Siemens in 2020: New Initiatives (part i)

Issue #1,066   |  September 21, 2020

 

by Ralph Grabowski   Siemens has a perspective unique among MCAD software firms: it's the only one operating as a manufacturer. Other big MCAD vendors, like Autodesk and PTC, have presentation centers in which they show manufacturing at tiny scales, but Siemens is a manufacturing behemoth that last year made CAD$115 billion -- 20x more than its largest CAD software competitor, Dassault Systemes. The CAD division at Siemens is unique also in that we never know for sure what its name is. Today, it's Siemens Digital Industries Software. Before, it was Siemens PLM Software, earlier Siemens PLM Systems, and before that Unigraphics and EDS. The high-end NX CAD software got its new name following the merging of Unigraphics and I-DEAS. Only its mid-range Solid Edge CAD program kept its name constant throughout the decades. NX and Solid Edge were birthed by the oldest CAD companies in history. Unigraphics began in 1969 as "Uniapt" CAM software from United Computing. The same year, Intergraph launched as a CAD-oriented mapping company. Solid Edge is the result of a 1995 experiment in building next-gen software, but it didn't fit Intergraph's product line, so no one was surprised when Intergraph sold Solid Edge to Unigraphics after just three years. NX and Solid Edge arrived at Siemens through the German company's 2007 acquisition of Unigraphics.   The Future Is the Cloud -- Perhaps Siemens is the largest CAD vendor to resist today's notion that design software must run on the cloud, a position that is in direct contrast to competitors who find customers still clinging to desktops irritating. For Siemens Digital Industries Software CEO Tony Hemmelgarn, design belongs on the desktop -- end of story. "We will never have to have that hard discussion with customers about them having to make a difficult transition of technologies [from desktop to cloud]," he said. What does belong in the cloud is collaboration, and so Siemens is working at making its popular Teamcenter collaborative software run on the cloud, under the name of  Teamcenter X. You can see how this makes sense: engineers have powerful desktop systems running NX, collaborating with each other and fieldworkers through the cloud. When it comes to the cloud, Siemens offers unusual flexibility. You can have software hosted by Siemens (on Amazon), on private or local cloud providers, on your premise, at the edge, and hybrids thereof. No one else offers this.   You Pay Your Way Siemens insists customers should have a choice in how to pay for software, whether through permanent licenses or by subscription. Mr Hemmelgarn says he is surprised at how many of his competitors have forced customers onto subscriptions.  Despite his declaration, the company is nevertheless pushing forward with software that can only be paid for by subscription. It turns out that CAD vendors who go to the cloud have no choice in the matter, because software that runs non-stop on the cloud has to be paid for non-stop to cloud providers like Amazon, and so customers also have to pay non-stop. Siemens emphasized the cloud over desktop-bound software during July's presentation to the CAD press. While NX was mentioned often by customer testimonials, Solid Edge and simulation division CD-Adapco got no attention at all. Never mind that Siemens' simulation division makes as much as market leader ANSYS ($1.5 billion last year) and more than all of PTC.   Siemens' Future is Mendix If we understand nothing else about the future for Siemens, it's that it is based on Mendix. This platform with the unusual name has an unusual history: it began as a cloud-based visual programming service for business applications, like human resources and scheduling. Two years ago, Siemens bought it for CAD$950 million, and then applied it to CAD. We can think of Mendix as a combination of Autodesk's Forge API and PTC's Onshape/Atlas platform. It has a three-fold role at Siemens: A set of software for running businesses An API [application programming interface] for customers to customize The underlying technology that powers all cloud apps for Siemens "We are launching a lot of applications based on Mendix," said senior vp of Business Strategy and Marketing Brenda Discher, formerly of Autodesk marketing.    What Ralph Grabowski Thinks Siemens places the emphases on the right areas. Design belongs on the desktop;  subscriptions ought to be optional; automatic upgrades are pausable; collaboration should be hostable anywhere. These are policies that reassure customers that their future with Siemens is a stable one.  https://solidedge.siemens.com - - - Next Week: You get a look at what is new in Solid Edge 2021, plus an extended Q&A with executives from Siemens. [This article first appeared in Design Engineering magazine and is reprinted with permission.]   And in Other News The following posts appeared on the WorldCAD Access blog during the summer: Expect Creo-on-the-cloud in a few years   German station furnishings for AllPlan   Nanosoft ships 3D DWG editor nanoCAD Pro 20   Report: Autodesk ignored Revit concerns in 2014   ITC releases IntelliCAD 10.0 to members - - - Vectorworks ships its namesake software, Vectorworks 2021, with a new Project Sharing server and multi-threaded Vectorworks Graphics Module cache that offers up to 5x faster file loading. https://www.vectorworks.net - - - Bentley Systems files for a third time to do an IPO [initial public offering], in which its Class B shares will be made available to the public starting at $17-$19. The valuable Class A shares, owned by the founders, are not being offered. Analysis of what this means through Monica Schnitger at schnitgercorp.com/2020/09/10/bentleys-s-1-shines-a-light-on-how-private-companies-grow-with-engineers-in-charge/. Letters to the Editor I just fired up my old copy of Generic CADD to do some drafting and realized my memory is not as good as I thought it was in using it. This [Inside Generic CADD ebook] will come in handy to refresh my brain cells.     – J. G. The editor replies: I am glad to hear it helps. I notice that I produced the book first in the print version in 1993. - - - I've been reading your blog on and off for the last few months--I have a lot to learn from your technical knowledge. Thanks for being so passionate about CAD software,     – Clifton Harness   Re: Architecture firms to Autodesk: We're no longer happy with Revit For Autodesk, Revit became the Perfect Storm. With the grip on the DWG file format waning, another strategy had to be put into place. They did it with Revit: Government contracts mandating its use A file format not backwards-compatible And a subscription model.  I know BIM is a "process," but I saw many contracts which essentially stated the application was not mandated, but the deliverables had to be in RVT format. BIM by its very nature requires an open file exchange format, tools for data exchange, and collaboration. When that didn't happen, the only thing left was the single-source option.  This needed to be an industry-wide effort, as MIDI was in the music industry. Even in the earliest days, we could see there was so much which needed to be standardized to make the  dream of BIM a reality, but it never happened (even using a single source). It could still be done but a lot of money and time has already been spent and I'm afraid "the horse has left the barn." No one listened then, maybe they're listening now.      – Dave Edwards     Dave Edwards Consulting - - - There are more professional CAD and BIM software products to consider these days than waaayyyy overpriced Autodesk products. I've never understood why larger practices and some individuals don't explore the market to recognize this fact and thus end up being VANILLA-CAD users and out of pocket. Instead of this tenuous lobbying, just change your CAD HB-pencil!  List of alternative CAD/BIM products than Autodesk: 4MSA IDEA - Architectural Design (IntelliCAD)  AutoDesSys - Form-Z  Bentley - Architecture  Bricsys – BricsCAD / BricsCAD BIM  Cadline Network Ltd – ArchLine-Xp & LT (light) version  CadLogic - Draft it Architectural  CADSoft - Envisioneer  Chief Architect  DataCAD LLC – Software for AEC Professionals  Elecosoft – Arcon Evo Visual Building Premium FreeCAD Arch Xeometric – EliteCad Architecture  Gehry Technologies - Digital Project Designer  Graphisoft - ArchiCAD  IMSI/Design – TurboCAD Professional  NanoSoft - NanoCad Construction  Nemetschek - Allplan Architecture  Nemetschek - Vectorworks Architect  ProgeSoft – ProgeCAD Architecture  Robert McNeel & Associates - Rhino 3D + VisualARQ  Softtech – Spirit Pro  Trimble – SketchUp Pro  ZWSOFT - ZWCAD Pro     – Clayton Taylor     Trotman & Taylor Architectural Consultants, England The editor replies: The problem lies in the file format. Once a model is in Revit, it is not effortless to move it to another system. IFC helps, but is not perfect; full RVT support from ODA is a year away.   Thank You, Readers Thank you to readers who donate towards the operation of upFront.eZine: Robert G Findlay, Australia Gijs Willem Sloof of Talenting Investments, The Netherlands (two donations) To support upFront.eZine through PayPal, then the suggested amounts are these: $25 for individuals > paypal.me/upfrontezine/25 $150 for small companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/150 $750 for for large companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/750 Should Paypal.me not operate in your country, then please use www.paypal.com and the account of [email protected]. Or mail a cheque (US$ or CDN$ only, please) to upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd., 34486 Donlyn Avenue, Abbotsford BC, V2S 4W7, Canada.

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