The CAD Insider

ICEM: If You Have to Ask, You Can't Afford It

LAS VEGAS, NV (COE 2007), April 30, 2007 - Some highlights from press conference held by Dassault:

• ICEM will continue to support interfaces to CAD products, even if they compete with CATIA and SolidWorks. "It makes us look good to have our competitors use our products."
• There are no plans to change the pricing for ICEM, which now "starts at $35-40K." Asked if this was the most expensive product in Dassault's portfolio (Dassault's average selling price is about $16,000), Dassault's Andy Reilly smiled and indicated, no, not by a long shot.
• Asked to confirm a rumor that the acquisition of ICEM was a result of Dassault's inability to create the same tools in house, Reilly said this was not the case. There was no large scale scale development project that Dassault was scrapping. Dassault does have various surface tools, that's true, but development of high end surfacing as found in ICEM was not under development. The surfacing tools already developed at Dassault can and will be used with ICEM.

Dassault Buys ICEM, Part 2: Lots of Happy People at ICEM

LAS VEGAS, NV (COE 2007), April 30, 2007 - Being at the annual CATIA user meeting gave me a chance to follow up on "Dassault Systemes Buys ICEM: Ongoing Consolidation," which appeared here yesterday.

ICEM got its start at Volkswagen, where it was developed in house for doing styling. In 1998, PTC bought ICEM for $41 million to "get into Ford." This did not achieve the desired results. PTC unloaded it 4 years later in a management buy out. Though the price was disclosed at the time, PTC tells me they sold it for $10M. PTC may have lost $31M on the deal but it was quite a bargain for as ICEM's management as ICEM's revenue (now) are about $20M annually.

All told, ICEM as it netted a total of over $100M from the deals ($31M profit after PTC plus the $70M Dassault is paying now) -- a very nice turn of events for whoever has equity in ICEM. ICEM has about a hundred people so that's an average of of $1 million per employee -- though I doubt it is distributed that way.

Dassault Systemes Buys ICEM: Ongoing Consolidation

Dassault recently announced it was going to buy ICEM (see press release). Is this yet another example of a big CAD company gobbling up a smaller one? Or does it change the game?

The other leading surface modeler, Alias, was acquired by Autodesk more than a year ago. This did not seem to ring alarms with high end MCAD vendors who probably expect Autodesk, a self-professed vendor of CAD for the masses, to relegate Alias to the design of toasters and toothbrushes. Autodesk would not be expected to encroach on their contracts with Big Auto, Big Air and "Tier 1" suppliers, the most highly coveted customers in the CAD world.

But Dassault buying ICEM -- that's a different story.

Lamborghini Murcielago -- styling by ICEM.

ICEM is already in use by automakers, aircraft and consumer product companies world wide, the giants in industry. It is widely recognized as an industry leader in sophisticated surface modeling. A win with these companies can mean thousands of licenses of CAD software, continued revenue with annual maintenance fees, earn big-time bragging rights for the vendor -- not to mention make a salesperson's career.

With ICEM, Dassault has gained important technology that is valuable for manufacturing companies in automotive, aerospace and consumer products. These companies may have used ICEM for surfaces while using MCAD products such as Pro/ENGINEER and Unigraphaphics for modeling and manufacturing. Dassault may hope to exploit the ICEM/CATIA connection, a strong connection already but bound to only get stronger now that the products are under one roof. Does this place existing PTC and UGS installations at risk and give Dassault an extra advantage for new sales?

Leveraging ICEM to gain shares in the automotive market is what PTC hoped to do when it acquired ICEM in 1998. PTC must have had little success, as it unloaded ICEM only four years later, spinning it off as a separate company.

Probably the competition most affected is UGS which until now could claim it had a more robust surface product than CATIA.

While Dassault may not entirely change the game with this acquisition, it does scores an important victory in the minds of all CAD users with this acquisition. Dassault's CATIA already enjoys a rarefied reputation among engineers. Ten years ago, CATIA had already been used to model the entire Boeing 777 -- down to the nuts and bolts. This was when other MCAD products were still getting off the ground (get it?) proudly showing a landing gear assembly with dozens, that's right, dozens of parts. Now add to CATIA's reputation with a product that can create the sexy curves of the world's most seductive cars and you have a killer combination of strength and sex appeal.

Straw Poll - UGS NX 5 New Look a Hit

LONG BEACH, California, April 25, 2007 - At the UGS' annual user meeting, NX users got a chance to see NX 5 with its overhauled interface, fruit of an enormous effort on which UGS may have spent half a million man-hours of labor. The scene was like a Hollywood screening, where the producers wait with bated breath and hope the audience laughs in the right places.

I was wondering how ease of use improvements would be received by veteran users. Though NX had a reputation of taking a while to master, would veteran users fight change? After all, for them, once they learned it, it was easy to use.

"But even companies that have a history of Unigraphics use have to train new users," pointed out an attendee who was responsible for hundreds of users at his company. But won't your current users have to retrain, I persisted. He saw re-training as minimal. One user wanted NX 5 right away. "There's a lot to like." His company only upgraded every other release but he was going to try see if he could get them to upgrade sooner. Another user I spoke with said there'd be no retraining at all. Several other users gave NX 5 the thumbs up. I can't say it was a lovefest --engineers are not prone to overt emotion -- but the consensus was positive. Only one user was less than enthusiastic, saying the new interface was just "okay."

Overall, I think the producers can breathe a sigh of relief.

Solid Edge V20 Sneak Preview

LONG BEACH, CA, April 24, 2007 - One of the coolest parts of being a CAD editor is you get to see all the nifty things in the next version of software. At the UGS Connection (the annual user meeting for UGS software users), I got a sneak preview of Solid Edge v20, which hasn't even been officially announced. The folks at UGS didn't swear me to secrecy so I'll tell you a few items that immediately address some of my pain points.

Big Takes On A Whole New Meaning

I was thinking 5,0000 -- maybe 10,000 parts--was a big assembly. For Solid Edge massive means a whopping 100,000. In fact, there is rumor of a customer using Solid Edge for a 500,000 part assembly! I could not confirm that but my perception of how big of an assembly mid-range MCAD could support just jumped by an order of magnitude.

Importing AutoCAD files

Have you imported an AutoCAD drawing only to spend the next hour changing colors and layers so you can even see the bloody thing? V20 uses "ACAD Color 7" to automatically inverts black/white lines depending on background sheet color.

Built-In Graphic Calculator

It irks me to have to pull out a cheap calculator or sketchpad to solve simple geometry problems when I'm entering geometry into a CAD program. After all, isn't CAD essentially a (very expensive) graphic calculator? Solid Edge seems to have recognized this absurdity and has built in "goal seek" which can solve these type of problems. Example shown is a belt pulley system in which a belt length was given and the position of wheels was iterated to a solution (can also be used in 3D geometry) but you can use it to solve a variety of rules-based problems.

As with any major release, there are more items than there is space to cover (Solid Edge v20 claims 170 enhancements) but I'll provide more details soon.

UGS: What Is This Solid Edge of Which You Speak?

LONG BEACH, California (UGS user meeting) April 23, 2007 - As UGS emphasizes ease of use with NX 5, I can't help but wonder if it is encroaching on Solid Edge -- part of UGS' other MCAD line. Solid Edge is not as powerful, not as scaleable but is arguably the easiest to use of them all. Funny thing is, UGS may never even have considered Solid Edge, a product right under their noses, when they looked for ways they could improve NX.

This seems to have led to some reinventing of the wheel. NX4 has what they call a command "rail" which lines up commands sequentially across the top of the screen from left to right, making many procedures as simple as following a recipe. But Solid Edge has had this for years.

Of course, this begs the question whether UGS cares about Solid Edge, a product acquired from Intergraph when Intergraph decided to get out of the MCAD market. Is Solid Edge the forgotten stepchild kept under the stairs?

Not at all, says David Shirk, EVP of Global Marketing at UGS. "The Velocity Series is the fastest growing product in our portfolio." (Velocity Series is UGS's new name for the Solid Edge product line.) Shirk points to the 50,000 downloads of Solid Edge trial versions (see download site) as a measure of the attention Solid Edge deserves and assures me that Solid Edge is very much a product UGS is committed to.  Also, Solid Edge will continue to target the single user and SMBs whereas NX will focus on the enterprise.

Siemens Acquisition a Good Thing, Says UGS

LONG BEACH, CA (UGS annual user meeting), April 23, 2007 -- UGS assured the 2,100 assembled here that the acquisition of UGS by Siemens was a positive turn of events for both companies. That was expected.

The $3.5 billion UGS/Siemens deal was announced  earlier this year (see press release) and should close "within 30 days." UGS has been bouncing around the last few years. It was once part of McDonnell Douglas, then owned by EDS, then bought by some private equity firms, then sold to Siemens.

Perhaps its all old hat to UGS CEO Tony Affuso, who has led UGS through the multiple changes of ownership. He declined to attend the user meeting but did send a pre-recorded video. I was told he was in Germany, where Siemens is headquartered.

I did a little research into Siemens after the acquisition was announced. It is the electronics giant of Germany. But most of the news was not good. According to a November story in Deutch Welle, Siemens Scandal May Involve Top Executives, police searched the CEO's office and are holding several employees in "investigative custody" after a bribery/corruption scandal.

I'm sure that was not what Affuso was referring to when he said the two companies shared a common corporate culture.

While a CAD insider would expect the usual assurances such as the ones given at this users meeting, I doubt if any users would jump ship just because another company now owns its CAD vendor. Besides, UGS has already shown that it can work well while owned by a big manufacturing company (McDonnell Douglas). Still, one can expect rivals will still try to use the acquisition to introduce fear and uncertainty to the minds of sales prospects.

Siemens is a $120 billion company, one hundred times the size of UGS, which grew to $1.2 billion in FY06. Will it be swallowed up and not heard from again, kind of like when Microsoft bought Visio? Siemens' Tilo Brandis, President of the Electronics Assembly Division, says that is not a real concern, as Siemens is itself composed of over 50 divisions already. UGS would be one of its sizeable divisions. Chuck Grindstaff, EVP of UGS, says UGS has always operated foremost as a CAD company --regardless of ownership.

Siemens was a "top 20" customer for UGS before the acquisition. Siemens uses other CAD products, too, such as Pro/E, CATIA and AutoCAD. Are there any plans of making UGS a standard? "We'll look at it," says Brandis. Brandis indicates that Siemens will be content to show that NX can work alongside its competitors in a multi-CAD environment.

Truly, using a manufacturing compnay as big as Siemens as a real world laboratory for interoperability would be an asset. On the other hand, I expect every UGS rival to gloat publicly about every maintenance renewal or new seat at Siemens.

UGS NX 5 - Ten Things I Like About You

Some highlights from the technical presentation of UGS NX 5 in Detroit's SAE show.

View a 9,000 part assembly? Not a problem with the imbedded JT format in NX 5 files.
(click for larger picture)

1. Advanced surfacing. NX 5' s advanced surfacing may be second to none. UGS says it is better than even the venerable CATIA.
2. The push to increase usability. It is encouraging to note that a vendor of high end MCAD software has recognized a need for ease of use -- a sharp contrast to "here is the software, now deal with it" attitude of the past
3. Ability to modify features in imported geometry, or what UGS is calling "design freedom with advanced selection intent."
4. "Radial cursor" is bound to make the right click button of the mouse a user's best friend. Clicking the right mouse button of the mouse at just about any time will display a series of icons around the cursor. The icons represent common commands. The commands are mostly context sensitive. but also has a "stop" command that is always at the same point. I tried it and found it very easy to use.
5. Constraints no longer constrain. Sketches no longer have to be fully constrained before a solid is created.
6. Maximum screen area for graphics. UGS has made an effort to reduce the clutter of commands and icons that might confuse a new user. One can select the level of expertise as well as the type of task being done. NX5 will then transform the interface, eliminating unnecessary commands and icons. This not only reduces the bewildering array of choices that confronts users, it also maximizes the screen space devoted to the model itself.
7. Active Mockup. Model files include native format and JT format. The JT format is a reduced set of view specific data. Using JT allows huge assemblies to be viewed with ease. I saw a 9000 part assembly moved around on a laptop with ease.
8. All tools from one vendor (AKA one throat to choke). CAD, CAM, CAE -- it's all there.
9. Integrated FEA, PDM.
10. UGS serious about CAM. Other companies use 3rd-party hookups, or employ a CAM solution that only looks bolted onto a CAD program. But NX 5 presents a robust, well thought out CAM solution.

UGS NX 5: Does it Have to Cost So Much?

With ease of use improvements in its latest software, UGS seems not to be content with just jousting with high end CATIA and Pro/E but seems to want to take on SolidWorks, Inventor  -- even its own Solid Edge.

But with a starting price of $8700 (in US*) NX 5 is about twice the starting price of midrange MCAD products.

UGS deals with many Fortune 500 companies. For example, UGS has 30,000 seats in General Motors. UGS would argue that its users are not price sensitive. Large firms may consider design software that costs around $10K or above the cost of doing business. Also, companies that only a decade ago paid $20K per seat will think $8700 is quite an improvement.

But what of the ma and pa operations, the 10 engineer firms? For TenLinks new service, Innovate3D, the cost of acquiring licenses of CAD software was far and away the biggest single cost of setting up the operation. In fact, we are limited in the amounts and types of services we can offer because of the cost of software.

Despite the push towards the SMB market, it's hard for me to see NX 5 becoming the dominant player with the existing price structure. As the CAD market becomes increasing global, the path to world domination must include a cost that is low enough to be absorbed by small businesses, both domestic and overseas.

*UGS has mentioned a lower cost in foreign markets but at as of this time no price list has been provided.

UGS NX 5 -- A Surprising Emphasis on Ease of Use

DETROIT (SAE Conference), April 18, 2007 - High-end MCAD programs (such as CATIA, Pro/ENGINEER and Unigraphics) were never known for being easy to use. These heavyweights were about power. They could do anything: no shape was was impossible, they could handle thousand-part assemblies, even do manufacturing, document management and more. Vendors seemed to say the program was easy to use -- once you know how to use it. Or maybe you just weren't man enough?

That attitude is under revision.

UGS has made a significant effort to make NX 5 easier to learn. They had contracted with an external firm to study how the program was used and specify how it could be made easier to use. Though given a set of overarching goals, the firm was given quite a bit of liberty in what changes would be made to the existing (NX 4) interface.

With the right click of the mouse, UGS users will have access to common tools. The choice of tools that pop up depends on what the user is doing or where he clicks. It might save a second or two each time but it will be used hundreds of times a day. It is indicative of the emphasis NX 5 is placing on ease of use.

According to a study commissioned by UGS, the team has been quite successful: not only is NX 5 easier to use than NX 4, it now leads CATIA, Pro/ENGINEER -- even SolidWorks -- in that department*.

In other words, NX 5 is not your father's NX. You don't have to sweat all the training, poring through the manuals, getting on the phone with tech support, etc.

How will the new interface play with veteran NX users who no doubt feel as if NX was already easy to use? Stay tuned. I'll ask them at the UGS national user meeting next week (see PLM World)

*Data to support the usability increases has been requested from UGS.