htm
"
- Graeme Rawlins, CAD Solutions
"Graphisoft has put the second release of 7.0 to a heavy
test on Windows XP Professional Edition operating system. The
program has been found to be fully compatible with the latest
Windows platform."
- Akos Pfemeter, Graphisoft Budapest
The editor replies: "What about XP Home Edition? What about earlier versions of MicroStation and ArchiCAD?"
Re: Q&A With Doccupoint
"I think that Doccupoint has competition from Microsoft
Sharepoint Portal Server, Internet Information Server, Site Server,
and 2000 Server -- all equipped with a strong indexing mechanism.
These are extensible so that users can add extra filters for certain
filetypes, such as PDF, RTF, and DWG <http://www.cad-company.nl/ifilter>.
Indexing of the files is done overnight by the system spread over
several servers. With the DWG I-Filter and SPS we can view the
drawings from Web sites. With v4.0, we will also have previews
for an even quicker result."
- Rob A.M. Oud, CAD & Company
Steve Potter of Doccupoint replies, "I have some familiarity with CAD & Company's add-in for DWG indexing with IIS. Our goal as been to address the full application, search, preview, multi-layout DWF rendition and viewing in one fully integrated package that can be installed in minutes. From here we add centralized, redline markup, image indexing, etc."
Re: SolidWorks Comes to Visit
"SolidWorks says it is a two-horse race. What about Solid
Edge? Last I heard, Solid Edge claimed 200,000 licenses. Since
EDS-PLM now claims (and I think rightfully) to be the #1 mechanical
CAD/CAM company in the world, and since ParaSolid, owned by EDS,
is the engine in SolidWorks and in Inventor, you'd think that
folks would at least acknowledge its existence.
"Or, maybe it is good competitive strategy to ignore the
major competitor, and maybe it will go away."
- Tom Lazear, Archway Systems
The editor replies: "It's always interesting to
see who a company compares itself to. I recall the luxury car
ads of a couple of decades ago where Chrysler compared itself
to Lincoln and Cadillac; Lincoln compared itself to Cadillac;
and Cadillac compared itself to nobody. Gives you a quick course
in pecking order."
Below the Radar
A summary of CAD industry news you may not have read
elsewhere:
Cyco Software earlier this month began shipping AutoManager TeamWork 2002, workgroup software for 5 to 15 users. Free upgrades to some users, and US$200 discounts for new customers who purchase before the year's end. http:www/cyco.com/teamwork
Gibbs and Associates have a free menu add-in for Inventor that exports model files to GibbsCAM. "Working directly with Autodesk, we were able to develop a higher level of integration between our products," says Bill Gibbs, president. http://www.gibbsCAM.com
Computer Systems Odessa released ConceptDraw v.1.71 Standard and Professional Editions for Mac OS, OS X, and Windows. The update is free to registered users at http://www.conceptdraw.com/en/resources/ suppdownl.shtml
Okino Computer Graphics posted tutorials describing
the problems in moving CAD data into animation packages at:
http://www.okino.com/proe_tut.htm
"Moving CAD data to non-CAD programs, tutorial & discussion"
http://www.okino.com/conv/iges_opt.htm
"Importing & optimizing large IGES assemblies"
Geomate has introduced SketchCalc (US$75) that simultaneously
calculates 12 cross-section properties in less than two seconds.
http://www.sketchcalc.com
Seminars
& Conferences
Water Security Summit 2001, Dec 3-4 in Hartford CT USA. http://www.watersecurity.org
2002 Gulf Coast Lean Manufacturing Conference, Feb 20-22 at the Oasis Resort & Spa at the Grand Casino, Gulfport, Mississippi, USA. http://www.mississippimanufacturing.com
People/Companies
on the Move
Canada Law Book made an offer to purchase the magazine
assets of Kerrwil Publications by year's end. The acquisition
is to be renamed CLB Media. Kerrwil magazine titles included 'CAD
Systems.'
Alibre has selected Waggener Edstrom to provide public relations. WaggEd's more famous client is Microsoft.
Intergraph appointed Preetha Pulusani as president of Intergraph Mapping and GIS Solutions. Ms Pulusani has been with Intergraph since 1981. Ben Eazzetta has been appointed executive vp of Global Sales and Marketing.
Cyco Software appointed Ramon Burke to the position of director of sales and marketing for Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Mr Burke was large account manager with Computer Associates.
Moldflow announced that Marc Dulude, Moldflow president and ceo, has been elected as chairman of the board for Moldflow Corporation, after Charles Yie stepped down.
PTC signed an agreement to allow a management buy-out of its ICEM surfacing business, contingent upon the ability of the management team to secure funding by Jan 31, 2002. In the event the conditions are not met, ICEM will be managed as an independent organization within PTC.
Carlson Software has acquired all significant assets of C&G Software Systems from Applications Gateway. C&G Software Systems provides CAD and data collection software to the land surveyors.
Rand Worldwide acquired Republic Research Training Center's courseware development business. Rand says this makes its ASCENT curriculum business the world's largest independent developer of courseware for Autodesk software.
D-Cubed licensed its Assembly Engineering Manager to SolidWorks. AEM allows CAD software to simulate the physical behaviour of a mechanical assembly in real-time according to the mass properties of its constituent parts and the forces acting upon them.
Redo
Re: Linux now supports files as large as 128 petabytes
(1PB = 1,024GB).
"Actually, a petabyte is 1 million gigabytes. See the IEC
standard for storage abbreviations here for more details http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html
"
- Brian Duguid, England
"I just wanted to correct a typo. 1PB = approx 1024 terabytes."
- Brian Debelius, USA
Computer
News Summaries
"It was five years ago that Mirabilis, an Internet
startup located in Tel Aviv, Israel, launched a new service to
bring computer users together called ICQ, or I Seek You.
The brainchild of four Israeli computer programmers, ICQ was released
on November 15, 1996 to little fanfare. Just six months later,
it claimed the title of world's largest online communication network."
- BetaNews
Appian Rushmore is a four-port graphics board based on ATI's RADEON VE graphics accelerator, allowing output to four monitors. http://www.appian.com/press/rel_nov122001.html
NPD Intelect reports that PC sales stayed flat "despite
the arrival of the all-singing, all-dancing, come-fly-with-me
Windows XP, expected (hoped) by many to give consumers a good
reason to by a new PC." - The Inquirer
The XP upgrade package overwrites the hard drive's Master Boot
Record, effectively killing the boot manager, and ensuring no
other operating system can reside on your computer. - The Inquirer
How to choose a computer (by Andrew Thomas, The Inquirer)
- Clock Speed -
Intel: Clock speed is important because ours is highest.
AMD: Clock speed isn't important because ours isn't highest.
Apple: Our computers come in pretty colors.
- Performance Rating -
Intel: PR ratings are misleading. We said so when Cyrix used them,
we say so now AMD uses them. They were OK when we used them, though,
because we called them ICOMP ratings.
AMD: PR ratings are a vital tool in helping customers (who choose
our processors because they think they run faster than they really
do) make an informed choice.
Apple: This one's blue. Nice, isn't it?
- Price -
Intel: Our chips are cheapest.
AMD: Oh no they're not.
Intel: Oh yes they are.
AMD: Oh no they're not...
Apple: Our computers are more expensive because they're prettier
-- especially this pink one.
Market
News
Bricsnet 3Q financial results ending Sept 30 showed
consolidated revenues down by 8% to e2.2 million from a year ago.
Net loss was e7.5 million, compared to a net loss of e6.6 million
a year earlier.
Spin Doctor of the Moment
The size of the Internet advertising market in 2005 will be:
$9.1 billion - Forrester Research
$18.8 billion - Gartner Research
Notable
Quotable
"I've yet to find a customer that has asked for a Tablet
PC."
- Leo Suarez, IBM vp of worldwide product marketing for personal
computing devices, http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0%2Caid%2C70703%2Ctk%2Cdn111301X%2C00.asp
"I'm surprised [tablet PCs have] come back. It's like
bell-bottom pants."
- Jeff Hawkins, Handspring chairman
Contact!