The CAD Insider

Change at the Top - Sara Ferris, Cadalyst Magazine

Questex Media, publishers of Cadalyst, surprised CAD insiders by announcing that long time veteran Sara Ferris was being replaced as editor-in-chief. In her place would be Amy Stankiewicz, previously an editor-in-chief for Geospatial Solutions. See press release.

Not much was said about Sara. Nothing about her many years of service. There was no way for her readers to get in touch with her. Sara had risen from the ranks to the top editorial spot in the #1 CAD print publication. Now, stripped off her platform, was she to just fade away?

I asked Dana Fisher, Sara's boss, what happened. Dana confirmed the departure, but as publisher are wont to do, would not provide contact information nor disclose the reasons for her departure. A few weeks later, I was able to get in touch with Sara. Sara would not comment on the reason, either. So much mystery...

But at least we can do a Q&A to help provide a postscript to her career:

How long were you at Cadalyst?
I joined the Cadalyst staff in January 1995 as managing editor (just in time for Release 13). Before that, I worked on a number of other publications within the company, starting in 1989.

What were your various positions?
I was promoted to senior editor in August 1997. I became executive editor in May 2000 and editor-in-chief in Nov. 2003, at the time Cadalyst acquired Cadence.

What do you feel is your biggest contribution to the industry?
My hope is that readers found value in Cadalyst’s many publications, whether it’s tips, industry analysis, product reviews or tutorials. Despite shrinkage in the print publication, we were able to expand online offerings to actually increase the amount of content covered.

Can you list some highlights of your tenure?
For me, the highlights are the many fine people I’ve worked with, in particular other members of the editorial team, both staff and contributors, as well as the readers who’ve taken the time to write, call or stop by at trade shows or conferences. It’s always enlightening to hear from CAD users who are passionate about their work and their tools.

In terms of the publication, I’m particularly proud of its online success. The original Web site and e-mail newsletter date back to 1996. It was a challenge to keep them going in a corporate culture that for many years was focused entirely on print, not on the Internet.

Other challenges that stand out include broadening the editorial focus from strictly AutoCAD to all CAD products and integrating the two publications when Cadalyst acquired Cadence a few years back.

What are your immediate plans?
I’m finding that unemployment is lots of work. But I do hope to remain involved in the CAD industry. In fact, I’m currently working on an article for Desktop Engineering.

You can email Sara at [email protected].

IsoDraw - Illustrations from CAD Data

NEEDHAM, Massachusetts (PTC press event) - You might have wondered why PTC would acquire ITEDO, makers of Isodraw, software that creates technical illustraton. After all, can't Pro/ENGINEER make isometric drawings from solid models, complete with hidden lines removed?

But CAD generated views are often too "rich." They can include too much detail. Not only is all that deatail unnecessary but it can result in an unattractive, even messy illustration. Stripping the detail from a CAD model to make a good, clear illustration for product manuals, for example, can try one's patience. Illustrators facing this task often elect to create illustrations from scratch.

Enter IsoDraw. What makes IsoDraw a godsend for companies it that it takes advantage of CAD work already done to quickly create an illustration. All you do is open a 3D model in IsoDraw, orient it to an isometric view and hit a command. Out pops a seemingly perfect illustration, complete with a hand drawn look. You can see IsoDraw even puts in broken lines to show curved surfaces -- something an artist may do but out of the realm of CAD programs. IsoDraw requires hardly any effort to do this. It is a near perfect reuse of CAD data. It should make an illustrator's eyes pop out of his head. Job security has just left the building.

PTC announced the acquisition of Arbortext, a makers of technical documentation software, in October, 2006. A little more than a year later, PTC  bought ITEDO. Arbortext and IsoDraw are a great fit for each other.

PTC will sell IsoDraw under the name Arbortext IsoDraw.

For more information, see http://www.isodraw.com/E/274.php.

PTC's Key Differentiators

NEEDHAM, Massachusetts (PTC Press Event) - The MCAD market is hotly contested. Trying to buy the right MCAD program can be a lot of work. Each has its champions. Each has enough commands and capabilities to stymie a potential buyer trying to sort it all out. Tough for the buyer, tough for the industry press.

Let us make it easy for you, says PTC. Here's how we boil down the superiority of PTC and Pro/ENGINEER over its competitors.

Single product strategy

We have a one product line*, they say. UGS has NX and Solid Edge product lines. One for the high end and one for the low end. Same for Dassault, which sells CATIA to enterprise customers and SolidWorks to small and medium size businesses. Companies that try to graduate from a low end to a high end CAD system face a difficult, if not impossible task, says PTC. You would think that their product lines would talk to each other, but they can't. Heck, customers had a lot of problems converting from one version of CATIA to another**.

PTC users don't face these type of problems. Current users of Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire can read old files from early versions of Pro/ENGINEER. With Pro/E, a small company can use the same tools as its much larger counterparts. Small companies who aspire to become larger (and which do not?) will not be left hung out to dry should they need to upgrade their software, something PTC can do with additional modules, such as for PDM, advanced surfaces, analysis, machining, etc. Buy our stuff and you'll be safe, PTC wants us too know. We can grow with you.

Scalability

And don't even talk of Autodesk's Inventor. PTC summarily dismisses Inventor as a low end solution--not at all scalable. Where is Autodesk's PDM? Advanced modeling? Analysis? Collaboration? While not attacking Inventor's capability, PTC loudly hints that the use of Inventor would only constrain a company, especially one bent on growth, as needs of such companies extend beyond simple design.

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*One could argue that PTC actually has several varied product lines. Not only are there many non-CAD products, such as Mathcad and Arbortext, but PTC still retain CADDS5 for its shipbuilding customers.

** A pointed reference to the much publicized case of Airbus A380 delay, see Airbus Vows Computers Will Speak Same Language After A380 Delay

PTC Press Event Gets Off the Ground -- Slowly

NEEDHAM, Massachusetts, January 17 --Maybe the intense cold outside (11^◦F this morning, I hear) was freezing all manner of items, inside and out. PTC's annual press event was having trouble getting off the ground. A poltergeist in the PA kept playing an annoying voice menu. It appeared that PTC had invited every living journalist and analyst -- the room was packed -- but was still attempting to reach more of an audience with a simultaneous webcast. The voice menu was intended for call-in attendees but somehow it had invaded our briefing room.

Live by the sword, die by the sword. Technology companies have had famous meltdowns. The best known was Bill Gates getting the blue screen of death when showing Windows at Comdex years ago. PTC was to get the blue screen during one of its presentations, too. Whatever. We have learned to roll with it.

Not able to report on the quarter just ending, PTC CEO C Richard (Dick) Harrison was only able to rehash some old numbers:

• Annual revenue up 19% to$855M in FY 06 (see Nov 1, 2006 press release)
• Cash and equivalents of $183M
• Sales increases by geography for year:
  • North America, up 33%
  • Europe, up 13%
  • Asia Pacific, up 6%
    • Pacific rim, up 34%
    • Japan, down 14%
• 4,309 employees worldwide

Wait For It - Wildfire 4.0 Not Til Much Later This Year

PTC Press Event (NEEDHAM, Massachusetts) --PTC's Wildfire 4.0 is still a ways off. I am told we (the press) will hear about it at PTC's annual user meeting (PTC/USER World Event, June 3-6, Tampa, Florida) and the actual release will be a months later, maybe not til the end of 2007.

Last year, PTC introduced Wildfire 3.0 at its press event so I was hoping for a big product announcement again this year, too. So far, the biggest announcement seems to be it's new product packaging and pricing, from the entry level $4,995 Pro/ENGINEER Foundation XE to the top of the line $24,995 Pro/ENGINEER Enterprise XE. What do you get at the highest price? Most everything, including products from PTC's recent acquisitions, namely Mathcad and Arbortext. For more info, see PTC Revamps Product Packages on TenLinks.com.

But my disappointment must have been small compared to the many financial analysts that seem to have packed the briefing room, many of whom traversed the globe to get here, only to be told that there would be absolutely no information on PTC's Q1. That information will not be released til next week and will be supplied by webcast.

PTC -- Headquartered in USA, Made in India

PTC -- more than any other CAD company -- may represent the truly international company of the future, taking advantage of resources wherever they are most plentiful and least expensive, all the time selling wherever the opportunity presents itself. While most major CAD companies maintain some workers overseas -- or are at least are testing the waters -- PTC has jumped into the deep end. Its R&D center in Pune, India, houses more PTC employees than any PTC location worldwide, including PTC headquartered in Needham, MA (outside of Boston).

I was given a tour during my recent visit to India by managing director Ashutosh Parasnis,  (left), marketing manager Rohit Biddappa (middle) and P. A. Venkateswaran, general manager R&D.

You'd have to be the corporate village idiot to not have realized that personnel may be had in other parts of the world at a fraction of what they would cost in the US. Outsourcing may be a dirty word in the US, but to countries like India, China and Russia, it is a boon. Due in large part to foreign investments, India's economy has been enjoying double digit growth for several years. The major advantage of India over other international labor sources for American corporations is that English is widely spoken among the educated elite. Bangalore (in the south of India) has been ground zero for outsourcing IT and software services but other cities like Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi and Pune have also benefited. Pune may well be the focal point for India's CAD activity, housing centers for not only PTC but also for Geometric Solutions and Tata Technologies (parent company of INCAT).

But don't conjure images of sweat shops. PTC is one of the "in" place to work in Pune. In a country that worships brands, the PTC brand is king among CAD companies. Pune's PTC employees (over 700 of them) are the envy of their peers. They may have to get to work by circumventing herds of water buffalo on roads that appear to be devastated by bombs but at work, they are ensconced a marbled/glass/hardwood Nirvana with spacious cubicles, large LCD screens and name brand PCs. The modern 8-story high rise is part of a business campus that would look good anywhere in the US. And they are paid "handsomely," says Ashutosh.

Wages in India being what they are, getting paid handsomely still only costs PTC only one third of what it would cost in the US.

However, operating in India is not without its pitfalls. Wandering cattle amid chaotic traffic on bone-jarring roads are only minor inconveniences compared to the more serious business threats such as rampant power failures, Internet disconnections and red tape that can stop a venture even before it starts. PTC seems to have overcome all this. It employs a generator backup for electrical power and has multiple redundant Internet connections. A high capacity leased line securely and dependably connects Pune with headquarters all hours of the day. As far as bureaucratic hurdles. "It's not so bad any more," says Rohit. "In fact, Maharashtra (the state in which Pune is located) is the most progressive in the country."

PTC is no latecomer seeking to take advantage of India's collective and seemingly infinite brainpower It has had an India operation for over 10 years. PTC inherited an Indian workforce when it acquired Computervision. Jim Heppleman, now a PTC VP, came with the Computervision's acquisition and was the force behind expanding the Indian operation to its present state.

Will the India office take on development of all PTC products? What of recent PTC acquisitions like Mathcad, ITEDO and Arbortext, companies that have had their own (presumably more expensive) development staffs? There is no mandate to automatically move development from these companies to India, says Ashutosh. It would be quite disruptive to have that happen.

Ashutosh is a kind soul. I would like to have him for a boss. He wishes no harm on his counterparts in the US and Europe. Yet, I can't help but think that more calculating corporate executives must be inclined to migrate future development to India. India's "value proposition" is just too hard to ignore.