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PLM Industry Summary Christine Bennett, Editor Vol. 13 No.15 Friday 15 April 2011 Contents Acquisitions _______________________________________________________________________ 2 FISHER/UNITECH Acquires SolidWorks Software Business Unit ________________________________2 CIMdata News _____________________________________________________________________ 3 CIMdata Presented “Green and PLM in Innovation: A Productive or Disruptive Combination?” at COFES _3 Opinion Poll: From Whom do You Purchase CAx Software and How Satisfied Are You with Their Support? _____________________________________________________________________________________4 Company News _____________________________________________________________________ 4 ASCENT Introduces Training Guides in eBook Format _________________________________________4 Delcam Professional Services Expands Singapore Office ________________________________________4 Engineering Optimizer, Technia’s New Service Offering ________________________________________5 ESI Joins French Software Association AFDEL _______________________________________________6 Gibbs and Associates Grants over $500,000 in Software and Services to Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) _____________________________________________________________________7 IFS Launches Center of Excellence for Oil & Gas ______________________________________________7 Ken Welch Joins MSC Software as Vice President of Strategy and Product Management _______________8 Mentor Graphics PCB Design Investment Strategy and Execution Results in 50% Worldwide Market Share 9 Omnify Software Relocates Corporate Headquarters to Accommodate Growth ______________________10 Si2’s OpenAccess Coalition Announces Extensions Steering Group ______________________________10 solidThinking Launches Worldwide Product Design Competition for College and University Students ___11 Zuken Announces Further E³.WireWorks Growth for Midwest Region of North America______________12 Events News ______________________________________________________________________ 12 Bluebeam PDF Revu 9 Debuts in Australia Offering Enhanced Usability, Advanced Features to Streamline PDF-Based Paperless Workflows __________________________________________________________12 Cadence Kicks Off Global User Conferences with CDNLive! EMEA _____________________________14 COFES 2011, The Congress on the Future of Engineering Software Begins ________________________15 Delcam Offers 3D Signmaking Software for $149 at ISA _______________________________________16 Intergraph® CADWorx® Plant Webinar on April 19 to Demonstrate Automatic Isometric Drawing Creation Using ISOGEN ________________________________________________________________________17 Nemetschek Deutschland Seminar “Designing and Building in existing assets” − Opportunities and risks for architects and designers _________________________________________________________________17 Newly-Formed 3D PDF Consortium to Host Tech Suite Briefing at COFES ________________________18 Open, Automated Dental and Hearing Aid Prostheses Machining at Medtec France __________________19 OptiTex Releases Newest Version of its Signature Software _____________________________________20 Product Lifecycle Management Conference - CMPROficiency 2011 ______________________________20 SAE 2011 World Congress Marks the Official Launch to EcoCAR 2: Plugging into the Future _________21 SoftInWay Presents AxSLICE Tool to Rev Up the Turbomachinery Redesign Process ________________22 SolidWorks Webinar to Focus on Delcam’s Integrated CAM ____________________________________23 Financial News ___________________________________________________________________ 24 ANSYS to Release First Quarter 2011 Earnings on May 5, 2011 _________________________________24 Cadence Announces First Quarter 2011 Financial Results Webcast _______________________________24 Infosys Technologies Announces Results for the Quarter and Year Ended March 31, 2011_____________25 PTC to Announce Fiscal Q2 Results on Wednesday, April 27th And Host Conference Call on Thursday, April 28th at 8:30 am ET ________________________________________________________________29 Copyright © 2011 by CIMdata, Inc. All rights reserved. CIMdata, Inc. 3909 Research Park Drive Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108 Tel: +1 (734) 668–9922 Fax: +1 (734) 668–1957 E-mail: [email protected] Web: http://www.CIMdata.com CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Implementation Investments _________________________________________________________ 29 Atkins and Skanska Balfour Beatty Joint Venture Earn Autodesk BIM Experience Award _____________29 Camstar Enterprise Platform™ Selected by Illumina to Accelerate New Product Introductions _________30 Customer Case Study: Ritherdon’s Success with Radan ________________________________________31 Granada Sales Boosts Productivity with NGC's ERP Solution ___________________________________32 HANSA Metallwerke AG Introduces ENOVIA_______________________________________________33 ITOCHU Prominent USA Selects BlueCherry® to Support Growth and Diversifications ______________33 Milwaukee Valve Increases Leads and Customer Satisfaction With PARTsolutions 3D Catalog_________34 SofTech Announces the Hayward Tyler, Inc. ProductCenter PLM Case Study ______________________35 SVAB Hydraulik AB Selects Aras for Product Lifecycle Management ____________________________36 Swiss Watchmaker Uses SolidWorks To Transform Complexity Into An Art Form___________________36 ThyssenKrupp Elevator Selects aPriori for Product Cost Management _____________________________37 UK-Based SRG Apparel Selects Visual 2000 ERP and PLM Software_____________________________38 Product News _____________________________________________________________________ 39 Actify Announces Centro™ ______________________________________________________________39 Altair Engineering Announces the Release of MindManager through the HyperWorks Partner Alliance __39 Autodesk Brings AutoCAD WS Mobile App to Android _______________________________________40 Autodesk Developer Network Expands the Power of AutoCAD 2012 _____________________________41 Autodesk Developer Network Launches New Applications for Autodesk Inventor 2012 _______________42 Autodesk Developer Network Launches New Applications for AEC ______________________________42 Cadence Announces Availability of World’s First DDR4 IP Solution _____________________________43 CimatronE to Offer Background Toolpath Calculation _________________________________________45 Dassault Systèmes Announces Abaqus Side Impact Crash Dummy for Realistic Simulation ____________45 Delcam Offers 3D Engraving and Woodworking Software for $149 ______________________________46 Eagle Point Software Releases New AutoCAD Civil 3D Add-on: Designers' Companion ______________47 Hard Dollar Introduces New 5D Design Data Integration _______________________________________48 Learning About CMPRO: How to Use CMPRO for PLM _______________________________________48 MathWorks Announces Release 2011a of the MATLAB and Simulink Product Families ______________49 MathWorks Extends IEC Certification Kit with Simulink Verification and Validation and Simulink Design Verifier Qualification ___________________________________________________________________50 MathWorks Introduces Automatic C Code Generation Directly from MATLAB Language_____________50 Mentor Graphics Introduces the Eldo Premier Simulator________________________________________51 Midsize Manufacturers Worldwide Benefit From Oracle Accelerate Solutions ______________________52 Newforma Add-In for Autodesk Revit Unleashes True Value of Information Locked in Building Information Models ______________________________________________________________________________54 Oracle Introduces Oracle’s AutoVue 20.1 ___________________________________________________56 Planisware 5.2 Supports Integration with Rally Software’s Agile ALM Platform_____________________58 Remcom Announces Update to XFdtd EM Simulation Software with Additional Modeling Capabilities and Expanded XStream Platform _____________________________________________________________59 RhinoWorks from LEDAS Revolutionizes Direct Modeling _____________________________________60 Acquisitions FISHER/UNITECH Acquires SolidWorks Software Business Unit 13 April 2011 FISHER/UNITECH announced its acquisition of Roney Software for Manufacturing Inc.'s SolidWorks software business. SolidWorks 3D computer-aided design (CAD) software provides best-in-class tools for product design, validation, technical communications and data management. Roney Software for Page 2 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Manufacturing, located in Girard, PA, will continue to provide computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) solutions to the design and manufacturing market. As a result of this acquisition, Roney Software's SolidWorks customers will benefit from immediate access to new products and value-added services from FISHER/UNITECH. Customers will have access to toll free phone and online support utilizing FISHER/UNITECH's SupportExpress platform. SupportExpress includes online reporting and tracking of technical support cases, live chat, online bill paying, e-commerce functionality, and a "virtual advisor" for instant remote technical support sessions including data transfer. Maintenance subscribers can take advantage of SELive, an online chat application fully embedded into SolidWorks software. SolidWorks users simply download SELive from http://supportexpresslive.com, install the program and launch a technical support chat session directly from the SolidWorks Task Pane. Another important customer advantage is access to FISHER/UNITECH's 3DU online education system. 3DU offers customers the option to take SolidWorks courses online via an interactive environment, delivering convenience and flexibility. FISHER/UNITECH is the only SolidWorks reseller to offer a learning management system (LMS) that ensures education objectives for each and every student are achieved. FISHER/UNITECH employs local sales and support personnel in its Findlay Township, Pennsylvania, office providing full educational facilities. With a technical staff of over 30 product specialists, consultants, applications and technical support engineers, FISHER/UNITECH has the infrastructure to ensure customers are getting the most out of their technology investment. Since 1993, FISHER/UNITECH has grown to support a customer base of over 6,000 companies and 15,000 users in nine states. Click here to return to Contents CIMdata News CIMdata Presented “Green and PLM in Innovation: A Productive or Disruptive Combination?” at COFES April 2011 Who: Peter Bilello, President When: April 15, 11:00 am Where: COFES 2011, Analyst and User Briefings Topic: Green and PLM in Innovation: A Productive or Disruptive Combination? How green is PLM? Can PLM technologies become a first order term in the innovation equation of a product's total greenness? Is green possible without a holistic PLM vision and strategy? How does PLM support the four R's (reduce, reuse, recycle, and repurpose) of product-related intellectual assets? Does our PLM support innovating in the new clean green economy? Click here to return to Contents Page 3 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Opinion Poll: From Whom do You Purchase CAx Software and How Satisfied Are You with Their Support? 15 April 2011 If you haven’t provided feedback yet on your experience purchasing CAx software and your satisfaction with the level of support you received, please take a moment now to vote at http://www.cimdata.com/polls/polls.html Click here to return to Contents Company News ASCENT Introduces Training Guides in eBook Format 12 April 2011 Rand Worldwide® announced that its courseware division, ASCENT- Center for Technical Knowledge®, introduced eBooks to its library of offerings as an additional learning format for its printed Autodesk Official Training Guides. Containing the same content as the corresponding printed training guides, eBooks offer an alternative to those preferring a digital solution. ASCENT eBooks can be downloaded to a computer with a Windows or MAC operating system; accessed online through any Internet-connected computer, and downloaded to an iOS device, such as iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad. Notes and highlights can be made in the eBooks and users can sync their eBooks so notes and highlights are available in each medium. Notes and highlights can also be shared with other users of the same eBook. “The three integrated methods of accessing our eBooks provide end-users with the flexibility to access their digital training guides at a variety of locations whether it’s at home, school, or work,” remarked Paul Burden, Director of Product Development, ASCENT. “After listening to feedback from our customers, we are pleased to offer eBooks to schools, companies, and individuals seeking a more environmentally-conscious alternative to printed training guides.” ASCENT is an Authorized Author, Publisher and Developer of Autodesk curriculum. All of the ASCENT Autodesk 2012 courseware titles carry the Autodesk Official Training Guide designation. In addition, ASCENT creates and publishes courseware for CATIA and Pro/ENGINEER software applications. All of the company’s training guides are available to educational institutions, individuals, and corporations and can be purchased directly from the online store: http://www.ASCENTeStore.com. ASCENT will be releasing a full range of eBook titles in the coming months to support Autodesk 2012 software. To see the company’s complete courseware line-up for Autodesk, Dassault Systèmes, and PTC software solutions, please visit http://www.ASCENTed.com. Click here to return to Contents Delcam Professional Services Expands Singapore Office 12 April 2011 The Singapore office of Delcam Professional Services has moved to larger premises within the Nanyang Polytechnic site. The move follows the recruitment of a number of new staff for the office following an Page 4 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary increase in the level of interest in Delcam’s process development services in the region. It is part of a general expansion of the organisation, which was converted into an independent subsidiary earlier this year. The Singapore office has worked closely with Nanyang Polytechnic in the two years since it was first established. The company has been able to use the facilities at the Polytechnic to develop and trial some of its project work and, in return, has provided training and experience in novel processes to the students. Like its parent company in the UK, the Singapore office provides process development and prototyping services based on Delcam’s range of CADCAM software. Under the leadership of Hans Kunen, an engineer with more than 20 years experience in machining and process development, it helps companies to increase productivity and reduce lead times. Work associated with the manufacture and repair of components for the aerospace and power generation industries make up the majority of the projects, although the Singapore team also provides its services to other industries. Most of the projects involve the development of turn-key work cells using Delcam’s adaptive machining technology. Adaptive machining uses a combination of machining and inspection technology to allow the production of complex components to a consistently high level of accuracy and quality. Typically, the systems involve a high level of automation, allowing them to be operated by lower-skilled staff. The Professional Services Group was formed by Delcam in 2004 to undertake larger consultancy projects for users of the company’s CADCAM software. The primary business of the group is on working with clients to improve their design and manufacturing processes, and then defining procedures for using Delcam’s products to implement those processes. Click here to return to Contents Engineering Optimizer, Technia’s New Service Offering 4 April 2011 Engineering Optimizer is a new release from Technia based on more than 20 customer implementations of ENOVIA’s Engineering Central. The Engineering Optimizer not only speeds up the implementation process, it also offers higher user efficiency. Over the last five years, Technia has completed over 20 customer implementations of ENOVIA’s Engineering Central. To be able to meet the customer’s different demands, Technia’s consultants and engineers have made adjustments or improvements in these Engineering Central implementations with the help of TVCs (Technical Value Components). “We have taken all the experiences we gained from these 20 plus implementations and made a service offering called the Engineering Optimizer. It is a service package we know almost everyone who is about to implement Engineering Central demands,” says Magnus Falkman, manager product development, at Technia in Stockholm. The benefits of the Engineering Optimizer are many. For one, the implementation of a PLM system for an organization will be shortened. “From the user’s perspective, they will be a lot more effective while working in the PLM system due to the simplified interface. But, there is also the perspective of cost of ownership in relation to the IT organization that will maintain and supervise the system. Instead of a customized solution, the Engineering Optimizer offers a whole package to which we continuously will be making improvements. A customized system is always more expensive to maintain,” says Falkman. Page 5 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Technia has been offering TVCs for some time. The biggest difference between TVCs and the Engineering Optimizer is that TVCs are generic products that can be used for several different tasks. The Engineering Optimizer offers predefined configurations of the TVCs specifically for engineering companies. One group of users that will benefit from the Engineering Optimizer is the SmarTeam users. When they transfer to ENOVIA, there are benefits of using TVCs and the Engineering Optimizer. “The business value we can offer our customers when using TVCs and Engineering Optimizer in an implementation of ENOVIA is a predefined template, a readymade solution which we have trimmed in advance based on our extensive experience. The implementation period will be shorter, since there are fewer configurations to be made. It is more cost effective that way. Also, there is higher user efficiency once the implementation has been made. This makes the return of investment quicker,” concludes Johan Lindström, Technia head of sales development and communication. Click here to return to Contents ESI Joins French Software Association AFDEL 14 April 2011 ESI Group announced its membership of the French software association AFDEL (Association Française des Editeurs de Logiciels). As a key player within the virtual prototyping market, ESI joins AFDEL to contribute to the promotion of the software industry. As the 6th simulation vendor worldwide, 11th overall software vendor in France and 67th in Europe, ESI is well placed to provide key insights into the development and progression of the numerical simulation sector, share best practices as well as outline what the future holds. ESI’s alliance with AFDEL, will help provide the visibility and market representation required of the virtual prototyping market, and illustrate how companies can best take advantage of the latest advances in simulation technology. Commenting on the raison d’être of AFDEL, Patrick Bertrand, Chairman of AFDEL declared, “over 5 years ago French software houses recognized the need to promote the importance of software within the IT sector, and therefore created their own software association to do so. Indeed, at this time it was evident that the software industry in France was not supported as well as it could be, with decision makers and students sometimes unable to distinguish between a hardware manufacturer, a software engineering company and a software vendor.” Mr. Bertrand continued, “we are delighted to count ESI Group among our affiliates. Their membership brings an abundance of experience and will contribute greatly to supporting the promotion of the software industry.” Vincent Chaillou, ESI Group Product Operations President and COO commented, “the drastic evolution in digital technology and practice, including Cloud Computing, data sovereignty, and new license subscriptions, which sustain the growth of companies today, means that ESI will benefit from having AFDEL as an advocate for our industry.” AFDEL comprises more than 230 French and International software vendors amongst its members. These include 60% of the top 10, 45% of the top 100 and 80% of SMB software vendors. For more information on virtual prototyping, visit ESI’s website: www.esi-group.com Page 6 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary For more information on AFDEL, visit: www.afdel.fr Click here to return to Contents Gibbs and Associates Grants over $500,000 in Software and Services to Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) 13 April 2011 Gibbs and Associates announced that it has granted Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) a network license of twenty-five seats of GibbsCAM software and post processor library, which, when combined with first year maintenance, which was also granted, is valued at almost $510,000. The software includes functionality to open CAD models from their native format file, modify and prepare CAD models for machining, and generate, verify, simulate and post process CNC toolpaths for up to 4axis milling, rotary milling, and multi-axis turning. It will be used for CAD/CAM, CNC programming, and machinist apprenticeship and training classes of the NAIT School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Technology, and for its periodic GibbsCAM-only training classes, the first of which will be offered in April, 2011. “We are grateful to Gibbs for its generous support,” said David Grabski, Associate Chair, NAIT Machinist program. “GibbsCAM will provide our instructors the option to teach CNC programming with a system that is locally well-supported and which has a reputation for demonstrable ease of use. It will be most helpful in programming our multi-axis machining centers and dual-spindle turning centers with live tooling, where verification and machine simulation are more important.” The NAIT Machinist program, one of the largest in North America, is conducted within the 31,000 square-foot, NAIT Sandvik Coromant Centre for Machinist Technology, which houses three machine shops, a CNC lab, two computer labs, five “smart” classrooms, and a metrology/inspection lab. It employs nearly 200 machine tools, including 24 conventional milling machines and 83 conventional lathes, and has capacity to train 1,820 students annually. The facility offers a four-year apprenticeship program (responsible for approximately 70% of Alberta’s machinist apprenticeship training); a full-time, one-year CNC certificate program; and two pre-employment machinist programs. At the core of its CNC machining programs are 36 CNCs, all made by Haas Automation. These include lathes, turning centers, dual-spindle turning centers, and vertical and horizontal machining centers. “Because NAIT enjoys an exceptional reputation serving Canadian and international industry, we are proud to assist it with a grant of software to help machining students achieve higher levels of CNC programming faster than could be achieved with other software,” said Robb Weinstein, Gibbs’ Senior VP, Sales and Strategic Planning. “Our user base is growing rapidly in Alberta, serving oil, gas and other industries, and we hope to help customers find new employees that already know how to use a powerful and increasingly popular CAM system. We look forward to NAIT’s success with GibbsCAM in its machinist and CNC training programs.” Click here to return to Contents IFS Launches Center of Excellence for Oil & Gas 12 April 2011 IFS launched its Center of Excellence for the Oil & Gas industry. The Center will be based in Norway. Founded on IFS’s successful track record delivering project-based industry solutions to mid-size and Page 7 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary large companies within the oil & gas industry, the center will be IFS’s global hub for industry competence and experience going forward. The center consists of key-resources with long experience from the Oil & Gas industry. The center’s main responsibilities are to: •Gather and develop competence •Provide sales and solution expertise in larger global sales projects •Provide solution expertise in large global implementations •Identify and provide trends and new functional requirements to IFS Research and Development •Establish and maintain contact with main System Integrators, partners, third-party product vendors, and industry associations The IFS Center of Excellence – Oil & Gas will be headed by Carl-Magnus Adamsson. “My ambitions are to further expand IFS’s global position as the leading vendor of project-based solutions for the Oil & Gas industry. Our target now is to focus on the up-stream players and especially the EPCI (Engineering, Procurement, Construction, Installation) Contractors. Many of them still have own-developed standalone applications within engineering, fabrication and material management. We are now trying to help them to improve efficiency and secure better project control by offering user-friendly integrated standard packages.” Executing on its growth strategy within the industry, IFS will also continue to strengthen its position by recruiting leading industry competence, most recently manifested in the form of Geri Arne Wilberg, formerly of Aibel, and Kristin Husby, recently recruited from Hamworthy Gas Systems. The Oil & Gas industry is one of IFS’ targeted markets. IFS offers flexible, component-based business solutions that manage the entire lifecycle of contracts, projects, assets and services. IFS Applications includes functionality for contract and project management, risk management, budgeting and forecasting, engineering, material management, fabrication, document management, service and asset management, all integrated with financials and human resources. Customers include Technip, Semco Maritime, Hertel, Grenland Group, Babcock Engineering Services, Heerema Fabrication Group, Seadrill, Yantai Raffles, Archer, Apply Sørco, Reinertsen Engineering, APL, Bergen Group Rosenberg, BWO Offshore, STX Europe, and Hamworthy Gas Systems. Click here to return to Contents Ken Welch Joins MSC Software as Vice President of Strategy and Product Management 12 April 2011 MSC Software Corporation announced that Ken Welch has been appointed to Vice President of Strategy and Product Management. In this position, Mr. Welch will oversee the management and product strategy for the company’s full suite of products. Mr. Welch has a long track record of success in the Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) and Computer Aided Design (CAD) industry in a variety of technical, sales, marketing and product strategy roles. He has an outstandingly diverse corporate background working at both established companies like Autodesk and Rockwell Corporation as well venture funded startups like Rasna Corporation and Moldflow Corporation. Page 8 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary While at Rasna Corporation, Mr. Welch led the product planning and marketing groups of the Mechanical suite of CAE products. During his tenure, Mechanica was launched and grew rapidly to $24M in revenues before being acquired by PTC. At Moldflow Corporation, Mr. Welch had multiple roles, initially serving as Vice President of Marketing and Field Services, then General Manager of the Design Analysis Business Unit and finally Chief Operating Officer. During his tenure, Moldflow transitioned from a small private company to a $64M public corporation that was the global leader in plastics related CAE software systems. Mr. Welch holds Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of California at Davis and is a graduate of the AeA/Stanford Executive Institute. “Ken’s experience and broad understanding of the CAE industry will be a tremendous asset to the MSC team and our customers,” said Dominic Gallello, President and CEO, MSC Software. “He will not only help MSC execute a winning product strategy that delivers exceptional technology to our customers, but he will also be involved in critical projects that contribute to the growth of our business.” Click here to return to Contents Mentor Graphics PCB Design Investment Strategy and Execution Results in 50% Worldwide Market Share 11 April 2011 Mentor Graphics Corporation announced that, according to the Electronic Design Automation (EDA) Consortium Market Statistics Service Report for 2010, the company has achieved a 50% worldwide market share in PCB design solutions. For over 12 years, Mentor Graphics® has been consistently executing on a vision and investment strategy to bring the most advanced design capabilities to the industry. Today, Mentor is supplying industry-unique capabilities that extend beyond the design of the PCB and integrate the multiple engineering disciplines necessary for complete product development and delivery. “Our continued R&D and strategic investments in advanced systems design technologies, far exceeding that of other suppliers, has resulted in a gradual increase in our revenues and market share,” stated Henry Potts, vice president and general manager of Mentor’s Systems Design Division. “The electronics industry requires these advanced technologies to support their PCB product development and manufacturing processes and Mentor is the only supplier seriously investing. This positive cycle continues, as the more revenues and market share we obtain, the more we can continue to invest in future design solutions to the benefit of our customers.” R&D and strategic investments in systems design have been a major focus for Mentor Graphics. The result has been industry-unique technologies that address users’ most advanced design and manufacturing needs including: • Mechanical analysis supporting thermal analysis of electronic products including the IC package, the PCB, and the complete system • The expansion of Mentor’s capabilities to support the complete design-through-manufacturing process including design for manufacturability, new product introduction (NPI) to manufacturing, and PCB manufacturing process execution optimization • The HyperLynx® PI (power integrity) for AC and DC analysis of complex power distribution Page 9 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary networks on high-end products • Major enhancements to the Expedition® Enterprise platform in support of advanced technology product design by mid-sized to large and global enterprises • Best-in-class desktop PCB technologies with PADS® software, tailored to meet the design needs of individual users Of particular note in the EDA Consortium report is Mentor’s market share in North America, Europe, and Asia/Pacific with 60%, 57% and 50% respectively. Japan was the only market where Mentor did not show the largest PCB design market share but did grow their market share by more than 75% from 2009 to 2010. The impressive growth in Japan is due to Mentor’s emphasis on this important market with increased dedicated sales and support targeted at major enterprise companies. Click here to return to Contents Omnify Software Relocates Corporate Headquarters to Accommodate Growth 11 April 2011 Omnify Software announced the relocation of its corporate headquarters to Tewksbury, MA. The new facility, located at 2 Highwood Drive, accommodates the company’s current staff and enables further expansion for future growth. “As our customer base expands into emerging markets and our company continues to grow, we needed to find the right facility in the right location for our evolving business,” stated Jack Rowntree, chief operating officer for Omnify Software. “With a convenient location and larger facility that will support our anticipated growth, it made sense for Omnify Software to select the Highwood Office Park in Tewksbury, MA for our new location.” Omnify Software Headquarters 2 Highwood Drive, Suite 202 Tewksbury, MA 01876 phone: 978-988-3800 fax: 978-657-5927 http://www.omnifysoft.com Click here to return to Contents Si2’s OpenAccess Coalition Announces Extensions Steering Group 12 April 2011 Silicon Integration Initiative (Si2) announced that the Extensions Steering Group (ESG) has been formed by the OpenAccess Coalition. The ESG has elected a slate of officers and has issued a public Request for Technology (RFT). This group is chartered to increase the pace of adding OpenAccess functionality without affecting the consistency and stability of the core API standard and its associated Reference Implementation. The ESG will look at ways to extend OpenAccess for the benefit of silicon foundries, EDA suppliers, IP providers, and end users. The ESG is responsible for reviewing and approving new features and capabilities for the OpenAccess Standard API which are not part of the Page 10 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary regular development process. This will allow for more flexible development in the OpenAccess environment to meet ever changing market requirements. A Request for Technology has been issued seeking technical donations. These Extensions may include new conventions or use models, additional semantics to existing schema, or extensions to the schema with new object types that are approved by members of the ESG. A copy of the RFT and the associated requirements and procedures is located here: http://www.si2.org/?page=1336 The ESG elected Steve Potter of Altera as Chair and Scott Chase of Synopsys as Vice-Chair. “This community effort ensures that OpenAccess will continue to evolve to meet the needs of its members, as well as the entire industry, without forking into conflicting versions,” says Sumit DasGupta, Sr. Vice President of Engineering for Si2. “The ESG has gotten off to a strong start with the establishment of the OpenAccess Scripting Working Group, which is developing interfaces between the OpenAccess C++ API and the 4 most popular open scripting languages - Perl, Python, Ruby and Tcl. Scripting languages on OpenAccess enable more agile software development than compiled languages such as C and C++. Other scripting languages such as C# are also being considered, and the ESG expects other recommendations from the RFT process as well.” A list of the OpenAccess Coalition members can be found here: http://www.si2.org/?page=86. All member companies are also members of Si2, who owns all rights to the OpenAccess Standard. Click here to return to Contents solidThinking Launches Worldwide Product Design Competition for College and University Students 11 April 2011 solidThinking, Inc. (http://www.solidthinking.com) announced a design competition, open to college and university students worldwide, that will honor the best design concepts created completely using solidThinking 8.5 or solidThinking 8.5 Inspired™ software. Any student 18 or older can enter a design of any kind of product, including—but not limited to—consumer goods, electronics, furniture, jewelry, fashion, medical products, packaging, toys and transportation. The first prize in the global solidThinking Design Competition 2011 is US$5,000 cash and a solidThinking 8.5 Inspired commercial license. Second prize is US$3,000 and a similar license. Third prize is US$2,000 and a solidThinking 8.5 commercial license. All entries published on the solidThinking.com website will receive a 24-month solidThinking Inspired educational license. An international jury of high-profile professional designers, academics and journalists will judge the entries on aesthetic qualities and form innovation, function innovation and feasibility, and presentation techniques. Students may enter as many projects as they wish simply by registering and uploading their designs at http://www.solidthinking.com/AcademicRegistrationForm.aspx, where they also will find the detailed official rules for the competition. Entries will be accepted now through Sept. 30, 2011 11:59 pm ET. Winners are scheduled to be announced on Nov. 30, 2011, on www.solidthinking.com, www.core77.com, www.designboom.com, www.dezeen.com and www.productdesignhub.com. They also will be notified by email. To create their entries, all applicant students will receive a full-featured license for solidThinking Inspired with related documentation through Nov. 30, 2011. Participants also may register for a free Page 11 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary “Introduction to solidThinking” webinar. solidThinking’s NURBS-based design software offers conceptual modeling; high-quality visualization tools including global illumination and advanced rendering techniques; fast real-time photorealistic rendering for design review and presentation; and flexible data exchange and CAD collaboration. Its ConstructionTree™ technology allows designers to experiment with designs without needing to start from scratch when changing their minds. solidThinking Inspired allows users to apply morphogenesis™ form-generation technology – which draws on the principles of biomimicry – to grow efficient shapes in response to environmental forces and pressures. The competition allows students to submit their designs confidentially to a password-protected site. Entries must incorporate a detailed concept of the design with rendered images from various view angles and include a description and the reasoning behind the design. Click here to return to Contents Zuken Announces Further E³.WireWorks Growth for Midwest Region of North America 14 April 2011 Zuken announced that Alignex has joined its North American network of E³.WireWorks resellers. Headquartered in Edina, MN, Alignex provides engineering solutions, services and consulting for manufacturers, architects, construction and engineering firms. They offer software sales, installation, training and support throughout the upper Midwest including Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and western portions of Wisconsin and Illinois. More and more often, today’s products have both mechanical and electrical content. This creates a need for increased collaboration between electrical, fluid and mechanical design teams. Offering customers the ability to use E³.WireWorks in conjunction with SolidWorks allows mechanical, electrical, and fluid designers to work more closely together for better collaboration with fewer design errors, rework, and warranty issues while enabling companies to speed up the design process. E³.WireWorks’ out of the box integration with SolidWorks Premium Routing and SolidWorks Enterprise PDM makes it a perfect complement to offer customers to maximize their SolidWorks investment. For more information on E³.WireWorks please visit http://www.zuken.com/e3wireworks . For further details about Alignex visit http://www.alignex.com. Click here to return to Contents Events News Bluebeam PDF Revu 9 Debuts in Australia Offering Enhanced Usability, Advanced Features to Streamline PDF-Based Paperless Workflows 14 April 2011 Bluebeam Software announced the Australian debut of its new Bluebeam PDF Revu 9, the latest, fullyloaded version of its PDF platform technology that provides a smart, simple solution to create, markup, edit and manage PDF files. The product will be unveiled to the Australian market today at the 23rd Annual designEX. The event runs April 13-15 at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre. The all-new Revu 9 takes the quest for paperless project management to a whole new level with more Page 12 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary than 30 enhanced features that streamline PDF markup, viewing, processing, collaboration and sharing. Revu 9 builds upon Bluebeam's intuitive PDF reviewing, editing and markup capabilities and its Tool Chest™ that enhances efficiency by enabling users to save commonly used markups for easy reuse, importing or sharing with colleagues. The latest edition puts a host of new, more advanced features into the hands of designers and architects, offering greater flexibility and usability, including: 3D PDF viewing capability that enables users to navigate through complex models on screen and rotate, spin and zoom to gain a dynamic view of the project. Using just a mouse, users can refine their perspective and vantage point, isolate and view various specific elements, make transparent layers to drill down into masked details and even save these specific views in the PDF so that collaborators can have the same perspective. Advanced animation features also make it easy to cycle through all 3D views within the PDF. The exclusive new VisualSearch™ that allows users to select a specific symbol in a PDF and search for instances of that element across the current document, all open documents, recent documents or files in a specific folder. Even better, users can apply markups and hyperlinks to all identified VisualSearch results, instantly linking symbols to online product data sheets, specifications and more. Improved PDF creation from AutoCAD® , including enhancements to the batch PDF creation plugin for multi-selecting DWGs and adjusting output settings such as page setups and text stamps, and the ability to add sheet sets for batch file conversion. Measurement cutout , a highly-requested function to Revu's takeoff tools that is ideal for design and construction professionals to account for room obstructions in area measurements and create more accurate estimates. PDF to MS Office for conversion of PDF files back to their original native MS Office file formats with export capability to Word, Excel® and PowerPoint® for significant text edits, as well as HTML for online use and searchability. PDF Forms creation to convert any PDF into a fillable PDF form. Javascripting can also be used to add form fields that automatically calculate values, validate text entries, and define actions. PDF Scripting , which enables users to engage 25 script commands to automate repetitive processes such as inserting PDF coversheets, adding text stamps, flattening PDFs and more. Custom scripts can be written and saved as an icon to the Revu toolbar. In addition to these advanced features, Bluebeam PDF Revu 9's MultiView™ Extended capability, allows users to run multiple sessions of Revu concurrently and move document tabs dynamically between the sessions to enhance productivity. Tabs can also be dragged and dropped to an attached second monitor for expanded viewing and more efficient review. When it's time for a clean slate, the new Erase Content deletes all unwanted text and images with a single click. For better issue tracking, Page 13 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Revu 9's integrated Markups list enables users to assign custom statuses to markups, complete with text and colour properties that change depending on the selected state. Improved foreign language support has also been included to tear down communication barriers and enhance global collaboration. New Unicode text support enables users to add text-based markups in any left-to-right reading language. Additionally, a markup translation feature instantly translates markups to more than 55 languages. Users can even dictate their markups verbally through a microphone while Revu 9 converts them to text markups on any PDF. Bluebeam PDF Revu 9 is available in three editions - Revu Standard for general CAD and Office users (US $179 per seat), Revu CAD for AutoCAD, Revit® and SolidWorks® users (US $239 per seat) and Revu eXtreme for PDF power users (US $299 per seat). Volume discounted pricing is available for multi-seat purchases. Bluebeam Software products are sold to the Australian market through a network of resellers. To see a live demonstration of Revu 9, stop by Stand #1006 during designEX April 13-15 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Or, for more information, visit www.bluebeam.com. Click here to return to Contents Cadence Kicks Off Global User Conferences with CDNLive! EMEA 13 April 2011 Cadence Design Systems, Inc. inaugurates its annual series of technical user conferences with CDNLive! EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), to be held May 3-5 at the Dolce Hotel in Munich. The worldwide CDNLive! events bring together thousands of Cadence® technology users, developers, and industry experts to examine challenges and synthesize solutions for developing innovative electronic designs. This year’s conference will focus on new technologies and methodologies for Realizing EDA360. Attendees can share best practices on critical design and verification issues and explore new techniques for realizing advanced silicon, SoCs, and systems. New this year, following last year’s acquisition of Denali by Cadence, the conference will host dedicated technical sessions for Denali customers and attendees of MemCon, an event Denali sponsored that focused on standards and new product information. The three-day conference will feature keynote presentations by Cadence President and CEO Lip-Bu Tan. The guest speaker this year is Philippe Magarshack, Group Vice President, Technology R&D, at STMicroelectronics. During the event, attendees will be able to choose from a wide range of live product demonstrations of the latest features and capabilities, in depth user-presented technical papers, comprehensive road map presentations, dynamic panel discussions and social networking opportunities with peers. “By establishing CDNLive! in EMEA, we created a unique opportunity for all our users and partners to get together on an annual base and to get inspired by their peers to innovate in electronic design,” said Wolfgang Stronski, marketing director of Cadence EMEA. “The conference has also become a platform to launch our major solution news to our users and press. Last year, we announced the EDA360 vision; this year we will launch important solutions to enable our customers to achieve System Realization.” In addition to the keynotes and user-presented technical papers, a record number of companies will be exhibiting this year at the Designer Expo. Attendees can meet up with Cadence and their partners to Page 14 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary receive the latest results of the collaborative ecosystem to support the EDA360 strategy. To register for CDNLive! EMEA, and to receive additional information about the event, including the complete agenda, please visit www.cadence.com/cdnlive/eu/2011. Click here to return to Contents COFES 2011, The Congress on the Future of Engineering Software Begins 14 April 2011 Cyon Research Corporation today welcomes attendees to the opening of the twelfth annual Congress On the Future of Engineering Software (COFES.) The three-day event brings together executives and engineers to discuss the most important issues facing both users and vendors of design and engineering technologies. In the scheduled presentations, analyst briefings, and roundtable discussions, guest experts will discuss not just the status quo, but also the trends and technologies that promise to drive innovation far into the future. “For design and engineering organizations, software is key to innovation,” explains Cyon Research President and CEO Brad Holtz. “At COFES, leading thinkers from all corners of the industry gather to explore where and how design and engineering software needs to evolve to.” This year, the COFES opening keynote speaker is John Gage, former Chief Researcher and Vice President of the Science Office for Sun Microsystems. Gage is best known as one of the founders of NetDay, and for creating the tag-line “The Network is the Computer,” and was the man behind many of Sun’s most successful product developments. He left the company in 2008 to work on green technologies to help combat global warming. Among his current projects is a global initiative to enable all schools to connect to power and communications networks in the most energy-efficient way and the development of an innovative and advanced control system for lighting. Sponsored by Geomagic, Gage's keynote will trace the history of computing, from the original visions of Ivan Sutherland's Sketchpad to “Flying into the Heart of Atoms”, from Computer-Aided-Design to Network-Aided-Design. He will discuss how we can democratize the power of CAD by making design tools available to all the world's schools and communities, emphasizing designing for energy and waterefficient objects, systems, communities and cities. “COFES assembles the leaders who bring the power of computing to the product design process,” said Gage. “Since Ivan Sutherland first demonstrated his Sketchpad in 1963, we have witnessed the power of computer-aided design in creating a multi-trillion dollar chip and computer industry and have seen the extension of computer-based simulation and design into every industrial field. It is now just beginning to touch new fields: fundamental materials and biological systems. More importantly,” he added, “the past 50 years have demonstrated the power of CAD to change the intellectual technology of human thought, the very way we see and understand the world.” Co-located with COFES 2011 will be the third annual Design and Sustainability (DaS) Symposium, that explores the intersection of design, simulation, and sustainability for both the built and manufactured environment. The DaS Symposium showcases new ways design software can increase the visibility of sustainability issues at the design stage. Attendees are challenged to identify areas of common ground that may be best served by collaborative, rather than competitive solutions. Page 15 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary To view the full agenda of COFES 2011, please visit: http://cofes.com/agenda Click here to return to Contents Delcam Offers 3D Signmaking Software for $149 at ISA 15 April 2011 Delcam will launch the $149 version of its ArtCAM CADCAM software for 3D signmaking at the ISA International Sign Expo to be held in Las Vegas from 28th to 30th April. Signmakers that are not attending the Expo can obtain full details on the software and download a trial version at http://www.artcamexpress.com. ArtCAM Express offers 2D drawing, and 2D and standard 3D machining functions, and so provides an ideal introduction to computer-based manufacturing for companies in the signmaking industry. A range of modules are available to add extra functionality as the user develops his skills and wishes to take on more complex projects. The software is available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions so that users with the more powerful hardware can work with larger, memory-intensive files. To suit individual methods of working, ArtCAM gives users the freedom to customise and save their preferred interface layout. This enables every user to set up the software to give quicker access to the commands that they use most frequently. Similarly, commands that are rarely used can be hidden from the initial menu choices. The software comes with a library of clip-art that new customers can use to create their first models. All these examples can be scaled or combined to give initial designs ready for machining. In addition, designs can be imported in DXF, DWG, AI and EPS 2D formats, plus designs from Alias Wavefront, 3D Studio and other members of the ArtCAM family. For users that prefer to create their own designs, the software includes a range of drawing tools for creating both geometric and free-form shapes, and also for editing and repairing imported 2D files. The options for text creation support a wide range of standard fonts and also give complete control over spacing, kerning, and line and paragraph formatting. Any new designs created can be added to the initial library for future use. To help visualize the design, it can be rendered in numerous materials, including all the most common metals and different types of wood, such as mahogany or maple, complete with wood-grain direction. If the final design requires external approval from the client, it can be emailed as a rotatable 3D PDF. Once the design has been finalized, the software offers a variety of strategies for CNC machining. 2D strategies supported include area clearance, profiling, engraving, vector-based machining and drilling, plus V-bit carving on all standard Windows fonts. In addition, a 3D raster toolpath can be created within a vector boundary. The software is supplied with a tooling database, which can be edited or added to by the user. A simulation can be run of the pieces being machined using the chosen tools and the given material block dimensions. Users can compare the results obtained with different tools or machining strategies on the computer, potentially saving time and money. The optimum toolpaths can then be exported to more than 250 different types of routing and engraving machines, using Delcam’s proven range of post-processors. Click here to return to Contents Page 16 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Intergraph® CADWorx® Plant Webinar on April 19 to Demonstrate Automatic Isometric Drawing Creation Using ISOGEN 12 April 2011 Intergraph will conduct a CADWorx Plant webinar on April 19 at 10:00 a.m. CT that will demonstrate how to set up and create isometric drawings using ISOGEN. During this webinar, participants will learn how the ISOGEN tool can save hundreds of man-hours by automatically creating isometric drawings based on custom settings that match the project's requirements. The webinar leader will be Sonia Delgadillo, senior CADWorx applications specialist at Intergraph CADWorx & Analysis Solutions. For information on this webinar, visit http://coade.typepad.com/coadeinsider/2011/04/intergraphcadworx-webinar-isogen-isometrics-creation-and-setup-april-19-at-10am-ct.html. To register, visit http://icas.intergraph.com/forms/CADWorx-Webinar-ISOGEN-iso-creation. For more information on Intergraph CADWorx, visit http://www.intergraph.com/products/ppm/cadworx/. For information Intergraph analysis products visit http://www.intergraph.com/ppm/analysis.aspx. Click here to return to Contents Nemetschek Deutschland Seminar “Designing and Building in existing assets” − Opportunities and risks for architects and designers April 2011 In May/June 2011, Nemetschek Deutschland is offering the specialist seminar “Designing and Building in existing assets” in 11 cities across Germany. The event provides architects and designers with specific legal and cost information. The experts, Friedrich-Karl Scholtissek, lawyer to the Association of German Architects (BDA) and Dipl.-Ing. Arch. Kim Mikschl, Nemetschek Deutschland, will discuss the theoretical basis and provide practical examples and numerous action recommendations. The three-hour events will start at 3 p.m. and will be held at architecturally exclusive locations. Topics What needs to be taken into consideration during planning and building monitoring? What are the liability risks, and how can you protect yourself against them? How can you maximize reliability of earnings and costs? Event locations and dates Freiburg, Weinschlösschen*: May 3, 2011 Stuttgart, Literaturhaus: May 4, 2011 Munich, HKW Mitte: May 5, 2011 Nuremberg, DB Museum: May 10, 2011 Frankfurt am Main, Saalbau Gutleut: May 17, 2011 Cologne, Alte Versteigerungshalle: May 18, 2011 Essen, Schloss Borbeck: May 19, 2011 Hamburg, Former Coffee Exchange: May 24, 2011 Bremen, Focke-Museum: May 26, 2011 Erfurt, Kaisersaal: May 31, 2011 Berlin, Admiralspalast: June 1, 2011 *Note: This event starts at 2.30 p.m. Page 17 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary To access more information about the events, and to register, click HERE. Click here to return to Contents Newly-Formed 3D PDF Consortium to Host Tech Suite Briefing at COFES 11 April 2011 The newly-formed 3D PDF Consortium announced that it will hold Tech Suite Briefings at COFES, the Congress on the Future of Engineering Software, which runs from April 14-17 in Scottsdale, Arizona. Members will discuss the consortium's purpose and vision during the course of the congress, including two briefings on Friday, April 15. The 3D PDF Consortium unites component providers, software vendors, developers and end users that support ISO 32000-2, PDF/E-2 and the PRC data format as open standards for exchanging, visualizing, archiving and retrieving 3D and other engineering data. The organization will participate in the formats' ongoing ISO standardization process by advocating its members' needs, working with Adobe Systems Incorporated to maintain Adobe Reader® support of the standard, and ensuring software vendors and developers can access the toolkits and APIs to publish 3D PDF. "The industry is interested in breaking down the barriers that prevent 3D engineering data from moving reliably through workflows," says Tech Soft 3D CEO, Ron Fritz. "COFES is the perfect venue to discuss how our industry can work together to support the emerging ISO 32000-2 and PDF/E-2 standards, which will make 3D data more accessible to downstream consumers of 3D data." "The free Adobe Reader changed forever the way 2D documents are shared globally," said Tetra 4D Chief Technology Officer, Craig Trudgeon. "With the release of the PDF specification and the PRC 3D data format to ISO, Adobe set in motion the next wave of efficiency in the PLM market by providing a truly open standard for the exchange of 3D data." "We're pleased to participate in the establishment of the 3D PDF Consortium," said Kirk Gould, Director of Engineering, Adobe. "When Adobe transferred ongoing responsibility for the development of the 3D CAD libraries within Acrobat to Tech Soft 3D, it was this type of industry focus and innovation we expected. The 3D PDF Consortium will provide Adobe with industry specific requirements that will aid us in continuing to evolve the support of PRC and the PDF/E-2 standard in Adobe Reader." ISO 32000-2 is targeted for publication by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 2012. ISO 32000-2 will improve support for rich media from all sources. With high compression, accuracy and fidelity, the PRC file format captures the original structure of 3D CAD data and can be viewed within PDF, a format accessible to 98% of internet-enabled computers worldwide. About COFES COFES is a conference that focuses on intense sessions of discussion, argument and debate on issues that will affect businesses that invest in and depend upon engineering technologies. The 12th annual COFES runs Thursday, April 14 through Sunday, April 17. See the COFES Web site for additional information on the agenda, keynote speakers and registration. Those interested in attending COFES can contact Ron Fritz at [email protected] to arrange an invitation. About the 3D PDF Consortium The 3D PDF Consortium (http://www.3dpdfconsortium.org) unites component providers, software Page 18 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary vendors, developers and end users committed to seeing PDF/E-2 and the PRC data format continue to progress as open ISO standards for exchanging, visualizing, archiving and retrieving 3D and other engineering data. The consortium participates in the ongoing standardization of PDF/E and PRC, representing the needs of its members, working with Adobe in the continuing evolution of the free Adobe Reader in support of the standard, and ensuring software vendors and developers have access to the development toolkits and APIs required to publish to 3D PDF. Click here to return to Contents Open, Automated Dental and Hearing Aid Prostheses Machining at Medtec France 13 April 2011 Sescoi will be previewing its WorkNC Hearing software for the automatic CNC machining of hearing aid prostheses, and showing the latest developments in its WorkNC Dental CADCAM, including the new Implantology and Automation modules, at Medtec France, Besançon, on booth 613. Following the success of its WorkNC Dental CADCAM software, which enables dental professionals to manufacture highly accurate dental prostheses without the need for expertise in CNC machining, Sescoi has developed WorkNC Hearing to offer the same advantages to medical professionals for the automatic manufacture of hearing aid prostheses, earmolds and shells. WorkNC Hearing uses WorkNC’s open, expert toolpath generation technology. Starting from a 3D scan of the prosthesis model, the imported CAD data is manipulated ready for machining. Automatic nesting of multiple prostheses maximizes material utilization and allows the user to position the part to avoid undercut conditions and to add support pins ready for manufacture. Machining wizards automatically select the tools to suit the material being cut and apply the 4-axis toolpath with just one mouse click. The WorkNC Hearing CADCAM software is fully open, allowing the user to choose the most cost effective material and tools to suit their application, while the intelligence within the software makes it easy to use, making prosthesis manufacture a completely automated process. Sescoi’s open WorkNC Dental Implantology module imports scanned implant data or xml files of the implant location, along with the geometry of the abutment itself. Libraries of connectors, and the ability to create custom connectors make it easy to finalize the prosthesis geometry. Automated 5-axis machining can match any make of machine tool, and feature recognition perfectly aligns the orientation of holes for the supporting implants. The software supports a wide range of dental materials including titanium, chrome-cobalt, zirconia, lithium disilicate, E-max and PMMA. Machining wizards automatically select tools and apply toolpaths tailored to each material to generate optimized 5-axis cutterpaths, which will machine undercut conditions, drill the hexagonal abutments, and machine special geometry with matching tooling. This allows dental technicians to produce complex bridges and abutments without the need for CNC machining experience. WorkNC Dental Automation gives dental laboratories a productivity boost by managing the flow and allocation of work through the machine tools. Bi-directional communication with the machine tool controller allows the software to allocate work to each machine according to available resources. The software manages job loading/unloading on pallets and bar feeds, reports error conditions on the machine, and starts and stops machining programs. By eliminating the manual management of each machine tool, the software removes the chance of human error and gives technicians more time to focus on core skills, increasing overall productivity. All of Sescoi’s software has been designed to be both automated and open. The company collaborates Page 19 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary with a wide range of scanner, CAD and machine tool manufacturers, giving medical professionals the opportunity to tailor a complete system to suit their needs and budget, while maintaining the flexibility to develop innovative new solutions for their customers. Click here to return to Contents OptiTex Releases Newest Version of its Signature Software 14 April 2011 OptiTex announced the release of Version 11 of their signature software. OptiTex's Version 11 software provides users with an array of enhancements and new features including improved 2D tools in Slash and Spread functionality, Walking capabilities, Variation Grading, 3D algorithm and GUI, and a new network protection system (SRM). OptiTex Version 11 also provides improvement in its 3D capabilities. The algorithm field of Version 11 includes better collision detection, improved folding options for pre-simulation, rigid bending and improved physics. New multi-core parallel hardware capabilities are fully utilized accelerating simulation time. Examples are Intel® Core[TM] i7 Processor and NVIDIA CUDA[TM]. The 3D Creator engine has been reworked to provide even faster simulation, improved accuracy of drape, decreased file size, and updated avatars with even more measurements. Global users of OptiTex Version 11 will find a new measurement chart, the ability to plot marker files from an "OptiTex Viewer" option and choose from an array of 25 languages incorporated into the program. Distributors and partners alike can find OptiTex at Texprocess 2011 in the Messe Frankfurt, May 24-27, 2011, Hall 4.0 Booth E81 where they will be demonstrating the newest release of their OptiTex Version 11 software. Website: http://www.optitex.com Click here to return to Contents Product Lifecycle Management Conference - CMPROficiency 2011 April 2011 When: May 24-26, 2011 Where: Panama City Beach, FL Professional Systems Associates (PSA) announces CMPROficiency 2011, a conference covering CMPRO and other topics important to the configuration management community. CMPROficiency will provide information on how to more proficiently use CMPRO for Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Configuration Management (CM), and Inventory Management, as well as the other processes that CMPRO helps to automate and manage. With separate tracks for administrators, fundamental users, and advanced users all attendees will be getting targeted information based on their user level. CMPROficiency 2011 will teach attendees how CMPRO can be used in their organization and why configuration management and product lifecycle management are vital to a company's success. Registration for this event is now open. For more information on the specific topics that will be covered at this event or how to register visit the CMPROficiency 2011 page. Page 20 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary PSA welcomes two renowned guest speakers from the configuration management community to CMPROficiency who will present information on configuration management standards and best practices. The guest speakers include Sheri Robinson from the Institute of Configuration Management (ICM) and Steve Easterbrook from the Configuration Management Process Improvement Center (CMPIC). ICM's Sheri Robinson currently teaches courses on Configuration Management II (CMII) and has over 25 years of experience in processes, operations, and management. She will be presenting information on identifying, "(T)he root causes of corrective action and quantifying the ratio of resources spent on intervention. Attendees will learn conforming results are the norm when requirements are clear, concise and valid, and that a fast and efficient change process is a prerequisite." Steve Easterbrook from CMPIC has over 30 years of experience with configuration management. Steve will be speaking to the full group about Configuration Management – Preventing Process Meltdown. Steve stated, "I will show how failures in configuration management have resulted in costly errors and real life tragedy, and I will explain how a good configuration management process can reduce corrective action, exposure to negative publicity, avoid lawsuits and, most importantly, save lives." Click here to return to Contents SAE 2011 World Congress Marks the Official Launch to EcoCAR 2: Plugging into the Future 13 April 2011 Today at SAE 2011 World Congress in Detroit, David Sandalow, Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), took the stage for the morning keynote address and, along with Karl Stracke from General Motors (GM), announced the official launch of EcoCAR 2: Plugging in to the Future. Established by the DOE and GM, EcoCAR 2 is a three-year collegiate engineering competition and the only program of its kind. The mission of EcoCAR 2 is to educate the next generation of automotive engineers through a hands-on, real-world engineering experience. The competition challenges 16 North American universities to reduce the environmental impact of vehicles without compromising performance, safety and consumer acceptability. Combining new teams and veterans to Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions, the schools that have been chosen to participate in the EcoCAR 2 are as follows: • California State University, Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA) • Colorado State University (Fort Collins, CO) • Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Daytona Beach, FL) • Mississippi State University (Starkville, MS) • North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC) • The Ohio State University (Columbus, OH) • Pennsylvania State University (University Park, PA) • Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN) • Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Terre Haute, IN) Page 21 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary • University of Ontario Institute of Technology (Oshawa, Ontario, Canada) • University of Tennessee, Knoxville (Knoxville, TN) • University of Victoria (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada) • University of Washington (Seattle, WA) • University of Waterloo (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada) • Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA) • Wayne State University (Detroit, MI) EcoCAR 2 requires students to explore a variety of powertrain architectures and follow a real-world engineering regimen modeled after GM’s Global Vehicle Development Process (GVDP). EcoCAR 2 teams will utilize a Chevrolet Malibu, donated by General Motors, as the integration platform for their advanced vehicle design. “Giving the students the Chevy Malibu for the next vehicle made perfect sense, as the industry and consumers are moving to smaller cars,” said Karl Stracke, CEO of Opel/Vauxhall at GM. “Plus, the Malibu offers the students a flexible platform that will allow them to explore various advanced propulsion technologies and other fuel savings techniques. We’re definitely eager to watch the EcoCAR teams gain unparalleled experience and knowledge that will be extremely valuable to any automotive company after the students graduate.” For more information about the student engineering program, the participating schools or the competition sponsors, please visit http://www.EcoCAR2.org or the Inside the Green Garage blog. About the Sponsors Sponsors provide the hardware, software, training, and support the teams need to integrate technologies into their competition vehicles. This arrangement gives students access to components and systems that might otherwise be unavailable or too expensive for them to use. Sponsors are able to promote their technologies and observe how they perform during rigorous and innovative use. Sponsors have the opportunity to meet, work with, and recruit hundreds of the nation's most motivated and talented engineering students. Sponsors also gain international media coverage and develop partnerships with government, industry, and academia. Click here to return to Contents SoftInWay Presents AxSLICE Tool to Rev Up the Turbomachinery Redesign Process 14 April 2011 SoftInWay Inc. announced the release of a new tool – AxSLICE. Integrated into the AxSTREAM Software Suite for design, optimization and retrofitting of turbomachinery, the AxSLICE module for scanned data processing is able to increase the speed of flow path redesign. AxSLICE was developed by SoftInWay’s team to expedite the process of blade geometry extraction using only scanned raw data points for analyzing and optimizing the blade. Additionally, the tool prepares the blades in the format appropriate for analysis of the existing flow path, therefore, shortening the design process and saving engineering hours and budget. Engineers involved in turbomachinery retrofitting usually lack flow path geometry necessary to perform Page 22 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary their analysis. Since most software tools working with data from 3D scanners produce only surfaces, they require a significant amount of manual work to extract airfoil characteristics necessary for 1D/2D flow path analysis and defining direct geometry. AxSLICE solves this challenge by determining blade angles from scanning results. The new tool will be showcased in details in the course of SoftInWay’s free webinar “Retrofitting of Turbomachinery – from Scanned Data to a New Efficient Flow Path”, to be held on April 28, 2011, at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. EDT. AxSLICE covers all types of rotating turbomachinery; during the webinar the module will be demonstrated using a steam turbine with HP, IP and LP sections as an example. To know more about AxSTREAM software or to register for the free webinar, please visit SoftInWay’s website: http://www.softinway.com Click here to return to Contents SolidWorks Webinar to Focus on Delcam’s Integrated CAM 11 April 2011 SolidWorks® will focus on Delcam’s Gold Partner CAM system, Delcam for SolidWorks, in a webinar on April 27th. During the webinar, SolidWorks will show how Delcam’s CAM solution, which is fully integrated into SolidWorks, can help reduce product manufacturing costs, shorten lead times, increase throughput and yield. To register for the webinar, please go to http://www.solidworks.com/manwebcastdelcam. To be presented by Craig Therrien, Product Manager, Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp., and Glenn McMinn and Chris Cole from Delcam, the webinar will help companies to evaluate the best integrated CAM tool for their organisation. It will demonstrate both the close integration of the Delcam system with SolidWorks design software and its overall high performance when creating toolpaths from SolidWorks models. Delcam for SolidWorks includes comprehensive options for the programming of turning and mill-turn equipment, alongside the company’s technology for drilling and two- through five-axis milling. This broad range of strategies allows users to program everything from basic lathes and three-axis mills, up to complex mill-turn equipment and five-axis machining centres. Delcam for SolidWorks combines the benefits associated with Delcam’s PowerMILL and FeatureCAM CAM systems. It is based on Delcam’s machining algorithms that are already used by more than 30,000 customers around the world. The software has the same focus on ease-of-use as FeatureCAM, including the automatic feature recognition and knowledge-based automation that make the system so consistent and reliable. At the same time, Delcam for SolidWorks offers PowerMILL’s latest multi-threading technologies for exceptional toolpath calculation speed, plus the advanced strategies for high-speed and five-axis machining that ensure increased productivity, maximum tool life and immaculate surface finish, even when cutting the hardest, most challenging materials. The complete range of options is fully integrated into the SolidWorks software environment so that the program looks and behaves like SolidWorks. Full associativity is maintained so that any changes in the CAD model are reflected automatically in the toolpaths. Furthermore, all toolpaths can be checked by the integrated simulation module on the computer before being passed to the machine tool. Click here to return to Contents Page 23 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Financial News ANSYS to Release First Quarter 2011 Earnings on May 5, 2011 14 April 2011 ANSYS, Inc. announced that the Company expects to release its first quarter 2011 earnings on Thursday, May 5, 2011. The Company will hold a conference call conducted by James E. Cashman III, president and chief executive officer, and Maria T. Shields, chief financial officer, at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss first quarter 2011 results and future outlook. Conference Call Information: What: ANSYS First Quarter 2011 Earnings Conference Call When: May 5, 2011 at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time Where: http://investors.ansys.com The conference call dial-in numbers are (800) 860-2442 (US), (866) 605-3852 (CAN), or (412) 8584600 (INT'L) Passcode: ANSYS The call will be recorded with replay available within two hours after the call at http://investors.ansys.com or at (877) 344-7529 (US) or (412) 317-0088 (CAN and INT'L) Passcode: 450231 Click here to return to Contents Cadence Announces First Quarter 2011 Financial Results Webcast 8 April 2011 Who: Cadence Design Systems, Inc. to announce first quarter 2011 financial results via webcast. What: You are invited to attend the first quarter 2011 financial results audio webcast. Participating on the webcast will be Lip-Bu Tan, president and chief executive officer, and Geoff Ribar, senior vice president and chief financial officer. When: The webcast will begin Wednesday, Apr. 27, 2011 at 2 p.m. (Pacific)/5 p.m. (Eastern). An archive of the webcast will be available from 5 p.m. (Pacific) Apr. 27 until 5 p.m. (Pacific) May 11. WHERE: Page 24 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary The webcast will be available online at: http://www.cadence.com/cadence/investor_relations Click here to return to Contents Infosys Technologies Announces Results for the Quarter and Year Ended March 31, 2011 15 April 2011 - Q4 Revenues Grew by 1.1% Sequentially; FY11 Revenues Grew by 25.8% - Fiscal 2012 Revenues Expected to Grow by 18.0% to 20.0% Highlights Consolidated results under IFRS for the quarter ended March 31, 2011 - Revenues were $1,602 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2011; QoQ growth was 1.1%; YoY growth was 23.6% - Net income after tax was $402 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2011; QoQ growth was 1.3%; YoY growth was 18.9%* - Earnings per American Depositary Share (EPADS) was 0.70 for the quarter ended March 31, 2011; QoQ growth was 1.4%; YoY growth was 18.6%* - 34 clients were added during the quarter by Infosys and its subsidiaries - Gross addition of 8,930 employees (net addition of 3,041) for the quarter by Infosys and its subsidiaries - 130,820 employees as on March 31, 2011 for Infosys and its subsidiaries - Final dividend of 20 INR per ADS (equivalent to approximately $0.45 per ADS at the prevailing exchange rate of 44.50 INR per US$). The dividends are payable on the ADSs outstanding as on record date, at the prevailing exchange rate on the payment date and are subject to approval by the shareholders. * Excluding the income from the sale of our investment in OnMobile Systems, Inc. of USD 11mn in fiscal 2010 "We expect the demand environment to be normal this year for the industry," said S. Gopalakrishnan, CEO and Managing Director. "We have created a structure with strong customer driven vertical focus and have enhanced our investment to take advantage of the opportunities we see in the market." Business outlook The company's outlook (consolidated) for the quarter ending June 30, 2011 and for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012, under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), is as follows: Outlook under IFRS - consolidated ** Quarter ending June 30, 2011 - Revenues are expected to be in the range of $1,643 million and $1,659 million; YoY growth of 21.0% to 22.2% - Earnings per American Depositary Share (EPADS) is expected to be in the range of $0.62 and $0.63; YoY growth of 8.8% to 10.5% Page 25 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Fiscal year ending March 31, 2012 - Revenues are expected to be in the range of $7.13 billion and $7.25 billion; YoY growth of 18.0% to 20.0% - Earnings per American Depositary Share (EPADS) is expected to be in the range of $2.83 to $2.88; YoY growth of 8.0% to 10.0% ** Exchange rates considered for major global currencies: AUD / USD - 1.03; GBP / USD - 1.61; Euro / USD - 1.42 Expansion of services and significant projects Infosys is focused on delivering measurable business value to clients - whether it be initiating transformational process changes or driving best-in-class efficiencies. Our innovative new products and services have been successfully adopted and implemented by our clients. Transformation Infosys has developed a world-class business consulting model to partner technology-led transformation in building tomorrow's enterprise. We continue to win transformation deals in retail. We partnered with a large US-based retailer on its mobile strategy and application development to complement its e-commerce offerings. . We performed a security audit assessment and remediation of Sarbanes-Oxley based conflicts for a global food service retailer in its Oracle financial applications. We built a case management system for a money transfer provider for its compliance and audit needs, helping the client better manage anti-money laundering, call center and fraud related cases. A leading asset manager chose us as its strategic delivery partner for a core investment systems reengineering that will lead to significantly higher flexibility in operations, access to richer information for decision making and lower operating costs. We helped a financial services company establish a single source record for customer relationship, integrating merchant customer information into its existing technology infrastructure. For a transportation company we are delivering an end-to-end solution for global equipment management, helping the client save costs around leased equipment, demurrage and Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO). A leading manufacturer of helicopters has partnered with us to transform business intelligence capabilities at the enterprise level to provide actionable information to make better decisions. We helped a large oilfield services company implement prebuilt inventory analysis covering manufacturing, finance and sales, thus reducing overall costs. Operations Our efficient operational services free up clients' resources that can then be deployed to drive transformation and innovation initiatives. A European aerospace manufacturer engaged us to deploy a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution to be integrated with its enterprise systems and global supplier base for seamless collaboration as well as to deliver cost savings and productivity improvements. A major aerospace and defense corporation expanded its engagement with us to include a Human Resource Management (HRM) system upgrade on PeopleSoft. One of the world's largest independent automotive suppliers engaged us for a SAP template rollout at its Page 26 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary India plants. A leading global automotive manufacturer partnered with us to provide PLM and engineering support services across various locations and thus reduce costs. A leading Asian automobile manufacturer signed us on to implement SalesForce.com for commercial credit functions. A leading industrial player in transport-related engineering has selected us to provide services for the support and maintenance of its business intelligence platform. For a grocery chain in the US we undertook implementation of e-performance, talent acquisition and management, profile management and variable compensation modules of PeopleSoft Human Capital Management (HCM). A retail brand in the US engaged us to provide standardized reporting mechanism for its international business team. A large US-based retailer engaged us to better manage inventory and equipment by improving maintenance and uptime of its distribution management system. We helped a global leader in environmental and industrial measurement to harmonize processes for finance, HR and supply chain management. A drilling and production operation provider selected us for product development, customization and testing of intelligent drilling software. We continue to see strong demand for our cloud services from our clients. A leading financial services firm chose us as its exclusive partner to help define and implement a cloud-based strategy in order to lower total cost of operations and enable faster time to provision infrastructure assets. Infosys was also selected by a leading communication services provider to setup a private cloud to help better manage their network infrastructure. Innovation We continue being a co-creation partner of choice for our clients to capitalize on opportunities arising out of emerging business trends. We helped a leading credit information services company in developing applications through which customers can register and order products from their mobiles. A large US-based retailer partnered with us to develop an in-store location awareness system that delivers targeted mobile coupons and alerts consumers, so as to increase sales. We are helping a US-based consumer electronics leader mobile-enable its flagship web portal for multiple Android and iOS based mobile devices. A leading internet services company has engaged us to design, develop and deploy a solution that aggregates multiple content feeds and provides users with personalized news, lifestyle and entertainment and other information. A large manufacturer of navigation devices has selected us to develop the user interface for its next generation in-dashboard multimedia and navigation product. A leading semiconductor chip maker selected Infosys for a strategic hardware engineering services engagement, covering verification, design automation and graphic design. Liquidity As on March 31, 2011, cash and cash equivalents, including investments in available-for-sale financial assets and certificates of deposits was $ 3.8 Bn ($3.5 Bn as on March 31, 2010). "We are seeing growth opportunities emerging in the market place," said V. Balakrishnan, Chief Financial Officer. "Our focus on high quality growth enables us to make the right investments to capture those opportunities." Board of Directors The Board of Directors today appointed Mr. Ravi Venkatesan as an Additional Director of the company, Page 27 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary with immediate effect. He will hold office up to the date of the Annual General Meeting, when his appointment as a director will be placed for the approval of the shareholders. Mr. Ravi Venkatesan was the Chairman of Microsoft India; under his leadership from 2004-2011, India became Microsoft's second largest and one of its fastest growing geographies. Prior to joining Microsoft, Venkatesan worked for over seventeen years with Cummins Inc, overseeing its transformation into the leading provider of power solutions and the largest manufacturer of automotive engines in the country. Welcoming Ravi Venkatesan to the Board, N.R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman & Chief Mentor, said, "Ravi Venkatesan is one of the best known leaders of corporate India. He brings enormous value with his vast experience in the software industry." Retirement of Mr. K. Dinesh Mr. K. Dinesh, Member of the Board and Co-Founder of the Company, will retire by rotation at the Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held on June 11, 2011. Mr. K. Dinesh has expressed his intention not to seek re-appointment. The Members of the Board placed on record their deep sense of appreciation for the services rendered by Mr. K. Dinesh during his tenure as the Member of the Board and Head of Quality, Information Systems and the Communication Design Group. Mr. N R Narayana Murthy, Chairman and Chief Mentor said, "Mr. K. Dinesh has been one of the cofounders of the company. The company has turned to him whenever there were any complex projects to be undertaken. He has handled each of his responsibilities with extraordinary diligence, quality and professionalism. We wish him best of luck in his future endeavors." Resignation of Mr. T. V. Mohandas Pai Mr. T. V. Mohandas Pai, has decided to relinquish the position of Member of the Board and has requested the Board to relieve him of the responsibilities after the company's annual general meeting on June 11, 2011. The Board of Directors considered and accepted the resignation of Mr. T. V. Mohandas Pai. The resignation is effective June 11, 2011, post the company's annual general meeting. The Members of the Board placed on record their deep sense of appreciation for the services rendered by Mr. T. V. Mohandas Pai during his tenure as the Member of the Board, Chief Financial Officer of the Company and then as the Director in-charge of the Human Resources Department. Mr. N R Narayana Murthy, Chairman and Chief Mentor, said, "Mohan has been an early adopter and a keen anchor builder of Infosys. It is difficult to imagine Infosys without Mohan's passion, commitment, joie-de-vivre and intellect. We all know that he is taking this painful decision, since he has much bigger projects in the horizon - nation building. The Board and every Infoscion thank Mr. Mohandas Pai for his wonderful contribution and wish him great success in his future endeavors." Board Meeting The Board of Directors will meet on April 30, 2011 to finalize plans for the company's leadership succession, post Mr. N. R. Narayana Murthy's retirement as Chairman of the Board in August 2011. For more information about Infosys visit http://www.infosys.com Click here to return to Contents Page 28 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary PTC to Announce Fiscal Q2 Results on Wednesday, April 27th And Host Conference Call on Thursday, April 28th at 8:30 am ET 12 April 2011 PTC announced that it will release its fiscal 2011 second quarter results on Wednesday, April 27th after the stock market closes. Senior management will host a live webcast and conference call to review the results on Thursday, April 28th at 8:30 am Eastern Time. The earnings press release and accompanying prepared remarks will be accessible prior to the conference call and webcast on the Investor Relations section of the Company’s web site at http://www.ptc.com. What: PTC Fiscal Q2 Conference Call and Webcast When: Thursday, April 28th, 2011 at 8:30 am (ET) Dial-in: 1-800-857-5592 or 1-773-799-3757 Call Leader: James Heppelmann Passcode: PTC Webcast: http://www.ptc.com/for/investors.htm Replay: The audio replay of this event will be archived for public replay until 4:00 pm (CT) on May 3, 2011 at 1-866-509-3683 or 203-369-1910. To access the replay via webcast, please visit http://www.ptc.com/for/investors.htm. Click here to return to Contents Implementation Investments Atkins and Skanska Balfour Beatty Joint Venture Earn Autodesk BIM Experience Award 14 April 2011 Autodesk, Inc. announced that Atkins and Skanska Balfour Beatty Joint Venture have been selected to receive an Autodesk BIM Experience Award. The firms are being honored for using a Building Information Modeling (BIM) process to meet the demands of widening 64 kilometers (40 miles) of the 188 kilometer (117 miles) M25 highway that circles London, in preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games. The award recognizes Atkins and Skanska Balfour Beatty Joint Venture for the exemplary use of a BIM process to:    Inform decision-making for improved safety Foster better understanding of the design among project engineers Coordinate design disciplines and resolve inter-disciplinary conflicts prior to construction, reducing potentially costly errors  Virtually plan production to meet a fast-track schedule while maintaining ongoing operations on a busy highway Since 2009, the design-build team has used Autodesk BIM solutions to collaborate on the project, helping to resolve construction issues virtually before they happen in the field. Autodesk software solutions used to support this BIM process include AutoCAD, Autodesk Navisworks Manage, Autodesk Navisworks Freedom, and AutoCAD Civil 3D software. Page 29 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary “Our project team members use Autodesk BIM solutions for collaboration and design coordination to help meet the challenge of adding a lane to these sections of the busy M25 motorway, with the goal of minimizing disruption to the current traffic flow of three lanes in each direction,” said Bob Marlow, project manager, Atkins. “The models produced are facilitating a more coordinated and complete design.” “Using AutoCAD and AutoCAD Civil 3D to enhance a Navisworks virtual construction model helps us resolve construction issues before they happen on site,” said David Owens, engineer, Skanska Balfour Beatty Joint Venture. “This process gives the construction team a better appreciation of the overall design and helps identify and resolve inter-disciplinary clashes.” Autodesk Navisworks Integrated Design Model Key to Success To help meet the aggressive design-build schedule, the project team relies on a coordinated, accurate design intent model. The Autodesk Navisworks integrated design model helps the team visualize the entire project, including all above and below ground components, as well as non-physical aspects of the design, such as safety barrier working zones. The designers use Navisworks software to help identify and correct clashes that otherwise would be very difficult to detect using 2D documentation. Following release of the design to site, the project team adapts the Autodesk Navisworks design model to create a construction model. Using AutoCAD Civil 3D software, the team enhances the design intent model to create a virtual construction model that incorporates additional elements, such as a more realistic visualization of the new retaining walls, point clouds from laser scanning and temporary works. When necessary, the designer’s site representative team updates the construction model to better reflect on-site design changes. The extended project team, including onsite construction personnel, can view the construction model from their temporary offices using Autodesk Navisworks Freedom software. The use of a consolidated, more accurate construction model means everyone is accessing the same up-to-date, realistic project information when assessing how best to perform construction tasks. About Connect Plus, Atkins and Skanska Balfour Beatty Joint Venture Balfour Beatty, Skanska, Atkins and Egis Road Operation UK, make up the Connect Plus consortium, which has been awarded a design, build, finance and operate (DBFO) contract for Area 5. Area 5 includes the M25, the A282 Dartford Crossing and sections of the radial routes (like the M1, M3, M4 and M11) which cross the M25. The DBFO contract provides for the day-to-day maintenance work for the motorways and trunk roads in the Highways Agency Area 5, plus the Dartford Crossing over a 30year period. As part of the DBFO, the team comprised of Skanska Balfour Beatty joint venture, with Atkins as the lead designer, will build the widening between junctions 16-23 and 27-30 of the M25 motorway. Skanska Balfour Beatty Joint Venture uses Graitec UK Ltd, in Weybridge, Surrey as its reseller; Atkins uses CADline Ltd in Staines, Middlesex. Click here to return to Contents Camstar Enterprise Platform™ Selected by Illumina to Accelerate New Product Introductions 14 April 2011 Page 30 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Camstar Systems, Inc. announced that Illumina, a leading developer, manufacturer, and marketer of life science tools and integrated systems for analysis of genetic variation and function, has selected the Camstar Enterprise Platform™ to support its growing business with a rapid deployment across global sites. The solution, which includes Manufacturing Execution and Operational Intelligence, will further enhance manufacturing visibility and enforcement of new products, processes and engineering change orders - to fuel growth and rapid innovation. The solution will enable Illumina to transfer best practices among manufacturing sites as it expands operations globally. "The speed with which Illumina adds innovative technologies for studying genetic variation and function enables rapid advances in disease research and personalized medicine - and also creates operational urgency," said Bill Bonnar, Sr. Vice President of Operations for Illumina. "Camstar's Platform will help us quickly deliver new products and solutions, and prioritize the needs of our customers - all while continuously improving quality." Click here to return to Contents Customer Case Study: Ritherdon’s Success with Radan 11 April 2011 Ritherdon manufactures a wide range of metal enclosures such as feeder pillars, service cabinets and street lighting for the transport sector; meter repair units for housing maintenance and construction; and pre-wired electrical meters. “Supplying quality products to our customers on short, reliable lead times is of paramount importance to us, with rapid after-sales service,” says Works Director John Wright. Working mainly with 1.2 mm to 2 mm stainless steel, their Trumpf T5000 punch press is fed by a Sheet Master system, which in turn collects sheets from a 26-shelf storage tower that is capable of holding a total of 78 tonnes of material. And although a typical program might have 30 tools, thanks to their automatic tool changer there is no limit to how many tools can be used, meaning they often run it unmanned overnight, producing parts for four or five different jobs. Typically, they create the night’s run in the morning, then undertake a normal day’s production on the machine, setting it to run on its own overnight when they leave in the evening. John Wright says there would be insufficient machine time for manufacture if they did not have Radan’s capability of programming offline. “During the day we spend more time programming for our complex components than the actual running time of the machine, if we include the Radan 2D and 3D drafting work. Therefore, to ensure that the machine is free to carry out the day’s production it’s absolutely vital for us to fully program it offline with Radan, including tooling and creating the toolpaths.” When they purchased their first modern punching machine they used different programming software, but quickly found it was incapable of getting through the volume of programming work they needed, and switched to Radan after researching the market. “From a design, drawing and production point of view, Radan is a very full and capable system which does everything we want it to do to make us efficient. It enables us to produce cost-effective, quality, products with faster turnaround times than we could achieve without it.” With Lancashire-based Ritherdon placing great store on the after-sales service they provide to their own customers, they are particularly impressed with the support they, themselves, get from Radan. “For me, Radan is all about the quality of the support behind the software. If I have a technical query or I need advice about programming for a particularly complex job, I either ring the support desk or I log the query through Radan’s online support portal, and I have always been given the solution very quickly.” Page 31 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary As an example, he cites a recent query he raised when Ritherdon needed to add a number of multi tools to their tooling inventory. “This required considerable setting up in the background. Also, we requested some changes to a post processor so we could make better use of the features on our machine tool and I knew there would be possible collision issues. In both cases we were exactly where we wanted to be within hours of contacting the Radan support desk. “As we’re constantly improving the way we work we expect teething problems when we try something completely new, but it’s extremely comforting to know that Radan support has always been able to get things done very quickly – usually within hours, and never later than the next day.” He says Radan is taking great strides forward with new technical developments in the twice-yearly releases, so he is personally investing more time in extending his knowledge about how they can positively impact on Ritherdon’s efficiency even further. “The recent updates have led to a dramatic improvement in the way we work, particularly the new nesting module. Because Radan was advancing faster than we were learning how to use the new modules we now subscribe to the Support Plus service, and go to the upgrade training twice a year.” He says implementing what he learned on the Project Nesting training session saves them considerable time. “It’s important with a product that’s advancing as much as Radan, that we know how to get the very best out of it. In my experience, I go on a day’s training and then suddenly find I’m saving a lot of time because I’m fully aware of how to use the new features. These regular updates definitely improve efficiency and increase production, meaning we can provide a better service our customers. Click here to return to Contents Granada Sales Boosts Productivity with NGC's ERP Solution 12 April 2011 NGC® announced that Granada Sales Corp., a private-label manufacturer of women's loungewear and sleepwear, is implementing NGC's Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software to boost productivity and efficiency in every area of Granada's business and financial operations. Granada, which provides private-label apparel to such top-tier retailers as Walmart, Sears and J.C. Penney, selected NGC based on the strength of NGC's ERP solution and the company's extensive experience in the apparel industry. "We reviewed a number of competing ERP providers, but NGC's apparel industry expertise really stood out," said Jim McGinn, CFO, Granada Sales Corp. "Everyone here has been impressed with the breadth of NGC's knowledge of our industry and the capabilities of the system." The functionality of NGC's ERP was ideally suited to Granada's requirements. According to McGinn, NGC's ERP software will provide Granada with "a single point of entry for the entire company, from finance to inventory control, sales orders and production – the complete manufacturing lifecycle. It includes a number of attributes that are essential in the apparel industry, such as the way it handles cut and sew operations, the integrated EDI module, and inventory management. NGC's ERP will help our existing personnel become much more productive." When the implementation is complete, the new ERP solution will help Granada realize a number of additional benefits, including a streamlined work flow, higher profitability, reduced costs, superior customer service, improved inventory turns and visibility into the entire enterprise. NGC’s ERP software includes a configurable EDI system, sophisticated financial accounting, flexible reporting Page 32 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary features and executive dashboards that display key information at a glance. “NGC is pleased to be working with Granada Sales,” said Mark Burstein, president of sales and marketing, NGC. “NGC's ERP is especially designed for the apparel industry, and we look forward to helping Granada improve its operational efficiency as a result of the implementation." Click here to return to Contents HANSA Metallwerke AG Introduces ENOVIA 13 April 2011 HANSA Metallwerke AG, a leading European manufacturer of high-end, design-oriented kitchen and bathroom fittings, is introducing ENOVIA V6 by Dassault Systèmes as its core PLM solution. The experienced software and consulting provider CENIT helped make it happen. From now on, the PLM 2.0 solution ENOVIA V6 by the French software maker will enable a central organization of processes and data in all the technical departments involved in the product development process. “This is a first, far-reaching step towards replacing our previous development environment with a modern PLM solution that will support our innovation process more effectively,” says Mr. Harald Fesenbeck, Head of Technology at HANSA Metallwerke AG. Supported by its long-standing partner CENIT, HANSA analyzed the processes within the enterprise, fully relying on the experience of the CENIT consultants. From the analysis, the partners derived a longterm PLM strategy and a joint concept for introducing the Dassault Systèmes PLM solutions. The introduction of ENOVIA V6-based project and program management lays the foundation for crossdepartment project planning and control and centralized document management. Tasks can now be clearly structured and assigned, resource use planned efficiently, and all required information located quickly. Thanks to the new, state-of-the-art PLM solution ENOVIA V6, HANSA is ideally prepared for future market challenges and the planned re-use of design and development data across the entire enterprise – from conceptualization to simulation to manufacture. Future project phases will address an optimized, IT-based parts list management, ENOVIA integration with the ERP system, and the introduction of a modern, fully integrated CAD/CAE/CAM system. In collaboration with HANSA IT under guidance by IT Head Mr. Jürgen Sonntag, CENIT is now busy integrating ENOVIA V6 into the legacy IT landscape. Currently, the mapping of HANSA-specific requirements within the system is underway. As Value Added Reseller (VAR) for the French software provider Dassault Systèmes, CENIT is accredited for a major portion of the European market and for North America. For further information, please visit http://www.cenit.de/plm Click here to return to Contents ITOCHU Prominent USA Selects BlueCherry® to Support Growth and Diversifications 13 April 2011 Computer Generated Solutions Inc. (CGS) announces that New York-based fashion production and Page 33 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary import specialist ITOCHU Prominent USA, LLC (IPU) has selected the BlueCherry® Enterprise software to manage its core wholesale trade business and support rapid growth in direct-to-retail sales. The comprehensive business solution will be used to manage the company’s design, product development, supply chain execution, and retail collaboration activities and processes. When fully implemented, the company expects BlueCherry to provide a single, integrated IT platform and central data repository for all of its apparel, textiles, home fashions, and accessories lines. According to IPU Senior Vice President of Operations Matthew Amato, “We are experiencing a significant shift in our business from selling brands to supplying major U.S. retailers. Our current systems do not support the information exchange and SKU-level sales and controls that we need to effectively service this market. BlueCherry will enable us to comply with and exceed the mandates of this increasingly important customer segment.” To leverage and accelerate growth with retailers, BlueCherry provides built-in electronic data exchange (EDI) and other collaboration tools that will empower IPU to immediately gain operational and customer service capabilities that would have otherwise taken years to develop in their previous systems. “In addition to our retail requirements, we are looking to BlueCherry to help us better manage our core wholesale business”, added IPU Business Systems & IT Director Kishin Datwani. “We expect the new system will help us improve overall efficiencies and performance across our entire company. BlueCherry will open up a lot of opportunities in areas of our business that were not previously incorporated in our IT infrastructure.” BlueCherry will allow IPU to eliminate disparate systems, automate manual processes, and centralize information across all product lines and divisions. BlueCherry PLM (product lifecycle management) will help accelerate new product development and other pre-production activities, while the system’s Collaborative Supply Chain Management (CSCM) and advanced query and reporting capabilities will improve vendor collaboration and increase visibility into process timelines and milestone performance. An interface is also planned to integrate BlueCherry with the SAP FI financial accounting module that is throughout all ITOCHU Corporation global operations. “We are pleased with the opportunity to work with IPU”, noted CGS Application Solutions Group President Paul Magel. “During the evaluation, we identified a perfect alignment of our capabilities to their needs for a retail-savvy business partner with strong technology and a legacy of support and training. We are confident that they will find in BlueCherry a solution that supports their growth well into the future.” A business process review has begun and the first departments are expected to go-live on BlueCherry by July 1, 2011. The initial 100-user count will grow as the company extends use of the system throughout the year. Click here to return to Contents Milwaukee Valve Increases Leads and Customer Satisfaction With PARTsolutions 3D Catalog 12 April 2011 PARTsolutions announced that Milwaukee Valve, a leader and innovator in the valve manufacturing field, has web-enabled its most in-demand products using PARTsolutions 3D native CAD technology. The online CAD catalog was created in direct response to feedback from Milwaukee Valve's mechanical Page 34 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary contractor customers who demonstrated a need for 3D data to shorten and simplify the design cycle. The availability of high quality configurable 3D native CAD data delivered right from the Milwaukee Valve website enables Milwaukee Valve's customer base of commercial designers, builders and engineers -- charged with building commercial projects like hospitals, housing complexes and data centers -- to search, access, download and configure the company's valve products 24/7. This ability impacts Milwaukee Valve's sales by making it significantly easier for customers to "Design In" its products directly into their proposals, while tracking who is accessing designs in order to proactively deliver sales and support information. What's more, the availability of products online in native CAD shortens the design time and improves the customer experience, while saving valuable internal resources at Milwaukee Valve. "Empowering our customers to easily configure and download our various valves in virtually any native CAD format is a business imperative that is the key to ensuring our products are specified at the design phase and ultimately purchased," said Rick Giannini, President and CEO, Milwaukee Valve. "PARTsolutions has helped us create a distinct and critical differentiator that is impacting both our customer loyalty and bottom line." Products currently available in the digital catalog include all types of butterfly valves -- both rubber lined and high performance -- with user-selectable options for lever or gear operator, several designs of flanged iron and steel valves, the 20 Series industrial ball valves (available in bronze, carbon, or stainless steel), as well as the full port threaded and solder end commercial bronze ball valves (BA400/450). Milwaukee Valve plans to continue to populate its extensive full-line product offering throughout the remainder of 2011, in support of the BIM (Building Information Modeling) initiative now active in the engineering and contracting community. The Milwaukee Valve product catalog can be viewed at: http://www.milwaukeevalve.com/. Click here to return to Contents SofTech Announces the Hayward Tyler, Inc. ProductCenter PLM Case Study 12 April 2011 SofTech, Inc. announced its latest ProductCenter® PLM case study featuring Hayward Tyler, Inc. of Colchester, Vermont. Hayward Tyler, Inc. produces pumps for the Nuclear Power Industry. As the enterprise-wide solution to integrate the Sales, Engineering, Manufacturing and Quality departments, SofTech assisted Hayward Tyler, Inc. in deploying ProductCenter to overcome a number of existing business challenges. With this implementation, Hayward Tyler, Inc. has achieved the following benefits: Access to critical product information has improved by approximately 75% Release process timeframe has been reduced by 50% through accurate access to product design information and streamlined processes Controlled access to all product and contract information ensures regulatory compliance for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) For the complete case study on Hayward Tyler, Inc.’s use of ProductCenter, visit the SofTech Web site at http://www.softech.com/plm-customersuccess/. Page 35 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Click here to return to Contents SVAB Hydraulik AB Selects Aras for Product Lifecycle Management 12 April 2011 Aras® announced that SVAB Hydraulik AB, a leading developer of ergonomic and user-friendly control systems for industrial vehicles and equipment, headquartered in Hallsberg, Sweden, has selected the Aras advanced PLM software suite to improve efficiency, reduce cycle time and optimize processes, including APQP, FMEA, PPAP, Change Management, CAPA and more. SVAB Hydraulik AB will implement Aras throughout the extended enterprise, incorporation engineering, manufacturing, procurement and the global supply chain. SVAB Hydraulik AB produces complete electrohydraulic control systems for industrial vehicles, from standard systems down to small scale and/or customer-specific special systems. Through innovative thinking, advanced technology and solid product knowledge, SVAB Hydraulik AB is setting the standard in its market. The company is working with Minerva, an Aras partner representing the Nordics, UK and Benelux, for selection and implementation. “We considered several options and benchmarked Aras against other relevant systems,” said Jens Eriksson, Head of Development at SVAB Hydraulik AB. “We selected Aras for its comprehensive outof-box functionality, innovative technology and advanced open source business model, and Minerva due to their proven competencies and knowledge of best practices and. Minerva will help SVAB improve productivity and efficiency, while providing greater visibility and structure into the development processes.” “Aras is a great match for SVAB’s highly sophisticated product development environment. The elimination of PLM license fees coupled with a Web-based architecture make Aras extremely costeffective to use and grow throughout the extended enterprise,” said Leon Lauritsen, Director at Minerva. Click here to return to Contents Swiss Watchmaker Uses SolidWorks To Transform Complexity Into An Art Form 11 April 2011 There’s no such thing as “too complicated” in Franck Muller’s world, and if there were it would be a compliment. The Swiss watchmaker celebrates complexity, layering one component on another to create some of the world’s most expensive and sought-after timepieces. Franck Muller uses SolidWorks® CAD, SolidWorks Enterprise PDM, and SolidWorks Simulation software as its primary design platform for combining 21st century engineering with classical features such as repeaters and tourbillions – rotating enclosures that compensate for gravity’s effect on the mechanism. Franck Muller’s Aeternitas Mega 4 Grande Sonnerie Westminster Carillon watch was the most complex wristwatch ever designed when it was created in 2009. It packs 1,483 individual elements, 205 sub-assemblies and 36 “complications,” or added features, into a space small enough to fit on a customer’s wrist. “The movements in this watch are so precisely packed in a small space that it would not have been possible to have a clear overview of how the mechanisms function within the allotted space without SolidWorks 3D design tools,” said Franck Muller R&D Engineer Jean Pierre Golay. Page 36 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary SolidWorks software enabled Franck Muller engineers to shorten the design cycle by 40 percent and cut development costs by 60 percent. During development of the Aeternitas Mega 4, SolidWorks helped reduce design errors by 30 percent. “Once the size of the watch is defined, the challenge is to figure out a way to design the various mechanisms to fit and function within the case,” Golay said. “This challenge becomes increasingly difficult when developing complicated movement. SolidWorks software not only allows us to visualize individual components but also to simulate the motion of components and mechanisms, so we can avoid interference errors.” Franck Muller chose SolidWorks solutions for their ease of use, advanced design and simulation capabilities, and integration between the CAD, simulation and product data management applications. “Any competent designer can make something complex, but it takes real creativity to make complexity into the kind of beauty you see in Franck Muller watches,” said Christine Washburn, vice president, corporate marketing, SolidWorks. “We’re grateful that Franck Muller chose our software as the canvas its designers use to experiment and innovate as they explore ways to make a centuries-old craft new.” Franck Muller works with SolidWorks authorized reseller Axemble for ongoing training and technical support. Click here to return to Contents ThyssenKrupp Elevator Selects aPriori for Product Cost Management 13 April 2011 aPriori announced that ThyssenKrupp Elevator, has selected the aPriori Product Cost Management software platform to provide real-time product cost assessments throughout its entire product development lifecycle, including cost management use cases in Design, Engineering, Sourcing and Manufacturing. ThyssenKrupp Elevator’s range of products includes passenger and freight elevators, escalators, moving walks, passenger boarding bridges, stair and platform lifts as well as quality service for all products. “ThyssenKrupp has selected aPriori’s product cost management solution based on the system’s ease of use, and flexibility to be deployed against a wide variety of cost management use cases,” said Patrick Bass, Senior Vice President of Engineering. “aPriori is a highly automated system, so our users do not need to be cost experts to effectively leverage the system. All they have to do is open a 3D CAD model, enter a few basic inputs, and they can generate an accurate cost estimate in seconds. We are planning to integrate aPriori cost reviews into our standard product development process, conduct make versus buy analyses, streamline process routings in our manufacturing facilities and use aPriori to determine if we can standardize common changes across product platforms. By taking this broad-based approach, our goal is to attack cost at the point of origin, and maximize the potential to discover significant cost savings for our company.” “Some companies adopt a strategy that places specialized cost management tools in the hands of a few, highly trained individuals, and we believe that approach limits the potential impact on a company’s profitability,” said Stephanie Feraday, aPriori’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “We believe that ThyssenKrupp Elevator is going to be extremely successful with aPriori, because they are willing to take a more modern approach, and attack cost across the product development lifecycle. By empowering everyone on the product development team with a tool like aPriori, they will discover enormous Page 37 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary potential for cost savings they were never able to uncover before.” About ThyssenKrupp Elevator The ThyssenKrupp Group, based in Essen, Germany, is a global materials and technology company which consists of eight business areas. In fiscal 2009/2010 the company had annual sales of 42.6 billion euros ($58.3 billion) and employed more than 177,000 people. Globally, ThyssenKrupp Group's activities in passenger transportation systems employ 44,000 persons in 900 locations. With sales of almost 5.2 billion euros ($7.1 billion) in fiscal year 2009/2010, ThyssenKrupp Elevator is one of the world's leading elevator companies. ThyssenKrupp Elevator Americas is the largest producer of elevators in the Americas, with more than 13,500 employees, more than 200 branch and service locations, and sales of more than $2.7 billion. ThyssenKrupp Elevator Americas oversees all business for the operations in the United States, Canada, Central and South America. It is a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp Elevator AG. In the United States, ThyssenKrupp companies and their subsidiaries accounted for approximately 17,500 employees and annual sales of $6.7 billion in fiscal year 2009/2010. Through its predecessor companies, ThyssenKrupp has been part of the U.S. business landscape for more than 170 years. Click here to return to Contents UK-Based SRG Apparel Selects Visual 2000 ERP and PLM Software 11 April 2011 Visual 2000 International Inc. announced that UK fashion menswear company SRG Apparel PLC (http://www.srg-plc.com) has selected Visual IIS™ ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and Visual PLM.net® Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software solutions for use at its Manchester headquarters. The new Visual 2000 End-2-End solutions will replace existing business software systems to provide an updated technology platform that will more effectively support the company's continued growth. According to SRG Apparel Director Mahesh Patel, "After careful consideration we chose Visual 2000 because they can provide and support us with a genuine end-to-end fashion solution. They uniquely demonstrated the flexibility and user friendliness that we were looking for in our new system. We also appreciate the fact that their system interfaces perfectly with the Adobe® Illustrator® software that we already have in place." When fully implemented later this year, the new system will be used by 2000 SRG design, product development, production, supply chain management, and business partner teams. "We are pleased with the opportunity to work with SRG Apparel", stated Tony Walker, European Sales Director for Visual 2000. "We applaud their commitment to supporting their teams with an advanced business solution that will seamlessly integrate key areas of their business. We look forward to helping them achieve the process and efficiency improvements needed to support current and future growth." Click here to return to Contents Page 38 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Product News Actify Announces Centro™ 12 April 2011 Actify Inc. introduced its next generation publishing platform called Centro™, now available to customers. Centro enables manufacturing organizations and their supply chains to easily access, interact with and communicate part data through SpinFire across their wide area networks. "Centro is a new product from the ground up," says David Opsahl, Actify's CEO. "As more and more of our customers expand their SpinFire installations, and we see larger installations more often with new customers, we realized we needed a new platform for delivering 2D and 3D product data to SpinFire users that could be configured to the requirements of those customers. When it comes to things like dealing with high volumes of data, and integration to other sources of data, Centro is a huge leap forward for SpinFire users in that regard." A key element of the design of Centro was new core technology for the processing of native 2D and 3D CAD data. The advancements of this core will be part of the SpinFire 9.1 release scheduled for June, providing stand-alone SpinFire users with the benefits of the new core technology. Another high priority element of the Centro design is a new queuing technology that dramatically improves processing times and failure recovery, as well as a robust web services interface that can be configured to either access data from other sources, or permit other applications to take advantage of the publishing capabilities of Centro. Centro preserves the capability present in SpinFire Publisher to have data processed via a set of "watched" folders contained in a file system or systems. Centro is available to existing SpinFire Publisher customers as part of their current maintenance agreements as an upgrade; SpinFire Publisher 3.4 is the last release of that product. New customers will be able to license Centro under subscription agreements. Details are available by contacting [email protected]. To learn more about Centro, watch Director of Products - Joe Schafer on his video blog here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKCuiXxQbhY Click here to return to Contents Altair Engineering Announces the Release of MindManager through the HyperWorks Partner Alliance 12 April 2011 Altair Engineering (http://www.altair.com) announced the official release of MindManager, the visual information- mapping tool from Mindjet®, through the HyperWorks Partner Alliance (HWPA). This partnership embodies Altair's commitment to offering a diverse suite of leading software both inside and outside the realm of traditional computer-aided engineering. HyperWorks customers, using their previously acquired HyperWorks Units, will gain access to the latest version of MindManager (9.0) through the HyperWorks Units-based licensing mechanism. More information about MindManager is available on the HWPA website, http://www.hyperworksalliance.com. MindManager's benefits synch well with Altair's user base requirement. This furthers both companies' shared mission of providing technology that optimizes the visualization and analysis of information. To Page 39 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary foster innovation, organizations and individuals need to capture creative thinking and convert a wealth of inputs into coherent action plans. MindManager enables users to organize, implement, track and complete projects by displaying ideas and information in an easy-to-understand, editable visual layout. "Mindjet provides essential productivity software that visually manages complex information enabling more efficient requirements gathering and validation, project planning and process improvement for Altair's customers, ultimately leading to better decision-making," said Ken Hirschman, Mindjet vice president of business development. "The HyperWorks licensing model is an attractive system that allows Altair's customers to leverage Mindjet's capabilities while paying only for actual use." The HWPA enables users to flexibly access software like MindManager on-demand by utilizing their previously acquired HyperWorks Units, maximizing the value of their investment. MindManager's visual information maps start with a central theme and then add branches with ideas, notes, images, tasks, hyperlinks and attachments. Users can import from or export to a variety of applications, including Microsoft Office®. MindManager has been adopted by more than 1.8 million professionals around the world and 45 of BusinessWeek's® 50 "World's Most Innovative Companies." "Altair is very excited about the addition of MindManager to the HWPA lineup," says Antoine Poussier, director of global partner programs at Altair Engineering. "This technology offers our customers a powerful solution for streamlining, organizing, and visualizing data and processes in the engineering arena and beyond." Mindjet's flagship software MindManager is the latest addition to the growing portfolio of software applications available through the HyperWorks Partner Alliance. These applications cover a variety of domains including CFD, durability, NVH, impact analysis, and injection molding simulation. To date, more than 475 companies worldwide have joined the HyperWorks Partner Alliance. Click here to return to Contents Autodesk Brings AutoCAD WS Mobile App to Android 12 April 2011 Autodesk, Inc. announced the availability of the AutoCAD WS mobile application on the Android platform. A free* web and mobile application, AutoCAD WS uses cloud computing technology to enable Autodesk software users to view, edit and share their designs through web browsers and mobile devices. AutoCAD WS for Android enables an expanded group of users to enjoy the benefits of effortless collaboration with architects, designers and engineers from anywhere in the world and experience the freedom of taking designs with them—wherever they go. “Architects, engineers and designers have clearly communicated that they want access to their AutoCAD projects on their Android devices and we are more than happy to meet their needs. The impressive and consistent growth of the Android ecosystem serves as an excellent platform for Autodesk to further expand its accessibility through AutoCAD WS,” said Tal Weiss, AutoCAD WS software development manager, Autodesk. “Now our customers with Android smartphones and tablets can use AutoCAD WS to collaborate with colleagues in the field, and across the globe, on a wider variety of mobile devices.” Page 40 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Users of AutoCAD WS for Android will enjoy features such as a simplified, intuitive set of viewing, editing, and markup tools so users can work on their designs while on the go. Users can open drawings from email attachments, sync files from the web, or upload drawings directly from AutoCAD software through the integrated online tab. Drawings can also be saved locally for use in the field when an Internet connection is unavailable. One feature unique to Android version of AutoCAD WS is the text annotation tool supports integrated voice commands available on devices running Android 2.2 (Froyo) or above. Now Android users can insert comments and notations on a drawing simply by speaking rather than typing them into the text edit box. Additional feature enhancements that are available with this release include:  Plot to PDF (web app only): Users can publish their DWG drawing to PDF using the free AutoCAD WS web application just as they would with AutoCAD software.  Anywhere Storage (web and mobile apps): In addition to the AutoCAD WS cloud, customers can now connect directly to alternate storage folders from their Android, iPad and iPhone devices, as well as through the AutoCAD WS web application. This currently includes: the Autodesk Buzzsaw service, Dropbox (through DropDAV), Microsoft SharePoint, Windows Server 2008, Box.net, MobileMe, and Egnyte, and other cloud storage providers who support the WebDAV protocol. Availability: AutoCAD WS for Android will be available for download on the Android Market beginning April 20, 2011. Register and find out as soon as the download is available. Click here to return to Contents Autodesk Developer Network Expands the Power of AutoCAD 2012 14 April 2011 Autodesk, Inc. announced that several Autodesk Developer Network (ADN) members have released applications for, AutoCAD 2012 3D design and documentation software. ADN partners have developed thousands of applications on top of the AutoCAD platform, to address a broad range of specialized design needs across numerous industries. Autodesk developers using AutoCAD 2012 as a foundation for their products include:           Crea Co., Ltd Hongye Hydra TEC Kubit KUBOTA SYSTEMS INC. ShipConstructor SOFiSTiK AG Striker Systems THSWARE Transoft For more information or to purchase AutoCAD 2012 applications, visit the Autodesk Developer Center. Learn more about AutoCAD 2012. Page 41 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Click here to return to Contents Autodesk Developer Network Launches New Applications for Autodesk Inventor 2012 14 April 2011 Autodesk, Inc. announced that the Autodesk Developer Network (ADN) partners are now shipping applications compatible with Autodesk Inventor 2012 software for 3D mechanical design and engineering. More than 300 specialized products developed for Autodesk Inventor 2012 software are currently available from ADN members. These partners provide Autodesk customers around the world with the ability to more easily create innovative and sustainable designs, increasing their return on investment in Autodesk technology. With Inventor, engineers can create a digital prototype to validate the form, fit and function of a product before it is built. ADN members who have released application products for Autodesk Inventor 2012 products include: 3DConnexion Applied Computing & Engineering ltd FX64 Software Solutions Human Solutions GmbH Logopress Planit SolidCAM For more information about products offered by Autodesk Developer Network members, visit the Autodesk Developer Center. Learn more about http://www.autodesk.com/inventor. Click here to return to Contents Autodesk Developer Network Launches New Applications for AEC 14 April 2011 Autodesk, Inc. announced that several Autodesk Developer Network (ADN) members have released applications for Autodesk Revit Architecture 2012 and AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012 software. ADN members have developed applications for architecture, transportation, land development and water projects to help extend the value of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in specific industries. Built for BIM, Autodesk Revit Architecture software helps users capture and analyze design concepts, and more accurately maintain a consistent vision through design, documentation and construction stages of a project. AutoCAD Civil 3D software, the BIM solution for civil engineering, helps teams more rapidly deliver higher-quality design and documentation for transportation, land development and water projects. Autodesk Revit Architecture 2012 is a key component of the new Autodesk Building Design Suite, while AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012 is integral to the new Autodesk Infrastructure Design Suite. The following ADN members have released applications for Autodesk 2012 software: Autodesk Revit Architecture 2012: Page 42 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Adapt Eagle Point OFCDesk SOFiSTiK AG StrucSoft Trelligence AutoCAD Civil 3D: CAD Masters Delauney Eagle Point Hongye RDV Savoy Computing Services Limited THSWare WelTop “We're excited about the new capabilities of Revit Architecture 2012 and AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012. When Autodesk releases enhancements to the Application Programming Interfaces, we are able to improve our applications for our customers. This year's releases offer us a tremendous opportunity to build and expand our products' capabilities. Being a longstanding member in the ADN program means we can offer products that, when coupled with the latest Autodesk solutions, enhance our customers' workflow and increase their productivity,” said Brad Heil, Vice President - Products & Services Eagle Point Software, Inc. For more information or to purchase ADN partner applications, visit the Autodesk Developer Network. Learn more about Autodesk Revit Architecture 2012 and AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012 software. Click here to return to Contents Cadence Announces Availability of World’s First DDR4 IP Solution 11 April 2011 Cadence Design Systems, Inc. announced a comprehensive DDR4 solution that will enable SoC designers to take immediate advantage of the performance gains afforded by the emerging DDR4 memory standard. Having worked with hundreds of customers to integrate earlier generations of this important memory controller interface, Cadence and the newly acquired Denali team offer the highquality IP and sophisticated integration environment required to speed integration, reduce cost and ensure design manufacturability. The solution includes hard and soft PHY IP; controller IP; memory models; verification IP; tools and methodologies; and signal integrity reference designs for the package and board. “Memory management IP is central to successfully delivering differentiated products, and the quality of Page 43 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary the IP dramatically impacts the performance, power and signal integrity of the entire SoC and system,” said Vishal Kapoor, vice president of the SoC Realization Group for Cadence. “Many designers are finding it increasingly challenging to design and integrate memory management IP onto their SoCs. As the only company to support its high quality IP with an integration environment spanning every aspect of design – from silicon to package to board – we dramatically lower the risk associated with realizing complex DDR4-based SoC designs.” The DDR4 specification, an evolutionary SDRAM memory technology standard currently under review at JEDEC, proposes speeds ranging from 1600 mega transfers per second (MT/s) up to 3200 MT/s, more than 50 percent faster than the current DDR3 standard. As the standard evolves to support higher frequencies and throughput, signal integrity, power and performance issues multiply. Successful IP integration hinges on both the quality of the IP and the sophistication of the integration environment. The Cadence integration environment enables customers to model and analyze their target memory topology, and verify the behavior of the IP at both the SoC and system levels. The soft PHY and controller provide tremendous flexibility and can be synthesized to support the full range of frequencies and voltages. Designers can deliver either a pure DDR4 SoC, or combine DDR4 with other technologies like DDR3 or LPDDR2. The specification is expected to be finalized this year. Cadence Further Defines and Extends Its SoC Realization Strategy As part of the announcement today, Cadence further detailed its SoC Realization strategy, a key tenet of the EDA360 vision outlined last year. SoCs require integrating IP solutions from three primary categories: memory and storage, interface, and compute. Given the significant impact that memory controller IP has on the overall performance of the SoC and system, Cadence is expanding the in-house development of comprehensive memory and storage controller IP to ensure maximum robustness and performance. The company plans to continue Denali’s tradition of developing high-quality IP in parallel with industry standards, giving customers the ability to be first-to-market with differentiated SoC solutions. The company also plans to support its IP with a comprehensive integration environment that is unparalleled in the industry. For interface IP, Cadence will offer high-performance interface solutions, such as PCI Express Gen2 and Gen3, as well as Gibabit Ethernet (GbE), 10 GbE and 40 GbE solutions. The combined Denali and Cadence services team offers decades of design expertise, and will continue to deliver highly optimized, integrated IP solutions. In the compute category, Cadence will continue to collaborate with leading IP providers to ensure it can support the compute needs of SoC designers. The group’s primary focus will be on ensuring successful integration through advanced methodologies, tools and reference flows that take a holistic approach to SoC design and verification. Availability DDR4 controller IP, verification IP and memory models are available now, and supported by both Cadence and third party design tools and methodologies. A soft DDR4 PHY is expected to be available this quarter, while a hard PHY solution for 28-nm TSMC geometries is expected to be available by Q3 2011. Click here to return to Contents Page 44 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary CimatronE to Offer Background Toolpath Calculation 14 April 2011 Cimatron Limited announced that the newest version of CimatronE will offer Background Calculations, enabling NC programmers to complete projects a lot faster and be more responsive to changes and urgent shop floor needs. The introduction of Background Calculations means that there will be no need to wait for toolpath processing to finish, as users will be able to continue normal work on a project while the computer calculates procedures in the background. This will allow users to be far more productive. While a rough calculation for an area is being calculated, users will be able to start work on a second rough, or on a procedure for a different area of the part. Users will also be able to verify, simulate and generate G-code for existing procedures and make changes to geometry in the CAD environment. Users will also be able, as before, to open several different sessions of CimatronE simultaneously. "We make sure that our customers always have a competitive edge by empowering them to take advantage of the most advanced technologies as soon as they become available," said Roy Sterenthal, Cimatron's VP of research and development. "Recently, we have introduced Multi-core Processing and 64-Bit Support to CimatronE. These introductions, together with the new Background Calculation capability, make our users more productive and help them to handle their jobs better." Cimatron also recently announced that its new Productivity Acceleration Device for NC Programmers – The SuperBox - will be released in parallel with CimatronE 10.0. The SuperBox, a combined hardware/software solution, greatly reduces the load on individual workstations, while increasing NC calculation speed to instantly boost NC productivity. "CimatronE 10.0's background calculations and the SuperBox have reduced the time that our workstations are occupied with toolpath calculations by 50%. This has allowed us to increase the efficiency of our NC programming," said Mr. Christian Stolle of the NC programming department at Pakulla GmbH. Pakulla is an experienced tool shop located in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany (http://www.pakulla.de). Click here to return to Contents Dassault Systèmes Announces Abaqus Side Impact Crash Dummy for Realistic Simulation 14 April 2011 Dassault Systèmes announced the release of the Abaqus WorldSID (Worldwide Side Impact Dummy) 50th percentile male dummy model from SIMULIA, the Dassault Systèmes brand for realistic simulation. Vehicle safety engineers are able to utilize the new WorldSID model from SIMULIA to develop vehicle designs that enhance side impact protection and reduce injuries to occupants. Moreover, virtual crash tests involving simulation models for the vehicle and dummy can be carried out many times, much faster, and at far less expense than physical crash tests on costly vehicle prototypes. Vehicle safety is one of the most important requirements in modern vehicle design. German car manufacturers Audi, BMW, Daimler, Porsche, and Volkswagen founded the Partnership for Dummy Technology and Biomechanics (PDB) in 2002 as a cooperative venture to combine their specialized knowledge in crash test dummy technology, biomechanics and simulation in order to achieve high Page 45 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary standards of occupant protection. SIMULIA has developed its Abaqus WorldSID 50th percentile male crash dummy model in collaboration with the PDB. The consortium has recently approved Version 2 of the Abaqus model, confirming the close correlation of the model against numerous physical tests carried out on the corresponding dummy hardware. Due to its enhanced true-to-life design (known as, biofidelity), the WorldSID 50th dummy hardware is being incorporated into crash testing regulations around the world. The model is representative of the average male in terms of height, mass, and proportion. Various improvements to the dummy design over previous side impact crash dummies, such as incorporation of Nitinol material in the rib cage region, lead to the improved biofidelity of WorldSID. The Abaqus WorldSID 50th development process has validated the dummy simulation against nearly 300 separate physical calibration tests for material, component, subassembly, and full dummy load cases. “The Abaqus WorldSID dummy model is a critical development in our ongoing strategy to expand our automotive crashworthiness and occupant safety simulation solutions,” said Ken Short, VP, Strategy and Marketing, SIMULIA, Dassault Systèmes. “It further enables automotive OEMs to carry out a simulation-driven design process, employing dozens of accurate simulations to design and refine the passive safety features in their vehicles. With Abaqus, automotive companies now have the ability to leverage the power of robust simulation solutions across multiple engineering disciplines in order to improve all aspects of vehicle design.” Click here to return to Contents Delcam Offers 3D Engraving and Woodworking Software for $149 13 April 2011 Delcam has reduced the price of the entry-level version of its ArtCAM CADCAM software for engraving and woodworking, ArtCAM Express, to US$149. For full details on ArtCAM Express and to download a trial version, please go to http://www.artcamexpress.com. ArtCAM Express offers 2D drawing, and 2D and standard 3D machining functions, and so provides an ideal introduction to computer-based manufacturing for companies in the engraving, woodworking and signmaking industries. A range of modules are available to add extra functionality as the user develops his skills and wishes to take on more complex projects. The software is available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions so that users with the more powerful hardware can work with larger, memory-intensive files. To suit individual methods of working, ArtCAM gives users the freedom to customise and save their preferred interface layout. This enables every user to set up the software to give quicker access to the commands that they use most frequently. Similarly, commands that are rarely used can be hidden from the initial menu choices. The software comes with a library of clip-art that new customers can use to create their first models. All these examples can be scaled or combined to give initial designs ready for machining. In addition, designs can be imported in DXF, DWG, AI and EPS 2D formats, plus designs from Alias Wavefront, 3D Studio and other members of the ArtCAM family. For users that prefer to create their own designs, the software includes a range of drawing tools for creating both geometric and free-form shapes, and also for editing and repairing imported 2D files. The options for text creation support a wide range of standard fonts and also give complete control over Page 46 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary spacing, kerning, and line and paragraph formatting. Any new designs created can be added to the initial library for future use. To help visualise the design, it can be rendered in numerous materials, including all the most common metals and different types of wood, such as mahogany or maple, complete with wood-grain direction. If the final design requires external approval from the client, it can be emailed as a rotatable 3D PDF. Once the design has been finalised, the software offers a variety of strategies for CNC machining. 2D strategies supported include area clearance, profiling, engraving, vector-based machining and drilling, plus V-bit carving on all standard Windows fonts. In addition, a 3D raster toolpath can be created within a vector boundary. The software is supplied with a tooling database, which can be edited or added to by the user. A simulation can be run of the pieces being machined using the chosen tools and the given material block dimensions. Users can compare the results obtained with different tools or machining strategies on the computer, potentially saving time and money. The optimum toolpaths can then be exported to more than 250 different types of routing and engraving machines, using Delcam’s proven range of post-processors. Click here to return to Contents Eagle Point Software Releases New AutoCAD Civil 3D Add-on: Designers' Companion 12 April 2011 Eagle Point Software Corporation announced the release of Designers' Companion, its fourth add-on solution for AutoCAD Civil 3D software. Designers' CompanionTM reduces the number of steps and simplifies workflow for common design tasks within AutoCAD Civil 3D. Guided by a straightforward interface, Designers' Companion offers AutoCAD Civil 3D users efficient tools to lay out streets, lots, highways, parking lots, detention ponds and subsurface terrain. By leveraging the iterative power of the AutoCAD Civil 3D model earlier in the design process, project alternatives can be modified and finalized sooner. "Designers' Companion gives both AutoCAD Civil 3D power and novice users tools to increase their efficiency during the early design phase. Designers' Companion not only reduces the number of commands needed to create design objects in Civil 3D, it also takes the guesswork out of which command to run next, making the implementation of Civil 3D much easier," explains Steve Biver, Civil Infrastructure Product Line Manager. "By taking advantage of these efficient, purpose-built tools in Designers' Companion, Civil 3D users are able to design faster and take advantage of AutoCAD Civil 3D's dynamic abilities earlier in the design process." Pricing and Availability A single license of Designers' Companion is available for $795, while a network license is $945. For more information, please contact Eagle Point at 1-800-678-6565 or visit http://www.eaglepoint.com/designerscompanion. Click here to return to Contents Page 47 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Hard Dollar Introduces New 5D Design Data Integration 13 April 2011 Hard Dollar announced the availability of its 5D Design Data Integration model. The new module provides an open API for integration to any design software system. Out-of-the-box integration with On Center On-Screen Takeoff software is included. The integration utilizes a framework established to streamline the process of translating design and takeoff data into usable estimating quantities for engineering and construction projects. The integration dramatically shortens the time it takes to get accurate quantities into estimates, and identify and update changes between drawings and estimate versions. Users of the On-Screen Takeoff software can calculate lengths, areas, volumes, counts, and more by simply using a mouse to click on electronic drawings, such as image files or PDF files. The resulting quantities are instantly visible to estimators using the Hard Dollar software, where they can be placed into the estimate to drive cost items, resources, or assemblies. If the drawings later change, Hard Dollar flags any new or revised take-off quantities so the estimator has full visibility to the changes, which can then be processed into the estimate with a mouse click. Thanks to the all-electronic exchange, the entire cycle is up to 500% faster and significantly less prone to error. "The Hard Dollar integration to On Center On-Screen Takeoff is simple and intuitive, and will provide mutual customers a significant advantage in their estimating process," said Chris Buzz, Chief Operating Officer for On Center Software. "Hard Dollar is the first ISV to take full advantage of our new API and it shows." "Hard Dollar estimates that leveraging electronic design data throughout the project cost management process will result in greater cost accuracy and re-double efficiencies many times over," said Brad Barth, Hard Dollar Vice President. "Our Design Data Integrator was built to enable 'plug-in' access to leading design data sources such as On Center's On-Screen Takeoff (OST) solution. The dynamic interaction between Hard Dollar and OST supports a highly visual process by enabling quantities and bills of materials to flow seamlessly from electronic drawings into robust cost models containing crews, assemblies, costs, and schedule logic linked to Microsoft Project and Oracle Primavera." Click here to return to Contents Learning About CMPRO: How to Use CMPRO for PLM April 2011 Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) in CMPRO is accomplished using integrated modules that provide the means for various departments and workgroups to function together more efficiently. This series will go over the process of using CMPRO for PLM, including: Contracts and Contract Tasks Projects and Tasks Drawings, Documents and Software Release Repositories Baselines Product Definitions – Part Trees / BOMs Page 48 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Inventory Work Orders & Work Instructions Non-Conformance Requisitions As-Built Configuration Status Accounting (CSA) To get updates on this series sent to your email sign up for the Monthly Newsletter List. Click here to return to Contents MathWorks Announces Release 2011a of the MATLAB and Simulink Product Families 8 April 2011 MathWorks announced Release 2011a (R2011a) of its MATLAB and Simulink product families. Key in this release is the introduction of a new generation of code generation products, MATLAB Coder, Simulink Coder, and Embedded Coder. R2011a also updates 80 other products, including Polyspace embedded software verification products. For MATLAB, R2011a highlights include: Improved performance for many linear algebra functions in MATLAB Large-scale interior-point solver for quadratic programming in Optimization Toolbox Utilization of up to 8 local workers by MATLAB Compiler generated applications and components using Parallel Computing Toolbox Object-oriented portfolio optimization solver with turnover and transaction costs in Financial Toolbox Engle-Granger and Johansen cointegration tests and VEC parameter estimation in Econometrics Toolbox R2011a also launches new System toolboxes for MATLAB and Simulink: DSP System Toolbox, which combines features of Signal Processing Blockset and Filter Design Toolbox Communications System Toolbox, which combines features of Communications Toolbox and Communications Blockset Computer Vision System Toolbox, which incorporates the functionality of Video and Image Processing Blockset and adds new computer vision algorithms Phased Array System Toolbox, which provides algorithms and tools for designing, simulating, and analyzing phased array signal processing systems R2011a highlights for Simulink include: Page 49 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Signal Logging Selector to compare simulation results across models and runs in Simulink Merge capability for Simulink models from the XML text comparison in Simulink Report Generator FPGA-in-the loop, customizable I/O, and board support for Xilinx devices in Simulink HDL Coder, EDA Simulator Link, and xPC Target Custom component authoring using the Simscape language in SimDriveline Automatic detection of overflow and divide-by-zero design errors using Polyspace technology in Simulink Design Verifier R2011a, the eleventh consecutive six-month release from MathWorks, is available immediately and is being provided to users worldwide with current subscriptions to MathWorks Software Maintenance Service for immediate installation. Additional information on R2011a product updates is available at http://www.mathworks.com/products/new_products/latest_features.html. Click here to return to Contents MathWorks Extends IEC Certification Kit with Simulink Verification and Validation and Simulink Design Verifier Qualification 12 April 2011 MathWorks announced that TÜV SÜD certified Simulink Design Verifier and Simulink Verification and Validation for use in ISO 26262 compliant development processes. This independent assessment helps automotive engineers developing high-integrity embedded systems to establish the required confidence in the proper functioning of these verification tools according to their use cases. MathWorks classified and prequalified the automatic test case generation capability of Simulink Design Verifier and the model coverage measurement capability of Simulink Verification and Validation according to the latest version of ISO 26262-8. TÜV SÜD subsequently assessed the tool classifications and prequalification results. To further assist automotive engineers using early verification and validation for Model-Based Design, MathWorks enhanced the IEC Certification Kit product with certification evidence, reference workflows, and ISO 26262 tool qualification artifact templates for Simulink Design Verifier and Simulink Verification and Validation. With these recent additions, the IEC Certification Kit extends ISO 26262 tool qualification support for Model-Based Design and verification products, which already includes Embedded Coder and Polyspace code verifiers. To support additional activities addressed by the ISO 26262 functional safety standard, MathWorks continues to work closely with partners offering complementary technology. As an example, medini analyze, a functional safety analysis tool offered by ikv++ technologies AG, can be used to automate automotive safety integrity level (ASIL) determination and decomposition as well as detailed safety analysis activities as required by ISO 26262 when developing high-integrity systems using Simulink. Click here to return to Contents MathWorks Introduces Automatic C Code Generation Directly from MATLAB Language 8 April 2011 Page 50 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary MathWorks announced the availability of MATLAB Coder, which enables design engineers to automatically generate readable, portable C and C++ code directly from their MATLAB algorithms. This new product eliminates the need to manually translate MATLAB algorithm code into C and C++ code for prototyping, implementation, and software integration. This automation results in a faster, more efficient system-development workflow. The design of algorithm-intensive electronic and communications systems typically begins with MATLAB. The MATLAB algorithms eventually need to be converted into C code for integration into the final product. Manually converting from MATLAB to C can take from days to weeks, introduce design errors, and contribute to time-to-market delays. Now design engineers can use MATLAB to speed up development tasks, such as fixed-point design and prototyping, and then automatically generate C code with MATLAB Coder. MATLAB Coder supports an extensive set of MATLAB language features for algorithm development, including built-in matrix math operators and dynamic array handling. Hundreds of operators, functions, and System objects are supported, including many advanced algorithms for DSP and communications. Along with the introduction of MATLAB Coder, MathWorks released Simulink Coder and Embedded Coder. These two new products simplify code generation for Simulink and Stateflow users by combining capabilities previously available in multiple MathWorks offerings. The new products incorporate the industry-proven Real-Time Workshop technology, and offer full code generation support for rapid prototyping, real-time testing, and production embedded system implementation with built-in links to embedded development environments. “Automatic C code generation from Simulink has transformed embedded system development in many organizations for more than a decade,” said Ken Karnofsky, senior strategist at MathWorks. “Now, MATLAB Coder brings those productivity gains to engineers who use MATLAB to develop algorithms for electronic and embedded systems. With MATLAB Coder, Simulink Coder, and Embedded Coder, MathWorks offers a simple and more comprehensive code generation offering for all of its customers.” Pricing and Availability MATLAB Coder is available immediately. U.S. list prices start at $6,500. For more information on the features and specifications of MATLAB Coder, Simulink Coder, and Embedded Coder, see http://www.mathworks.com/products/matlab-coder/ Click here to return to Contents Mentor Graphics Introduces the Eldo Premier Simulator 12 April 2011 Mentor Graphics Corp. introduced the Eldo® Premier tool, one of the industry’s fastest SPICE simulation solutions. The Eldo Premier tool offers full SPICE accuracy and up to 20X higher performance and 10X better capacity over traditional SPICE. The Eldo Premier tool targets applications requiring CPU-intensive transient simulations, such as TFT panels, PLLs and DLLs, frequency synthesizers, delta-sigma converters, ADC/DAC audio and video converters, automotive circuits, DCDC converters, regulators, power management circuits, and memory-critical path analysis. The Eldo Premier tool accelerates the simulation of large circuits for both pre- and post-layout through the use of proprietary, advanced resolution techniques. The acceleration of single-thread simulation is achieved by applying unique algebraic techniques for the resolution of non-linear differential equations. Page 51 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Multi-threaded simulations accomplish their impressive performance increase through the natively parallel design of the new simulation kernel. The result for customers is that critically important simulations formerly requiring simulation times measured in days or weeks are now being accomplished in hours and days. VIA Technologies, Inc., a leading fabless supplier of media-rich x86 processor platform silicon for the PC and embedded industries, has already reaped benefits from using Eldo Premier. “In the business of silicon-level innovation, development time is critical,” said Steven Liu, special assistant of the Multimedia and Consumer Electronics Division, VIA Technologies, Inc. “We evaluated Eldo Premier on a 40nm process using a PLL as the evaluation circuit and achieved a 4X speed improvement compared to Eldo Classic.” “Our customers find that the capabilities of the Eldo Premier tool dramatically increase the productivity of their design team while simultaneously improving quality,” said Robert Hum, vice president and general manager of the Deep Submicron Division of Mentor Graphics. “The Eldo Premier tool’s impressive raw simulation power allows users to run many more corners, and to aggressively attack problem areas such as an entire temperature range or a complete power-supply range instead of just the nominal point of the specifications.” For users familiar with the Eldo Classic simulator, the Eldo Premier tool offers the same familiar use model. The Eldo Classic tool commands are used to plot and/or probe signals, and the Eldo Premier tool produces the usual output files and post-processing scripts written for the Eldo Classic tool that can be re-used without modification. The Eldo Premier tool is available today and will also support the Questa® ADMS product for mixedsignal verification in the near future including support of VHDL/Verilog and VHDL-AMS/VerilogAMS descriptions. Click here to return to Contents Midsize Manufacturers Worldwide Benefit From Oracle Accelerate Solutions 13 April 2011 Oracle has over 56,000 midsize manufacturing customers globally. To address the specialized needs of midsize and growing manufacturers, Oracle partners worldwide have created Oracle Accelerate solutions across the manufacturing industries. These complete, open, and integrated solutions help midsize manufacturing companies leverage information, reduce complexity, and mitigate risk. Since the launch of Oracle Accelerate, Oracle’s partner-driven approach to help midsize organizations across industries rapidly gain value from Oracle Applications, 110 Oracle PartnerNetwork Partners in 29 countries have created 199 application solutions specifically for manufacturing companies. With Oracle Accelerate, Oracle partners combine Oracle’s software, rapid implementation tools, and their own services and intellectual property to help organizations quickly implement and adopt enterprise-class applications. Helping Midsize Manufacturers Achieve Business Success To cost-effectively sustain growth in highly competitive, increasingly global markets, midsize Page 52 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary manufacturing companies need enterprise-class solutions that can help streamline and manage their mission-critical business processes. Oracle Accelerate solutions can significantly reduce the cost, time and complexity of implementation by delivering business software tailored to meet manufacturers’ industry- and geography-specific needs. Oracle Accelerate partners offer solutions leveraging Oracle Applications for supply chain management (SCM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), product lifecycle management (PLM), value chain planning and customer relationship management (CRM) to support the needs of companies across 20 manufacturing segments. To find Oracle Accelerate solutions go to oracle.com/accelerate. Supporting Quotes “As the manufacturing industry continues to become more global in nature, manufacturers of all sizes are seeking ways to grow, innovate and optimize their supply chains, as well as other business processes,” said Mark Johnson, vice president, Oracle Accelerate for Midsize Companies. “To help midsize manufacturers continue their rapid growth trajectory, our valued partners have created hundreds of pre-configured solutions that fit the specific needs of the manufacturing industry.” “We chose the Oracle Accelerate solution for Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne over other ERP applications based on its excellent fit to our business requirements and business model,” said Dinaledi Medical managing director Biks Rama. “In addition, we were looking for a solution that could be implemented quickly and easily, and one that would offer scalability and a sensible cost of ownership. We are proud to be associated with Alliance ERP Consulting whose consultants have displayed an indepth understanding of our business requirements, and superior knowledge of Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne.” “By leveraging screen alerts and Caller Priorities, we expect to reduce our average call time from about four minutes to three minutes and increase customer satisfaction. Oracle Contact On Demand will give us better visibility into staffing levels, average call resolution time, percentage of calls transferred or escalated, and other advanced analytics that Oracle Contact On Demand offers. AMX International’s quick implementation and training methods will help our two call centers start enabling agents to seamlessly transition between handling inbound and outbound call campaigns, replying to customer emails, and communicating via Web chats within a few short weeks timeframe,” said Stuart Cureton, IT administrator, Shimano American Corp. “Implementation projects in the midsize space are big challenges. You face similar risks as with your projects at your big customers earlier, but the tolerance for error – financially – is much lower. In order to minimize risk you and your customer must have a clear understanding of the scope. Oracle Business Accelerators help not only reduce the implementation time and budget but they can considerably reduce the project risks,” said Attila Neumer, managing director, e-Best Consulting Ltd. “Implementing our rapid Oracle Accelerate solution helps deliver quick results thanks to predefined functional scope of the project, its budget and short project duration time,” said Marcin Penczek, managing partner, Hogart Business Systems. “We are extremely delighted to have partnered with Oracle for the Oracle Accelerate Program for Midsize Companies. Oracle Accelerate complements our mid-market focus in India and substantially enhances our capabilities to deliver tailored and industry-aligned solutions to enterprises at lower costs, mitigated risks and reduced implementation time,” said Satish Gaonkar, vice president, Consulting, Blue Page 53 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Star Infotech Ltd. “Our Oracle Accelerate expertise is proving to be a strategic differentiator and value proposition in the marketplace as it is a highly customer-centric approach to deliver business aligned IT solutions.” "Our deep domain expertise and strong enterprise technology capabilities enable us to offer tailor-made solutions for our industrial manufacturing customers. In doing this we have successfully leveraged Oracle Business Accelerators with pre-packaged rapid implementation tools to reduce time to implement and total cost of ownership for our customers,” said Pawan Sharma, president and head of Integrated Enterprise Solutions (IES), KPIT Cummins. “I believe the availability of easy-to-use industry specific application bundles make Oracle Business Accelerators the most preferred solution for industrial manufacturers.” “With our Oracle Accelerate Solution for Oracle CRM On Demand, we were able to deploy Oracle Contact On Demand for Shimano in a few short weeks. Packaged with industry specific functionality and implementation tools delivering a complete solution rapidly and affordably, AMX’s Oracle Accelerate CRM On Demand Solution will provide companies with a complete low-cost and low-risk application,” states Darin Stoddard, VP of AMX International. “The solution’s quick implementation and ease of use will help drive high user adoption, quick ROI, and will allow Shimano to easily modify and enhance as their business grows.” Supporting Resources Oracle for Midsize Companies Oracle Accelerate Oracle Accelerate Solutions Oracle Supply Chain Management Oracle Business Accelerators Midsize.oracle.com Oracle Accelerate Partner Solutions Finder Oracle PartnerNetwork Knowledge Zone: Oracle Accelerate for Midsize Companies Oracle Midsize Customer Success Stories Oracle Business Accelerators for Partners Click here to return to Contents Newforma Add-In for Autodesk Revit Unleashes True Value of Information Locked in Building Information Models 14 April 2011 Newforma® announced that new product acceptance testing by leading AEC firms is proving the ability of the Newforma® Add-in for Autodesk® Revit® to unlock the value of project information buried within building information models created by Revit Architecture, Revit MEP and Revit Structure BIM software. The Newforma Add-in links Revit building information to Newforma's PIM solution so that the broader project team can manage non-graphical information in the model without the expense of a Revit license and the learning required to operate a BIM application. Page 54 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary RDG Planning and Design is a 160-person firm of architects, landscape architects, engineers, artists and planners based in Des Moines, Iowa. RDG Partner Ron Heims said, "In our initial testing, the Newforma Add-in for Revit has connected our BIM models to important PIM processes such as document control and room data management. This integration should streamline project execution and improve the quality of our design deliverables. "In addition," Heims said, "our project managers are not trained on Revit, so they really like the fact that Newforma enables them to edit room, equipment, fixture, and title block information in a spreadsheet. I like the idea that this bi-directional exchange of data between our BIM and PIM systems allows separate work processes to remain coordinated as they move forward in parallel. "Implementing our PIM strategy based on Newforma has become as important in our firm as our decision to adopt BIM and standardize on using Revit for all new projects," Heims said. Link action items to elements and locations in the model Affiliated Engineering Incorporated is a 600-person multi-disciplinary engineering firm headquartered in Madison, Wis. AEI Technology Engineer Matt Tosto was excited about the ability of the Newforma Add-in for Autodesk Revit to integrate action items, RFIs, punch lists and other design and construction coordination processes with Revit, allowing architects, engineers and contractors to get more value from their combined investment in BIM and PIM. "Right out of the gate, the Newforma Add-in for Revit's integration with Newforma Action Items has allowed us to more quickly identify, communicate and track interdisciplinary coordination issues within our shared models," Tosto said. "I really like its ability to link an action item directly to a specific building element or location in a model. Not only does this focus the broader project team in the resolution of critical design and construction coordination issues, but it also leaves behind a clear audit trail that ties the important BIM-related decisions with any supporting documents or email in the project record." Manage the "I" in BIM Newforma Chief Product Officer Allen Preger said the new product arose as AEC firms need to manage the quality of the non-graphical information in their models. "Many firms are having great success with building information modeling as BIM-based design produces coordinated sets of drawings from a central model much more efficiently than CAD's sheet-based approach," Preger said. "But even the most sophisticated firms will admit that building information management has been a significant challenge, especially as the exchange of intelligent BIM models between team members becomes more mainstream. Our new product, the Newforma Add-in for Autodesk Revit, not only manages the 'I' in BIM, but it connects BIM to many of the PIM processes and deliverables that are critical to project execution." In final product acceptance testing, the software is proving its ability to streamline the following processes by connecting information in the building model with project information created and managed in Newforma Project Center: Document control and revision management: The Newforma Add-in for Revit connects sheet information in Autodesk Revit to the Document Control activity center in Newforma Project Center which manages the revision and distribution of record documents derived from the model. Room and spatial data management: Newforma's new product bi-directionally synchronizes room, area and space information in Revit with the Newforma Spatial Index activity center in Newforma Page 55 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Project Center, where room parameters can be passed to Microsoft Excel for bulk editing. Punch list integration: The add-in connects space and system elements in the model with the Spatial Index activity center in Newforma Project Center to provide a consistent, unambiguous framework for the location of punch list items throughout the facility. Building element information management: Newforma's new product connects building elements such as doors, curtain walls, equipment, HVAC or structural components across multiple Revit models with the Building Information Management activity center in Newforma Project Center, where element parameters can be added, edited and linked to related PIM processes, and synchronized back to their respective models. Design and construction coordination: The add-in creates and links action items and markups managed in Newforma Project Center to building elements in Revit to track and more efficiently resolve design and construction challenges with other stakeholders. Discoverable project audit trail: A by-product of a Newforma-enabled BIM process is a discoverable project audit trail that links building elements in Revit to a decision trail of information, emails and documents to document important design and construction coordination decisions. Newforma Add-in for Autodesk Revit will be commercially available in the second quarter of 2011 upon completion of product acceptance testing by industry-leading AEC firms participating in the Newforma Limited Customer Release program. Click here to return to Contents Oracle Introduces Oracle’s AutoVue 20.1 11 April 2011 News Facts To support effective technical and business decision making across the organization, Oracle announced a new release of Oracle’s AutoVue. The latest major release of Oracle’s family of Enterprise Visualization solutions, AutoVue 20.1 delivers an enhanced, more robust enterprise class architecture that continues to serve all of an organization’s document visualization needs within a single platform. From individual desktop requirements as a personal productivity tool to an enterprise wide visualization and collaboration solution, the new release provides a flexible platform capable of delivering engineering, asset and product information throughout the entire enterprise. To support the increased enterprise adoption of visualization solutions, AutoVue 20.1 includes significant performance, reliability and stability enhancements as well as new tools to simplify deployment, administration and minimize costs AutoVue 20.1 also delivers new capabilities that enable partners and system integrators to build rich AutoVue integrations that visually enable business processes by connecting data, visual information and business applications. By synthesizing and presenting information visually in a variety of applications and business processes, AutoVue 20.1 enables customers to make better business decisions, capitalize on information, and drive business process innovation across the entire product/ asset lifecycle Page 56 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary AutoVue 20.1 delivers world class support for several new formats and includes many fidelity improvements for Electronic Computer Aided Design (ECAD), 3D and 2D Computer Aided Design (CAD) as well as PDF and Office document types A Single Visualization Platform for all Enterprise Users New productivity and industry specific capabilities improve business processes and workforce productivity by visually presenting information in the appropriate business context. These include: New ECAD features which support end to end design to manufacture processes: Customers in the electronics and High Tech space can now visualize work-in-progress designs via support of Cadence non-archived files while manufacturing engineers can perform thorough manufacturability reviews through better support of variants, overlays and polarity. Improved support for paper-based processes: Customers in asset-intensive industries that need to print a variety of engineering, plant and maintenance documents can take advantage of major printing improvements that enhance performance and stability. Partners can take advantage of the new integration enablement capabilities to build customized solutions and extend visualization throughout the enterprise. Integration enablement capabilities include: Hotspots: Enable visual navigation and actions and deliver tighter integration with enterprise applications by connecting visual information to structured data. With AutoVue hotspots, textual elements in a document or drawing are turned into hotspot links that can trigger actions or launch pages within other applications. This round trip visual navigation allows for improved operational and process efficiency by making information accessible from multiple environments and providing rich information context. AutoVue Document Print Services: With this new release of AutoVue’s Document Print Services (DPS) partners and system integrators can build robust printing solutions which can serve to automate and process high volume printing operations of both business and technical document types. The new release also includes performance enhancements and new deployment options. This new release of DPS is available on both Windows and Linux platforms. Expanded Text Extraction APIs: These APIs have been extended to include support for Office document types and enable development partners to leverage AutoVue as a single source for all text extraction requirements. Partners can use one solution to extract and index text from any file type, including Office, 2D and 3D CAD, and build an optimized search index within other enterprise applications. Desktop Deployment Active X Integration: With this integration, Windows centric development organizations can embed the AutoVue user interface (UI) into other Windows applications to enable visualization capabilities within other solutions. Supporting Quote “The latest release of Oracle’s AutoVue includes many new integration enablement capabilities that allow partners to extend visualization into broader applications,” said Chris Clark, sales director at CadCapture UK. “We are leveraging AutoVue’s new Hotspot capability to develop integrations between different systems that allow our customers in the oil and gas space to view and easily navigate their piping and instrumentation diagrams. The enhanced integration capabilities delivered through AutoVue’s Hotspot feature also allow us to automate the tagging of documents for easier search Page 57 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary retrieval, which in turn helps customers improve document navigation and increase productivity.” “Oracle’s AutoVue Document Print Services (DPS) allow organizations to process high volume printing of both technical and business documents on any platform,” said Marc Hebert, chief operating officer at Estuate. “This new capability allows us to build an integration that will provide customers with more robust printing capabilities from within Oracle EBS Enterprise Asset Management. This has significant benefits as it enables maintenance planners to easily create and print work order packets, improving the productivity of maintenance personnel and eliminating risks associated with manually assembling work order packets.” “We have been impressed with the new capabilities and improvements for electronic computer aided design files (ECAD) and high tech product development workflows that are included in Oracle’s AutoVue 20.1,” said Charlie Davies, ECAE application engineer at Harris Corporation. “With AutoVue’s new overlay capability and improved support for different file formats, our manufacturing engineers can easily ensure that manufacturing personnel have what they need to quickly assemble and verify printed circuit boards by overlaying the native design on a Gerber file. As issues identified during this process can be directly conveyed back to the design engineering team via AutoVue's digital annotations, we have been able to significantly improve our manufacturability review process.” Supporting Resources What’s New in 20.1.0 Datasheet Oracle’s AutoVue Enterprise Visualization Solutions Oracle’s AutoVue Document Print Services AutoVue 20.1.0 Format Support Sheet Click here to return to Contents Planisware 5.2 Supports Integration with Rally Software’s Agile ALM Platform 15 April 2011 Planisware™ announced that Planisware 5.2 integrates with Rally’s Agile application lifecycle management (ALM) platform. This integration enables product managers and Agile development teams to better collaborate and improve efficiency in bringing the most customer-pleasing products to market. For more than a decade, the evolution of Planisware solutions has consistently improved strategic portfolio level capabilities - like road-mapping, budgeting, simulations, and scenario planning - and operational level capabilities - including project, resource and cost management, and collaboration workflows. The latest release of Planisware 5.2 expands the scope of functionality to include the business intelligence and decision support needed to better manage the full product life cycle within NPD and IT organizations. Integration with Rally’s Agile ALM platform further broadens the reach of the solution to include the realm of Agile software development management. In today’s competitive world, more and more NPD and IT companies are turning to Agile practices, trading in rigid and inflexible processes for dynamic, iterative approaches that achieve greater productivity and success in development. A leader in Agile application lifecycle management (ALM), Rally is dedicated to helping organizations embrace Agile and Lean development practices that increase the pace of innovation and improve product quality. Page 58 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary “We are excited to announce our collaboration with Planisware, a recognized leader in the product portfolio management space,” said Rally’s VP of Products, Todd Olson. “The integration with Planisware will enable product-focused organizations to leverage Rally’s built-in Agile practices, helping reduce both development costs and time to market while incorporating more user feedback, ultimately improving customer satisfaction.” Integrating Rally data with Planisware gives all stakeholders insight into when a particular feature or bug fix will be implemented, improving transparency and allowing for more accurate planning. When product managers update project and release information within Planisware, the data is synchronized ondemand or in real-time within Rally. In turn, details provided by developers at the sprint or story level within Rally are consolidated back into Planisware. Product managers and developers communicate effortlessly while still utilizing their preferred system of record. The integration of Planisware 5 with Rally’s Agile ALM platform is available with the latest release of Planisware 5, out now. For more information about Planisware 5 for Project and Product Portfolio Management, please visit http://www.planisware.com or e-mail [email protected]. Click here to return to Contents Remcom Announces Update to XFdtd EM Simulation Software with Additional Modeling Capabilities and Expanded XStream Platform 12 April 2011 Remcom announces an updated version of its electromagnetic simulation software, XFdtd Release 7 (XF7), which includes several geometric modeling additions and new performance efficiencies. The upgrade, which updates the software to Release 7.2, contains enhancements that simplify and speed overall usability: Additional modeling capabilities that enable more precise control over cut geometries when sketching complex models Simplified sampling interval settings for Frequencies of Interest (DFT) Simulations using averaged materials now exploit XStream GPU acceleration technology XFSolver intelligently records which XStream devices are being used for simulations, allowing multiple simultaneous XStream simulations on a single machine Performance of Broadband Far-Zone (previously known as Transient Far-Zone) computations have been dramatically improved Additional efficiencies in CAD import, particularly for large models with many assemblies Improved performance for simulations with large amounts of steady-state field data XF7 is available in both Pro and Bio-Pro versions. Both include XStream GPU acceleration, 32- or 64bit analysis module, geometric modeler and postprocessor, shared memory multiprocessor (MPM) at eight cores, and a comprehensive variety of 3D CAD import modules. The Bio-Pro version also includes SAR capability and high fidelity human body meshes. XFdtd users without an active Remcom Professional Support contract can upgrade to the latest version of Release 7 by contacting [email protected] About Remcom: Remcom provides innovative electromagnetic simulation software and consulting Page 59 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary services. XFdtd, the company’s full wave 3D EM solver, simplifies the analysis of complex EM problems and leads the market in FDTD-based modeling and simulation. Remcom’s products are used for antenna design, bio/EM effects, MRI, microwave circuits, RFID, military and defense applications, EMC/EMI, and more. Remcom is committed to its customers’ unique needs, offering flexible licensing options for installations of all sizes as well as custom engineered solutions. Click here to return to Contents RhinoWorks from LEDAS Revolutionizes Direct Modeling 14 April 2011 LEDAS, Ltd. released RhinoWorks, their latest plug-in for Rhinoceros 3D, bringing constraint-based parametric design to the popular freeform modeling tool from Robert McNeel and Associates. Rhino is used extensively by designers of architecture, furniture, consumer goods, yachts, and jewelry. Now all of them can benefit from the new plug-in. Based on the original technology developed by LEDAS and integrated in the Rhino environment, RhinoWorks allows designers to edit many kinds of solid, surface, and wireframe models parametrically. It gives them full control over design intent through the application of geometric and dimensional constraints, which significantly increases the productivity when designs change. RhinoWorks unifies two previous LEDAS’ plug-ins for Rhino, RhinoAssembly and RhinoDirect, in one product. It is fully compatible with any model created by the two former plug-ins. Functions Adding constraints with RhinoWorks is like declaring, “these two faces should be parallel” and “the distance between these edges should equal 100mm.” Constraints are added easily to all existing models, including those imported to Rhino from other CAD systems. Once added, constraints are immediately solved, forcing changes to geometric shapes and body positions. Constraints added by designers are solved simultaneously, even in the case of constraint “loops” (such as three distances between three points). Constraints are stored in Rhino’s native .3dm files, and so can be used for further parametric modification of the same model. For easy navigation through constraints, RhinoWorks includes RhinoWorks Manager, a special user interface that lets users switch constraints on and off individually, and change the value of their parameters. Designers are not forced to add all constraints manually. RhinoWorks recognizes many geometric relationships automatically (such as coincidence, tangency, parallelism, concentricity, and equal radii). This means that designers merely need add a few dimensional constraints to have full control over the design intent for their models; the rest are added automatically. An Options dialog box allows users to specify specific modes in automatic recognition of constraints. RhinoWorks also works in an “assembly mode” to prevent changes to geometric shapes. In this mode, the plug-in is limited to moving and rotating rigid parts sufficiently to satisfy constraints. Assembly mode is useful for simulating assembly processes and checking the kinematics of mechanisms. The animation function of the RhinoWorks plug-in allows users to produce high-quality videos through the built-in or plug-in renderer. The movies are useful for demonstrating the motions of mechanisms, and for observing the changes of shapes and dimensions in realtime. Page 60 CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Availability and Price Commercial single-user licenses of RhinoWorks are US$595 (EUR 595 in Europe) each, and can be purchased from the Share-it! online store at http://www.DrivingDimensions.com/store/Rhino. The plugin is also available from authorized resellers; see the complete list at http://www.DrivingDimensions.com/resellers. With this release of RhinoWorks, LEDAS stops sales of RhinoAssembly and the beta test program for RhinoDirect. Users of RhinoAssembly v1.0 and v1.1 can upgrade their licenses to RhinoWorks for just US$95 (EUR 95), which works out to less than the half of the difference in price for the products. With this low upgrade price, LEDAS thanks the first users of its plug-ins for Rhino. A 30-day evaluation version of RhinoWorks plug-in can be downloaded at no cost from http://www.DrivingDimensions.com/download, where visitors also can watch video tutorials, read online help, and ask questions of LEDAS developers and users through the online forum. The Web site was recently redesigned to simplify the navigation, guaranteeing access to any information with just a couple of clicks. About RhinoWorks, Driving Dimensions and LGS 3D With RhinoWorks, LEDAS extends its Driving Dimensions product portfolio, a collection of plug-ins that adds constraint-based parametric designing to popular 3D modeling software, like Rhinoceros from Robert McNeel and Associates, and SketchUp from Google. Driving Dimensions software is based on Variational Direct Modeling, a technology invented by LEDAS for modifying 3D solid, surface, and wireframe models parametrically in history-free environments, complete with automatic recognition of design intent. VDM combines direct modeling with a constraint-based approach, placing direct modeling systems at the level of parametric (a.k.a. history-based) ones - yet retains for end users the simplicity of direct modeling operations. The core of VDM technology is the LGS 3D constraint solver. Already integrated into a dozen commercial CAD/CAM packages, it is available for licensing to all developers of engineering software. More information about LGS 3D can be found at http://www.ledas.com/products/lgs3d. Click here to return to Contents Page 61