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Issue #544 : : January 29, 2008 |
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In this issue: Dassault Decides on the 'One', Finally - Finding a Place
for CoCreate OpenPlant from Bentley Systems Out of the Inbox and the other regular columns. |
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Dassault Decides on 'One', Finally Dassault Systemes has snapped up lots of companies over the years, resulting in a patchwork that competitors love to deride (cf. PTC). This is problem is particularly severe in the area of PLM [product lifecycle management], which is supposed to be a single point of reference for all data. On its PLM Solutions Web pages, Dassault lists numerous names:
Last Thursday, Dassault made it clear that there is now just one: "ENOVIA MatrixOne 10.8 is the foundation of DS's single PLM platform for all customer business processes in all industries." (Enovia is both the name of Dassault's PLM division, and one of its PLM packages.) There is just one PLM, but only for V6 -- by which Dassault means the future. The current V5 versions of PLM will continue to be fragmented. Especially as the company has not made clear how non-MatrixOne customers will make switch: when released in February, MatrixOne 10.8 will "available as a standard upgrade for ENOVIA MatrixOne customers" only. Most likely, the transition will be a slow process, as slow as it was/is from V4 to V5. Thus, SmarTeam users will continue using SmarTeam, and so on. Links:
Do rumors of recession affect CAD companies? PTC CEO Richard Harrison put it this way during last week's conference call with financial analysts (paraphrased): "Things are a little bit tighter. There is just a little more scrutiny [from potential customers] around the return on the investments and so forth, and a couple of extra signatures [before approving purchases from PTC]." "The deals are happening; it's just that the timeframe is extended," added CFO Neil Moses. And what about the much-trumpeted deal with IBM to sell PTC software in China? "I wouldn't say it is mature as we would like it to be. I think it will improve in the next couple of years."
Finding a Place for CoCreate For years we have had to listen as PTC boasted that it has what all competitors lack: a single CAD product that goes from the mid-range to the high, from the $5,000 to the $20,000+ pricetag. When you bought software from PTC, you were assured of no scalability problems; grow your CAD needs, and Pro/Engineer grows with you. The boasting ended ground to a halt with last autumn's acquisition of CoCreate. For now, customers really don't care, for PTC has promised to leave CoCreate's OneSpace Modeling alone -- other than cross-pollinating technology with Pro/Engineer. But financial analysts and the CAD press are fascinated that the company has been forced itself to change its tune and sing a new song that might have a title along the lines of 'There is Room in the Market for Two.' To hang on to its one-architecture message, however, PTC has switched the chorus away from Pro/E. Listen to the new refrain: "One safe
choice in the market, Kinda' catchy, ain't it. From the conference call, we learn that CoCreate gives PTC:
In related news, CoCreate's OneSpace Live collaboration software will eventually end up in Windchill, which now represents nearly 50% of PTC's revenues. I wonder if Autodesk now regrets its anti-PLM stance, and wishes it could double revenue simply by selling PLM software. Match that with the possibility of fewer AutoCAD sales because of CoCreate's 2D software, OneSpace Drafting: "Sometimes people just want a few seats for stand-alone 2D drawings. Historically we haven't had a solution, and so they bought a few seats of AutoCAD. But now we do." And don't forget that the 3D software is available at no $ cost: Personal Edition of OneSpace Modeling (after registration) from apps.cocreate.com/OneSpaceModelingPE/register.cfm
Other Financial Details PTC's Q1 revenue was US$241.2 million, up 9% from the same quarter a year ago. The bulk of the increase was due to larger consulting, training, and maintenance revenue. The strong performance of maintenance is partly due to CoCreate, which gets 2/3 of its revenue from maintenance. Profits, however, were down 35% to $9.9 million due to the cost of laying off employees, buying back shares, and putting that down payment on CoCreate. The company has $216 million in the bank, and has paid down $15 million of the $220 million loan the company took out to acquire CoCreate; PTC is paying about $8 million a year in interest on that loan. For Q2, PTC expects to earn $248-258 million in revenues. For the fiscal year, PTC hopes to finally exceed $1 billion in revenues.
Moments of Amusement When asked about Dassault Systeme's new software based on MatrixOne, PTC CPO James Heppelmann responded, "It's a far stretch to call Dassault's 'new' strategy around PDM -- it's built on a product, Matrix, that was released in 1990." Notice the spin: he derides MatrixOne as being old, ignoring that Pro/Engineer is older. Later, he continued on the same theme: "[Dassault is] going back to a large base of customers and saying, 'You have to switch architectures to move onto the One.' ...if you use the Enovia product or SmarTeam, you're pretty disappointed. And pretty frustrated now that this is the latest pretty girl in the Dassault lineup, the latest new architecture. This is the fourth time they've played this game in the last four years." Mr Harrison then played the role of the straight man: "What's it going to be next year?" Mr Heppelman: "It depends on who they [Dassault] acquire." After analyst Jay Vleeschouwer asked a very long, multi-part question, PTC's Meredith Mendola joked: "That was ten questions right there." Mr Vleeschhouwer: "That was your going-away present, Meredith." Ms Mendola: "It's okay that you asked ten questions, because we answered twelve." Link: To listen to the conference call in its entirety, go to phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=116312&p=irol-irhome
OpenPlant from Bentley Systems "Open" is the key marketing message for Bentley's new OpenPlant series of software -- "open" meaning data can be consistently reused, and is based on the ISO 15926 data model. Bentley’s first product based on an open data model was ProjectWise Lifecycle Server, and this week it announces OpenPlant PowerPID P&ID [piping and instrumentation diagramming]. Future plant-related software will be similarly open. I did have a chuckle at this quote in the press release: "Bentley’s OpenPlant is the only open plant software..." If it is the only one, then there's no one else to share data with -- OpenPlant makes sense only when competitors adopt it, as well. Bentley has dropped the gauntlet; will other CAD vendors bend to "open" and pick up the glove? Links:
Triple Squid Software Design quietly releases the tablet-friendly MoI v1 [moment of inspiration] 3D NURBS modeler for US$195 at moi3d.com . Demo available from moi3d.com/download.htm Docudesk's deskUNPDF Professional (US$59) converts PDF files to a whole wack of formats: Word, Open Document Format, Excel, CSV, XML, HTML, SVG, and several raster common formats. Try it out at www.docudesk.com/deskUNPDF_product_home.shtml Corel unveils CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 [that's 14, not x-4] (US$429) that packages together page layout, vector illustration, photo editing, and bitmap-to-vector tracing. It can read Acrobat 8 and AutoCAD DXF/DWG file formats. Due to ship in early February; trial version available now at www.corel.com/coreldraw First Trace updates Kinnosa-powered Enterprise Document Management with Service Pack 2 to work with AutoCAD 2008, SolidWorks 2008, OpenOffice, Windows desktop, and Office. www.FirstTrace.com Dassault launches 3DLive-branded PLM for CATIA, SolidWorks, Pro/E, NX, and Inventor. www.3ds.com Dosch Design has new images packages: Building Details, Natural Objects, Concept Cars, Rocks, and more. www.doschdesign.com Sescoi's WorkPLAN Enterprise supersedes WorkPLAN ERP. The database provides access to project data in a variety of ways. www.sescoi.com/us/products/workplan/ Straight Forward Software releases Real Architect 2008 (US$89), a 2D drafting add-on for AutoCAD LT 2000-2008 with new landscape, irrigation, and HVAC modules. www.realarchitect.com/ And Okino's PolyTrans software imports all major CAD file formats into many digital content creation and animation packages, such as 3ds Max, Maya, Lightwave, Cinema-4D, and Softimage. www.okino.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 daratechPLANT2008 is Jan 28-30 in Houston TX USA. www.daratechplant.com Avatech is travelling around the USA in late February hosting Avatech University on the topic of "Digital Prototyping" with Autodesk software. www.avatech.com/web/dpschool Developing a Design Simulation Framework is May 13 in Atlanta GA USA. cpd-associates.com?download=08Atlanta EcoBuild America 2008 is May 19-22 in Anaheim CA. www.ecobuildamerica.com/springhome.html 5th Annual International Conference on Product Lifecycle Management is Jul 9-11 in Seoul Korea. www.plm-conference.org SolidWorks World 2009 is Feb 9-11, 2009 in Orlando FL USA. [I can already guess the surprise evening event: Walt Disney World.]
People/Companies on the Move Bentley Systems bought two companies last week:(1) Hevacomp of England for its software that does energy analysis, heating and cooling load calculations, pipe and duct sizing, and electrical system design and product catalogs; and (2) LEAP Software of the USA for its analysis and design software for concrete bridges.
Brand New CAD Books/eBooks "Learn Bricscad V8 in a Day"
WorthWhile Web http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2008/01/22.html
http://paulstamatiou.com/2008/01/25/diy-200-dollar-pc
http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/dells-xps-one-product-red-a-charitable-rip-off/
Letters to the Editor Re: Windows Only Non-Unix OS Left on the Desktop " That's DEC's VMS [not VMX], I think you mean. Here's how I see it:
"Modern software is generally written in a pattern called 'Document-View-Controller.' Making it OS-independent basically involves the View part, possibly with minor changes to the other parts. In CAD software that involves less than 10% of the code. "Then there's all the dialogs. I'm using wxWidgets and that's
pretty close to MFC [Microsoft's foundation classes], so simple
porting shouldn't be that hard. I've moved dialog definitions into
XML files along with all UI text. I want to allow others to translate
the software into their own language." - - - Re: Software Patents "After suggesting to the Bricscad developers that they makes polar snap more like the one we are used to from AutoCAD, Bricsys told me this is not a technical problem but a legal one. "From www.google.com/patents?q=polar+snap : 'Method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for defining a relative polar snap' (US Pat. 6346943 filed in 1999 by Autodesk). [As well as patents 5793377 and 6911981.] "I find it interesting, but it doesn’t make it easy
for other developers. Maybe something like 'dynamic snap angle'
can be a workaround?" The editor responds: "I think these sorts of patents became more common after Autodesk was sued by Ashlar Vellum over the patent AV held on something similar to AutoCAD's object tracking. Autodesk lost the suit. One of the former CEOs of SolidWorks told me that he takes out patents as protection: should any CAD vendor sue SW, he would offer to swap patents or threaten countersuit. "Autodesk also patented the automatic arcing effecting in RevCloud; Bricscad has a RevCloud command, but it operates differently." Spin Doctor of the Moment "Debris is falling from the blaze, and it is catching other
parts of the hotel on fire."
Notable Quotable "Starbucks mocha clocked at 628 calories: Would you like
that tall, grande, or grosso?"
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