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Issue #529 : : September 11, 2007 |
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In this issue: When Locking Turns on Its Masters
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The Future of Dassault Systemes Out of the Inbox, plus the other regular columns . |
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When Locking Turns on Its Masters CAD vendors benefit from locking by default. Each CAD software package is sufficiently idiosyncratic to make it difficult for uses to switch to another package. Even the move from AutoCAD to supposed-clone IntelliCAD was not far from flawless. Vendors benefit from thin lock-in, because it minimizes leakage to competitors. SolidWorks and UGS, just to name two, spend a lot of effort on unlocking AutoCAD users by providing numerous tools and documentation aids to help make the transition. But locking also can come to bite vendors that it supposedly protect. This hurts Autodesk the most, as it roaring success with AutoCAD now limits its ability to unlock users from AutoCAD's distinctive file format, familiar user interface, and unique APIs. (Autodesk recently shifted payments to its dealer network, giving them more financial incentive to sell Inventor, Revit, and Civil 3D -- instead of AutoCAD.) Where intra-CAD unlocking has worked, it was accomplished only by merging two products together, such as I-DEAS into NX. Or cutting off the software abruptly, as with Generic CADD. In effect, the CAD vendor gives customers little choice: either stay with the old software that's getting older, or switch to something that's kind of similar. Perhaps new CAD software needs to be programmed with its future obsolescence in mind, knowing that one day hundreds of thousands of customers and their crucial data will need to be ported effortlessly to the Next Big Thing.
PTC likes poking fun at Dassault Systeme's triple-headed PLM software, but ceo Bernard Charles got his chance to verbally strut over his company's ENOVIA revenues: up 32%. (ENOVIA is the name of Dassault's PLM division, whose three products are SmartTeam, MatrixOne, and Enovia.) "If you remember, when we acquired MatrixOne a year ago, there were some questions and doubts about how complementary the product family is. We see today that the portfolio is extremely competitive on three fronts." He took credit for PTC's lower sales, which he stated was due to MatrixOne wins over Windchill. A second dig: "I am confident that Airbus will standardize on everything we have" -- meaning the elimination of Pro/E from Airbus. A third dig against PTC came during the Q&A session: "We're not far from doing twice the revenue of one of our competitors that was supposed to be the biggest competitor a few years ago –- twice the revenue." No mention of Autodesk having overtaken Dassault in revenues. Mr Charles noted a significant trend among companies in the automotive industry. They are consolidating all aspects of design under a single software brand. "All new car programs at Mercedes Benz are now 100% CATIA of everything –- electric, power train, chassis, engine, body, interior, everything." If true, this could create a problem for CAD vendors who are unable to offer "everything" to an auto company. On the other hand, I wonder whether a car company give up on exquisite software, such as Alias, just because it was not offered by Dassault or UGS. He didn't think that the acquisition of UGS by Siemens would have a negative impact on DELMIA, their factory simulation software. For end-users, he seemed to imply that a single user interface would be applied to all of Dassault's software. It may have been he was referring specifically to PLM; it was not clear to me. Dassault Systemes was very pleased at its year-to-date revenue growth of 17%. Mr Charles did admit, however, that the CATIA division's -8% slide "might be a little bit disturbing." SolidWorks seats were up 6%, but the average selling price fell 4%. "It's a little bit below what we expect for SolidWorks." He blamed part of it on change in distribution in Japan, and thought that lower-cost versions of SolidWorks were selling better. An analyst taking part in the conference call guessed that SolidWorks' growth would have been 30%, excluding Japan. Mr Charles denied another analyst's suggestion that Jeff Ray took over as CEO because of the Japan problem. Inventor? Never heard of it: "We continue to put a lot of attention taking AutoCAD design data and migrating it extremely easily to a [SolidWorks] 3D environment. We believe that there is a huge installed base there looking for 3D adoption."
The Future of Dassault Systemes And then there is the issue of 3DVIA. First, the promise of the technology: "You have heard about Second Life; we want to do 'First Life.' We do real things." 3DVIA is the future of Dassault: "This is where Dassault Systemes is going -- online applications that connect to PLM. The only thing [people] have are just little drawings and sketches. They cannot see the product; they cannot see the packaging. That's the fundamental goal of 3DVIA." But there is problem. To visit www.3DVIA.com, Mr Charles admitted, "you need to have a good configured PC. Don't go with a small graphics card. I know we are still sensitive to the PC configuration, so sometimes it does not work." In practice, it is more than just the graphics board; 3DVIA also limits which Web browsers work with it. And then there may be customer confusion over the proliferation of names attached to interactive 3D. What is the difference between 3DLive, 3DVIA, and 3DSWYM? An analyst asked if Dassault was worried about Google being a disrupter in 3D worlds. "No, I think it's a great opportunity to expand," responded Dassault. "We will be able to do design online. I'm not saying SolidWorks online, but for sure better than Google [SketchUp]." I suspect the problem will not be Google; instead it is that Dassault has too closely linked itself with Microsoft. "We believe that we can take advantage of the MSN community."
Fiscal Year Estimate For the year, Dassault expects to make e1.3 billion (US$1.72 billion), growth 14% - 15%. And it expects to have double-digit growth for the foreseeable future. [All quotations paraphrased.] www.3ds.com
General CADD Version 6 is released for open beta testing at www.generalcadd.com/downloads-BETA6.htm Bricsys ships IntelliCAD-based Bricscad V8 with a kernel rewritten from scratch and all-new user interface. 30-day eval version from www.bricsys.com/products/design/bricscad/ Related to this, the IntelliCAD Technology Consortium announces that IntelliCAD v6.4 is now available to its parnters. www.intellicad.org CoCreate Software says its new v15.50 of 2007 CoCreate OneSpace Suite works with Vista. Eval versions at www.cocreate.com/prod_eval.cfm SolidCAM updates its namesake 2007 software to v11.2. wwww.solidcam.com CCE updates its CAT5Works SolidWorks translation software to support the 64-bit version of SolidWorks 2007. www.cadcam-e.com Later this month Vero International launches PEPS v6. www.veroint.com UGS PLM Software updates two D-Cubed components, version 522.0 of 2D Dimensional Constraint Manager and Profile Geometry Manager. www.ugs.com/products/open/d-cubed/latest_releases.shtml The company also ships Solid Edge Version 20 with its 170 enhancements. www.solidedge.com/v20 - - - These news items were posted during the last week at the WorldCAD Access blog < worldcadaccess.typepad.com>:
Seminars & Conferences PlantSuccess 2007 Canada is Sept 13 (this week!) in Calgary Canada. plantsuccess.com. A scheduling conflict prevents me from attending. 3rd Annual COMSOL Conference is Oct 4-5 in Newton MA USA. www.comsol.com/conference2007/us/welcome SolidWorks World 2008 is Jan 2023 in San Diego CA USA. www.solidworks.com
Magazine/eZine/Weblog Updates CADCAMNETtv launches tv-style reporting on CAD industry news. www.engineeringautomation.net/CCNTV.html Sescoi launches an English-language version of its Web site at www.sescoi.com with WorkNC machining videos. Nick Carter of Carter and Company launches his technology marketing blog at www.carterandcompanyllc.com/blog.html Higginson Equipment Sales has an on-line Cylinder Configurator with 2D/3D CAD file downloads in Parasolid, STEP, DWG, DXF, IGES, Rhino, and other format. www.higginson.ca
People/Companies on the Move TraceParts of France opens TraceParts, Inc. in New Hampshire, hiring Bob Noftle to run it. Mr Noftle is the former general manager of 3D Content Solutions at SolidWorks. Kanwar Anand and Anthony Rodriguez take over KETIV Technologies of California, Inc. from Ken Paul. The Open Design Alliance adds cto Neil Peterson to its leadership team. And Arnold van der Weide is now president of the organization. BlueCielo ECM Solutions appoints Pamela Aloia to the position of Quality Manager. Ms Aloia was formerly with DataCore Technology, a BlueCielo reseller acquired by BlueCielo in June. Sescoi appoints CAD-CENTRIC of Pune India as its distributor for WorkNC CAM/CAD software. LMS appoints Luc Missorten to its board of directors. Mr Missorten is the former executive vp and cfo of UCB biopharmaceuticals. Dassault Systemes and Seemage announce their intention to become strategic partners. "Working together, the companies will permit the exploitation of 3D as a universal media." [I am sure a Society for the Prevention of the Exploitation of Universal Media will now pop up.]
Market News ROMER is getting a second look by the US Patent Office at its infinite-rotation "148 patent," after affirmation by a Federal Court jury. Competitor FARO Technologies had contested the patent in court. Hexagon acquires all outstanding shares of CogniTens, a provider of shop floor non-contact dimensional measurement solutions. Autodesk acquires PlassoTech for integrating its FEA software into Inventor. [Good-bye ANSYS from Inventor.]
WorthWhile Web http://9den.ms11.net/yamanote_clock/sample/yamate_clock_w.html
http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/009417.html
http://www.proudlyserving.com/archives/2007/09/software_servic.html
Spin Doctor of the Moment "Look 10 years down the road, however, and the view is not
so clear."
Notable Quotable "In this house, we obey the laws of thermodynamics!"
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