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Issue #462 : : February 21, 2006 |
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C o n t e n t s
Financial Conference Calls
Below
the Radar, and other
regular columns. |
Write the Editor. Donate to upFront.eZine through Paypal. Access nearly-daily CAD commentary at our blog: WorldCAD Access. |
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At SolidWorks World, a veep asked me, "What does it take for 2D users to switch to 3D?" Pain, was my answer. Over lunch at Milestones, during CoCreate's visit here, Todd Black remarked on the answer. Let's back up a few moments in time. His sidekick, Dave [sorry, I forget his last name] mentioned how a beer hanged its label, from something forgettable to "Red Lion." Sales took off, not because the beer was better, but because the label was better. Drinkers felt good holding a bottle of Red Lion. Later on, Mr Black asked, "Why don't 2D users see the logic in switching to 3D? They gain the benefits of rendering, FEA [finite element analysis], accurate BOMs [bills of material], and so on." Because emotion trumps logic. I reminded him of the beer label switching to Red Lion. Can we make 2D users feel better about 3D? Possibly not. The leaves the opposite emotion: pain of competition and the other reasons I noted in upFront.eZine #460. DS FY05 Dassault Systems reports FY05 revenues of e934.5 million, and Q4 revenues of e304.2 million -- up 27% from a year earlier. The company plans to introduce numerous new software packages and services during 2006. Their partnership with IBM was described as "long lasting," which analysts listening to the call questioned, as follows: Q: How much of the channel is direct, instead of through IBM? Q: Will more territories be added to the channel [sales by
Dassault instead of IBM]? Q: There have been a number of changes over the last 18 months
in your relationship with IBM. Why do you think that IBM has chose
to partially sponsor Windchill [from competitor PTC] for emerging
markets, such as China? Q: What is the future of PDM (Enovia)? Q: What will be your headcount by the end of 2006? Q: Are the SolidWorks margins above 30%, and do you use some
of that disproportionate profit in the rest of the company? Q: Do you expect SolidWorks pricing to have a flat year? Q: Did you say that all German auto manufacturers and suppliers
will standardize on Catia V5 as of the summer of 2006?
UGS FY05 UGS is a privately-held company, but releases its finances as if it were public. The company reported FY05 revenue of US$1.15 billion, and Q4 revenue of $326.7 million -- up 15% over a year earlier. Software revenue up; service revenue down. Net debt increased from $996 million to $1,150 million due to acquisition costs. The company plans to launch a new advertising campaign around the theme of "Signs of Innovation:" street signs announce Move Faster, Be Compliant, Get Optimized, Go Global, and Innovate More. Q: What is the impact of the [lower priced] Velocity Series
on CAx [CAD/CAM/CAE] revenues? Q: What are your non-traditional markets. Q: CAD revenue grew by 7%. What do you see for '06? What you
did for '05 was not meaningfully different from what Dassault did
for Catia. You are growing more slowly than some of the mid-range
vendors. What's the case you can make for more rapid share gain?
And can you comment on NX 4 adoption? Q: Do you get incremental revenue from data migration or converting
customers from the predecessor to TeamCenter? Q: You now have 20 resellers for Velocity; how many more do
you think you can add? To what extent are you getting resellers
to convert from other primary vendors, such as SolidWorks and PTC? Q: IBM's role in the PLM market has been much in the news
over the last few weeks [for adding PTC to its Dassault PLM offerings].
Could you comment on what relationship you might have with IBM? Q: Had you hoped to be part of that relationship, like PTC?
IMSI 2Q06 IMSI reports sales up 7% but a huge loss for Q2. Net revenues were US$3.7 million but the operating loss was -$1.15 million. After adjustments to the bottom line, such as the profit from selling off divisions, the net income was $0.12 million. "Precision design" is the company's term for its CAD software, and now has a new description: it's "our legacy business." Release 12 of TurboCAD ships in late March. IMIS's online houseplan business (houseplan.com) has its biggest sales in March and April. They see no softness in the house building market, having their largest single day of sales last week. A summary of CAD industry news you may not have read elsewhere, or that I found interesting: DotSoft's 4th release of their Excel-to-CAD application has additional tools for automating AutoCAD and Excel connectivity. Sales of XL2CAD have reached 5,000 seats. www.dotsoft.com SAMTECH launches release 11.1 of their general-purpose finite element analysis software suite: SAMCEF can be used for linear and non-linear thermo-mechanical analysis. www.samcef.com UGS announces Teamcenter for Simulation software. The press release is sparse on what the software does, other than "a unique visual environment for lifecycle simulation." www.ugs.com/go/nxsimulation Nemetschek North America upgrades VectorWorks to v12.0.1. www.nemetschek.net/upgrade/index.php UGS implements Kineo CAM's Automatic Path Planning technology for its software that uses collision-free simulations and removal paths. kineocam.com Archibus has a new release of ARCHIBUS/FM Web Central 15 with more languages and lower cost. [A press release about a Web site that doesn't include a URL?] QuadriSpace updates its Document3D publishing software to support interactive 3D PDF files that work with Adobe Reader 7.0.7. The software also creates Web pages, .EXE files, CDs, and more. Demo from www.document3d.com Geomagic gets a patent for "automatically generating untrimmed NURBS surfaces from polygon models while detecting and preserving topology and highly curved features." www.geomagic.com - - - These news items were posted during the last week at the WorldCAD Access blog <worldcadaccess.typepad.com>:
And at the Gizmos Grabowski < worldcadaccess.typepad.com/gizmos > Weblog:
Seminars & Conferences Hard Dollar Corporation 2006 User Conference is in Scottsdale AZ USA during March 1-3. www.harddollar.com 47th Annual ADDA Technical Conference is May 1-4 in Nashville TN USA. adda.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=37 12th International Conference on Virtual Systems & Multimedia is October 18-20 in Xi'an China. www.vsmm.org/2006
People/Companies on the Move think3 hires Tom Davis to manage its international VAR [valued-added reseller] network. Mr Davis was formerly with PTC. Quantm appoints Tom Clemons as vp of business development for North America. Most recently, Mr Clemons was civil west region sales manager at Bentley Systems. Dassault Systemes has a new partner program for its SIMULIA simulation software, and LMS is the first to join up. www.simulia.com
Brand New CAD Books/eBooks "Mastering Piranesi Version 4"
"Tailoring AutoCAD 2006"
WorthWhile Web www.theinquirer.net/?article=29687
Letters to the Editor Re: CoCreate Media Tour "I had to laugh about your comment on us lugging around
the [desktop computer] box. It was only 70 pounds with the 3D model
we showed you; imagine how heavy the box would have been if we had
the 200,000-part assembly loaded on it. <g>" - - - Re: There's More to Life Than CAD "I loved the article. How true, thanks for sharing your
experience and wisdom. It sounds like your kids have grown up since
I stayed in your home 15 years ago." The editor replies: "I recall Charles apologizing as he set up the huge Toshiba laptop -- not notebook! -- computer with its bright orange plasma screen."
NOTE: I've anonomized the following letters due to sensitive content. "Relationships are tricky but so important. It took years
for me to really hear that my wife was going to stay with me, and
that her demands and criticisms weren't deal-breakers."
"There are enough issues to this that you could start another
weekly ezine on this topic. But I'm sure your family relations would
suffer if you did <g>."
"I worry about my son trying to balance his family against his high-pressure job. "You gave me tremendous help when I was starting up in AutoCAD.
I suggest this addresses the question in Genesis (no, I'm not religious):
'Am I my brother's keeper?'" The editor replies: "The answer, of course, is 'Yes'."
"Nice diversion from the usual CAD stuff. I can sympathize on several angles. I have been married almost 20 years now, with four children, three girls and a boy (youngest). My oldest is 15. "What a difference each presents. I loved your description
of how they come at you with questions. Stay well and keep pushing
forward!"
"It takes a real man to express those sentiments. Thanks
for having the b*lls to say so."
"Thanks for saying 'There is a crisis in Western society;
men don't get the support they need from other men.' It's important.
And no, I'm not going to leave you either: I love the eZine."
"Well, I never write to you, but I couldn't let that one slip by. "I think there's a certain personality type that is more prevalent in the CAD software industry. We strive for perfection and excellence in what we do at work, and in some ways it's achievable. Sure, there's normally time and budget constraints, but often our work has to be perfect to be deliverable. The program can't have bugs, the design has to work, etc. "When that same drive for perfection is applied at home we fall short -- everyone does. The complex and dynamic nature of relationships means that we can't just apply some principle, policy, or formula to get by. And we fail. Failing is actually just as much a part of life as success. I think the important thing is what do we do with our failures. "My response to failure is to retreat or not engage, and I gravitate to areas where I feel I can achieve and excel. But it's not the way to grow yourself. "One thing that I've found helpful is a mentoring relationship
with a friend. We get together and talk about life, our work, our
marriages, our families, everything. It's a little bit more than
a friendship as we've agreed to be accountable to each other for
the hard stuff. I find this a great way to work through some of
these issues."
"I couldn't agree with you more and not at a better time as today is my 11th wedding anniversary (I didn't want to forget that my wife wanted to get married in a red dress). "There were many times early on that I put my job before my family. That ended quickly after a 6-month separation. Since then it's been gravy. "Relationships really don't change until the pitter-patter
of little feet enter the room. Then you are responsible for more
than your own hide. It's great to be proud of what you do in your
career, but I think the accomplishments of your children can run
circles around anything a career might have produced." The editor replies: "There seem to be two reasons for working too hard: (1) you like your job more than your family; or (2) you worry about providing your family with enough money, and so forget about providing them with enough time."
"I've been a subscriber to you eZine for a few years now
and was pleased to see you touch on the subject. No doubt that a
father who provides for the spiritual, emotional, and material needs
of his family is fulfilling one of his most important responsibilities." [More letters on this subject next week.]
Spin Doctor of the Moment "I support the right to freedom of speech, BUT..."
Notable Quotable "I think it’s more likely that Intel took for granted that
its customers would acquiesce to the safety of mediocrity.... I
call it the 'Tin Standard' -- which people may be willing to accept,
but only if they don’t know silver or gold exist."
Copyright 2006 by upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd. All rights reserved worldwide Article reprint fee US$250.00.
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