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upFront.eZine |
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a publication from |
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Issue #493 : : October 31, 2006 |
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C o n t e n t s
Alibre's Plan to Replace LT Press Releases Reveal
A380 Responsibilities
Below the Radar, and the other regular columns. |
Write the editor. Through Paypal donate $25 to upFront.eZine. Access nearly-daily CAD commentary at our Weblog: WorldCAD Access. |
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Since Alibre's initial launch as an ASP [application service provider] in the Web 1.0 boom times at the turn of the millennium, the company has re-oriented itself twice, firstly to become a kind-of traditional desktop CAD company. The company is well-known for selling an Inventor-style product at an AutoCAD LT-like price. It relies on the Internet for its existence -- Google ads, Web-based support, and software distributed by downloads. Growth was close to 100% over the last year; sales due to leads from the free Xpress product result in "hundreds of thousands" of revenue each month. Now, a second re-orientation is about to take place. In an interview with Alibre's ceo Greg Milliken and vp of marketing Pete Stevens, nothing was off the record -- except for the name of the new product, which, I told them, I didn't need to know for now.
Small Is the New Big Mr Milliken considers his company disruptive to the market, and he uses the "Innovator's Solution" book (Clayton Christensen) as the corporate Bible. As he put it, "CAD vendors want you to pay more," so Alibre is being disruptive by charging less. He loves the fact that large CAD vendors ignore the LTs of CAD, that segment that costs around US$1,000. SolidWorks, he feels, doesn't see the LT segment as valuable. Autodesk is scared of LT, because it generates so much income, yet impacts the sales of 5x-10x more expensive software: can't shut it down, can't keep it around. Alibre wants to especially go after "The Long Tail" [title of a book by Chris Anderson] -- those Extremely Small Businesses of 1-5 employees, who are, in theory, a huge market. In fact, Alibre now doesn't plan to optimize its software for very large assemblies, nor worry about advanced surfacing. Through its experience with Xpress (which is limited to assemblies of ten unique parts), it's found that 80% (a rough estimate, I presume) of drawings (by its customers?) have fewer than 100 parts. Over time, expect to see the free Xpress gain more features. As well, expect that its parts-per-assembly ratio eventually attains the level of Design Standard, currently the lowest-cost paid version of Alibre. UGS has been calling 2D "commodity software"; Alibre wants to make a commodity of 3D.
The Three-Step Master Plan Mr Milliken revealed to upFront.eZine his company's master plan, one that's being executed in three steps between last month and next year.
Step 1: Alibre Design v9.1, released last month, exports 3D models to 3D PDF. The process, as demo'ed to me, seems painless: select a page style and size, and then click OK. The resulting PDF file incorporates the fully interactive 3D image you've probably seen in Acrobat 3D demos. (Behind the scenes, Alibre licensed PDF libraries from Techsoft.) This 3D PDF export is available now in all levels of Alibre Design: Xpress, Standard, Professional, and Expert. Pro and Expert also allow stepped explodes of models in 3D PDF files. One of the little known features of Acrobat Pro and 3D is that they can enable features for users of the free Acrobat Reader: (1) open the PDF file in Pro or 3D; (2) enable comments or markup; (3) save the file, and pass it on users of Reader, who find that comments and/or markups are now enabled in their software. This lets anyone freely markup CAD-style drawings.
Step 2: Alibre has become an Adobe Platinum Reseller. This allows them to bundle Design Expert with Acrobat 3D, which on its own costs around US$800 ($995 list). The $1,995 Design Expert bundle is planned initially for release with Acrobat 3D 7, and then will be updated with Acrobat 3D 8, when it becomes available next year. Those familiar with Acrobat 3D 8 understand Adobe is bundling all of TTF's MCAD translators, as well as TTF's neutral 3D format, PRC. That means: a. Drawings from any major 3D CAD format can be opened in Acrobat
3D 8; Mr Milliken sees the Alibre-Adobe bundle as a big opportunity for the conceptual engineering market. Not industrial design or form, but function -- "and not in the Autodesk sense of functional design," he amplifies. To help out, Alibre's been adding "toolboxes" to Design Expert; already available are MachinistToolBox and EngineersToolBox with fluid flow and beams'n columns. Alibre has begun adding APIs that let third-party programmers customize all versions of the software. More APIs will be added over time: CAM, FEM, Render, Motion. Consider the impact of custom apps built on top of the free Xpress, such as a CAM system based on a "real" CAD system.
Step 3: Expect in Q1 next year tighter integration with Acrobat 3D, and improvements to 3D PDF publishing for users outside of tradCAD ("traditional CAD"), such as conceptual engineering. Improvements will include support for Acrobat 3D collaborative workflows, motion, richer animation, and 2D. Now you know Alibre's plans for replacing the LT market with 3D CAD in for mechanical designers. Links:
Press Releases Reveal A380 Responsibilities Sometimes triumphant press releases can come back to haunt companies -- or its customers and partners. After receiving an alert from a Spanish reader, I researched the archives at www.3ds.com/news-events/press-room to find press releases written by Dassault Systemes that may now make certain parties blush. One press release seems to suggest that the reason for the A380's two-year delay might be possibly be partly the responsibility of IBM. In October 2002, we read, "IBM's PLM BCS [business consulting services] team will handle integration of CATIA V5 design solutions at Airbus company-wide, including manufacturing centers in France, Germany, Spain and the UK." We know now that the integration was not completed. Germany continued to use CATIA V4, leading to design errors due to software incompatibility. Four years ago, there was a plan to integrate the four design centers, but it didn't happen. Why? Could this failing be the reason why industry watchers noticed a cooling of relations between Dassault and IBM? The distancing began to occur at about the same time that the integration failure would have become apparent internally -- a couple of years ago. IBM may have had the contract for integration, but other factors could have lead to the failure: resistance by managers and staff; the on-going nature of the project; the difficulty in up-translating data and software. Perhaps one day, all will become clear. - - - In the meantime, here are excerpts from six years of press releases:
July, 2000 Headline: Airbus Commits to use CATIA and ENOVIA VPM Software As the Product Development Platform for the A3XX [original name for A380] and Future Aircraft Programs From the press release: "Pursuant to this initial seven-year agreement, over 2500 seats will be deployed within Airbus to support the development of the A3XX." Notable quote: "CATIA will be a major tool in our
virtual reality system, linking design and manufacture and maintenance
of the aircraft, years before it actually exists."
February, 2002 Headline: DELMIA Solutions Selected as 3D PLM Digital Manufacturing Solutions for the Airbus A380 -- DELMIA to be utilized to Provide Virtual Factory Models for Airbus plant in Hamburg, Germany From the press release: "Airbus is a global aerospace player with a workforce of approximately 45,000, mainly at sites in France, Germany, Great Britain and Spain. This geographical separation naturally increases the significance of integrating different IT structures into a common database." Notable quote: "With DELMIA, we have selected a system
that mirrors the strategic aims of Airbus superbly. ... Our next
step will be to integrate the individual applications into a digital
factory platform."
October, 2002 Headline: Airbus Optimizes Aircraft Product Development with CATIA V5 from IBM and Dassault Systemes -- Airbus, IBM, and Dassault Systemes today announced that Airbus has successfully completed the first phase of a plan to streamline product development using CATIA V5. From the press release: "The second phase of the project is underway and includes the installation of more than 2000 CATIA V5 seats and the integration of Airbus's entire design, development and manufacturing processes. ... The goal is to link once-disparate departments with CATIA's collaborative knowledge management tools empowered with three-dimensional information on products and processes. ... IBM's PLM BCS team will handle integration of CATIA V5 design solutions at Airbus company-wide, including manufacturing centers in France, Germany, Spain and the UK." Notable quote: "Deploying common methods and processes based on a common set of tools across the whole entity is a major driver to harmonize the development processes in Airbus. This will reduce development time and costs significantly from the very beginning of the project. "Another key advantage of the migration to CATIA V5 is that
this solution is standard to the entire aerospace and supply industry
and provides digital mock-up functions that meet our rigorous demands."
March 2006 Headline: Airbus Speeds Innovation and Time-to-market with DELMIA Digital Manufacturing Technology from IBM and Dassault Systemes From the press release: "IBM and Dassault Systemes announced today that Airbus has chosen the DELMIA V5 Robotics digital manufacturing solution to simulate, validate and program the robotics assembly lines for the new Airbus aircraft programs. This strategic choice will allow Airbus to optimize its design and manufacturing cycle time, reducing costs and accelerating time-to-market." Notable quote: "We have been working hand-in-hand
for two years with the IBM, Dassault Systemes, and CENIT [training
and vertical software] teams. The three companies have designed
a solution that totally fits with Airbus' methods and manufacturing
processes, and will lead to significant profits for Airbus."
June 2006
July 2006 Headline: Airbus Expands Commitment to PLM Solutions from IBM and Dassault Systemes for Product Development Projects From the press release: "Due to the demonstrated benefits, Airbus has decided to expand the usage of ENOVIA VPLM to all programs. The CATIA and ENOVIA VPLM combination is becoming the standard environment for all new programs at Airbus." Notable quote [none from Airbus executives in this
press release]: "Using our PLM solutions, Airbus will be
able to better address clients' specific needs, while reducing costs
and product development time."
September 2006
Sometime in 2006 A summary of CAD industry news you may not have read elsewhere, or that I found interesting: - - - You can download GeniusMechaniCS 2007 for AutoCAD 2005-2007 free until Dec 24 (German Christmas) after registering at www.geniusmechanics.com/index.php?site=gmdemo_2006. Otherwise, GeniusMechaniCS is e950 for AutoCAD LT and Inventor. ASCON and PRA Estetica join up to add photo rendering to KOMPAS-3D through Photorealistica. www.ascon.ru/english With UGS abandoning MSC, it's now announced a program for MSC.Patran users to upgrade to Femap for "approximately the same cost that they are paying for Patran maintenance today." www.ugs.com/products/velocity/femap_patran.shtml A group consisting of Construction Users Roundtable, Associated General Contractors of America, and American Institute of Architects launch the 3xPT Strategy Group to promote the use of 3D, 4D, and 5D intelligent modeling. www.agc.org/3xptstrategy {PDF] [No word on what "3xPT" is short for.] IDEAL ships ScanOS v3.1.4 large-format scanning software (US$1,295), which creates automatic searchable databases of scanned images. Supports Contex Scanners, FireWire and USB, and TWAIN scanners running on Windows 2000, XP, and 2003. [At $1,295, ScanOS makes Windows Vista Ultimate seem cheap.] Autodesk makes available the free Inventor PLE [personal learning edition] software at Authorized Autodesk Resellers only, as revealed two weeks ago in upFront.eZine. The software runs for six months. DOSCH CAD has 3D models for ArchiCAD, Autodesk AutoCAD, CATIA, form.Z, MicroStation, Ngrain Producer, RenderWorks, Rhino, SketchUp, solidThinking, Solidworks, Think ID, UGS NX, VectorWorks, and more. Models are of airplanes, architectural details, concept cars, electronics, engineered structures, industrial objects, job poses, lo-poly cars and people, medical equipment, packaging design, security, ships, and shop design. www.doschdesign.com/products/Dosch_CAD SiteComp releases version 6 of its survey, mapping, and land development software with 30-level undo and redo, figure snaps, line and curve tables, support for TIFF images, and more. www.sitecomp.net Kineo C.A.M. announces KPP-Advanced, an optional package of three new tools for its automatic path planning software, Kineo Path Planner 2.03. www.kineocam.com VizUp 2.2.4 now supports 3GB address space. www.vizup.com/load/vizup.exe FormatWorks from Capvidia is the only Certified Gold Product for SolidWorks users who need to translate CATIA data; the software's now been updated for all CATIA V5 revisions up to version 17. [It puzzles me that Dassault wouldn't provide translation between its two CAD packages.] www.capvidia.com CADWrite word processor runs inside of AutoCAD 2000i and higher. It reads and writes native Word document files, and extracts information from AutoCAD for reports. www.dotsoft.com/cadwrite.htm ALGOR updates ALGOR v20 with integrated CAD/FEA modeling, wizard for applying bolt loads, texture display, sparse solver for fluid flow, heat transfer, and linear dynamic analyses, and more. www.ALGOR.com Synergis Software is shipping Adept 7 data management software, with 90% faster performance, extended 2D/3D CAD integration, and more. www.synergis-adept.com Dassault Systemes makes available ABAQUS Student Edition v6.6 (US$99) with vibration analysis, material failure characterization, tire modeling, and visualization. www.abaqus.com/student - - - 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:
Hardware News Merax releases an eSATA Xpress card (US$120) that lets hard drives connect to Mac and Windows PCI ExpressCard slots: 2.5GB/sec interface on the host side and dual 3GB/sec ports on the device side.www.merax.com
Seminars & Conferences 2006 AIA Colorado Design Conference and Practice Management Symposium is Nov 2-4 in Vail CO USA. www.aiacolorado.org/beta/documents/calendar/06%20DC%20Registration%20Brochure.pdf NAFEMS Symposium on the Integration of Analysis in Product Design is Nov 13 in Chicago IL USA. NAFEMS FEA and CFD is Nov 16 in Anaheim CA USA. www.nafems.org/events GiveMePower Gmbh's annual developer conference is Nov 17 in Bangkok and Dec 7 in Berlin. www.givemepower.de
Magazine/eZine/Weblog Updates Michael Smith of AEC CAD Exchange reports: "The site extension is now .NET instead of .COM. There is a very long and ugly story there, but let's just say that someone is squatting on the .COM address (the old address is alive, but not active, and not supported by us at all). When we get the issue resolved you'll be able to access the site with either .NET or .COM. But for now please use the new address: www.aeccadexchange.net ."
People/Companies on the Move Anark appoints Mark Sawyer to its board of directors. Mr Sawyer is the former ceo of @Last Software, now owned by Google.
Brand New CAD Books/eBooks "TurboCAD for AutoCAD Users, 2nd Ed."
WorthWhile Web http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/ipod_pr.html
Letters to the Editor Re: think3 thinks2 "I have a philosophical objection to any software that removes data from my systems to another without my knowledge or control. I think think3 were smart to at least warn us of this action even though it is done in a document that very few read. Probably even less will read this licence, because, after all, the software is free. "I also think the reason behind the .log file is flawed. It may appear to be a way to determine and allocate resources, but the collection of this type of use-data can only be usefully assessed if it is accompanied with the user's explanations and details of what he/she was actually trying to. "I have looked at the .log file and I will, for the moment, assume and hope this is the only data think3 are transferring, but for me it had one glaring problem: it records file names and locations. This single point prevents me from opening any drawings. This information simply is not needed. "I will happily recommend others consider using free2Design, but with a caveat. I would not use the software professionally nor allow any persons handling my files to do so either whilst this exists. "Solution: as a bare minimum, think3 need to --
"This permits choice without the issues of blocking software." - - - Re: Where IntelliCAD is Headed "Regarding the piece on IntelliCAD (misnomer?) After spending years and substantial dollars on trying to copy (and play catch-up with) AutoCAD, what are they really hoping to accomplish? Are they dreaming of one day getting close enough that hordes will jump from one ship to theirs in the hopes of getting a better, cheaper mousetrap? "If you want to get a cheap AutoCAD that does almost everything
AutoCAD does, get LT." The editor replies: "The ITC has indicated it plans to veer away from AutoCAD after the release of IntelliCAD v7. As for LT, it is not programmable, and cannot be extended to vertical apps, except by methods that Autodesk tries to prevent. IntelliCAD appeals to those who want nothing to do with Autodesk." Mr Grishaber responds: "That's very obvious. Are they writing it for Macs and Linux, for those who want nothing to do with Microsoft?" - - - Re: My Dinner with Buzz "There are many saying the CAD stage is set and not much new happens -- but there are always some crazy people and companies trying something new, or the same once again. Since over a year we are selling new software under an old well-known name [Genius Mechanical]. "As the name says, it's a fully blown mechanical engineering application. It's same code, same user interface, and same database on three Autodesk platforms: AutoCAD LT, AutoCAD, and Inventor. This makes the transfer of projects, parts, and assemblies between the three -- in any direction -- a really easy process without need for translations, import, export, etc. "We took over the brand of old Genius name, but the software
is totally new, hence GeniusMechaniCS. We do not intend to replace
AutoCAD or Autodesk as a market leader, but we want to give AutoCAD
users what Autodesk (remember Buzz's answer to your question) doesn't
want to give them. We also do not want to make them throw away what
they have and know in order to get better technology." - - - "Thanks as ever for keeping us all so well informed!"
"Thanks for your continued and rewarding commentary on the
CAD industry in upFront.eZine."
Notable Quotable
"Never do business with a company offering 'solutions' as in ... 'Post
Office mailing solutions' (brown paper). The word suggests we have
a problem, but since we are grown-ups, that is for us to decide."
Copyright 2006 by upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd. All rights reserved worldwide Article reprint fee US$250.00.
All trademarks belong to their respective holders. "upFront.eZine," "Talking About CAD," and "On your desktop every Tuesday morning" are trademarks of upFront.eZinePublishing, Ltd. |
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