6:55am: The company has been hinting at amazing new CAD software to be announced today. Will it live up to its maker's hype? Let's find out...
6:59am: The Web site has changed to declare, "Discover Synchronous Technology now" -- synchronous meaning happening at the same time.
7:02am: We're watching a canned Flash video that keeps stalling -- too many viewers?
7:04am: A "Breakthough" that will be be installed throughout Siemens. Now being introduced is...
7:05am: Video has complete stalled now.
7:06am: It's president Helmuth Ludwig, introducing the kinds of breakthroughs Siemens has introduced over the last 100+ years, like the first streetlight. "3D design is vital." 3D throughout the design process -- a reaction to Dassault's "3D for all?"
7:07am: He's introducing Synchonized Technology, and Executive Vice President of Products Chuck Grindstaff. We're getting the history lesson of CAD -- lines and arcs with no intelligence... 3D solids and features models and parametrics... problem with history-based models is order dependence, and computational overhead.
7:08am: The new tech synchonizes features, parameters, and gives direct control of the model. Is this just history-free modeling like CoCreate? Now showing demo of the software that reduces the number of commands -- commands are inferred.
7:10am: Showing direct construction and editing using grips and some commands. I'm thinking that "Synchonous" refers to a CAD system that is both history-based and freeform, kind of like IronCAD.
7:13am: And some of the things I've seen demo'ed in CadKey (oops, KeyCreator), like seeing how the model was created. I'm thinking this is not a reaction to Dassault, but reaction to PTC and its acquistion of CoCreate. Which leads to the question, "How will Dassault react?"
7:15am: Siemens has released the press release on this new tech...
7:16am: Looks like my guess was right. The press release describes synchronous technology as "the PLM industry’s first-ever history-free, feature-based modeling technology."
"...combines the best of constraint-driven techniques with direct modeling, and is being integrated into the company’s next versions of NX and Solid Edge software."
The next versions are scheduled for launch on May 21, this year.
7:22am: Video is over.
More info here.
It's labeled as an "application layer" that sits on top of D-Cubed and Parasoid. I wonder if Siemens/UGS will license this technology? Regardless, it's clear to me that Siemens/UGS can gain serious market share with SolidEdge and UG NX CAM Express if they market it correctly. No doubt that this technology puts SolidWorks and Inventor seriously behind the technology curve.
Kudo's to Siemens/UGS who seems to spend most of their effort concentrating on what the market really needs rather than on bells and whistles which SolidWorks 2008 is filled with.
Now what Siemens/UGS needs to do is to use this technology combined with their own powerful CAM(UG NX CAM Express)to gain market share at the expense of their competitors who don't have clue one on how to properly support manufacturing.
With this technology Siemens/UGS has the tools to take on and replace Mastercam, SolidWorks, etc. in a small machining job shop but they will need a much bigger and much better VAR network to show small machining job shops why they should go with a company that makes and completely controls both the CAD and the CAM ends of the product.
Jon Banquer
San Diego, CA
Posted by: Jon Banquer | Apr 22, 2008 at 09:13 AM
Well, that presentation certainly did seem to make Inventor look rather "old".
Posted by: Tony Tanzillo | Apr 22, 2008 at 11:24 AM