Are CAD/CAM maintenance fees too high?

From: Matt Brennan <mattbrennan_at_cadcamnet.com>
Date: Tue Feb 03 2004 - 03:27:07 EET

Large customers of enterprise resource planning software are balking at high fees for
maintenance and upgrades. Will CAD/CAM users revolt too? In an article titled,
"Customers push back," we analyze what makers of CAD/CAM, PDM, and
engineering-analysis software need to do to avoid the fate of the ERP vendors.

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CADCAMNet encompasses the former CAD Report, PDM Report, and Rapid
Prototyping Report. Here's a summary of other recent articles available only to
subscribers:

** EOSINT M270 -- EOS, the German maker of rapid prototyping equipment, is
developing a new machine it claims can build metal parts that have physical
characteristics similar to tool steel.

** A pleasant surprise for Mentor investors -- Mentor Graphics set sales records in the
fourth quarter and for the year. Now if it could only make money.

** Byzantine accounting -- Cadence Design systems set a record for the length of its
fourth-quarter earnings release. Analysis of the bewildering numbers and management’s
projections suggests that the big electronic CAD firm is neither growing rapidly nor
earning much money.

** Magma sales accelerate -- The IC CAD upstart reported accelerating sales growth in
the last quarter of 2003.

** Windchill 7.0 preview -- With this release, PTC enhances its PDM product to make it more
powerful and easier to use. Has it done enough to restart sales?

** Who needs patents on CAD/CAM business practices? -- Giant Delphi Corporation has
applied for 15 patents on business practices related to how CAD software is used. Do
patents on business processes encourage innovation or simply enrich lawyers?

** SolidWorks World 2004 – Fewer than one-half of one percent of SolidWorks users
attended SolidWorks World in Boston. Here's a summary of the highlights for those who
missed it.

** Flattening the feature tree -- A technique called horizontal modeling developed by
auto-parts supplier Delphi Corporation can make CAD models easier to change and less
troublesome in manufacturing operations. Find out how your company can take advantage
of this method no matter what brand of CAD software you’re using.

** Materials roundup 2004 -- Successful rapid prototyping projects start with selecting the
right materials. There's only one place on or off the Internet where you can find data on all
the rapid prototyping materials available for all commercial rapid prototyping systems:
CADCAMNet's annual rapid prototyping materials roundup.

** Rapid prototyping fights pollution -- Researchers at the Idaho National Engineering and
Environmental Laboratory are using stereolithography models to find new ways to fight
pollution.

** PLM moves up from the cellar -- Product-lifecycle-management software moved up from
dead last to 13th place out of 17 categories in a survey of CIO spending priorities.

** The party's over -- For years, engineers have benefited from the rapidly increasing speed
of Intel's Pentium and Xeon computer chips. But in a major strategic shift, Intel has stopped
pushing up clock speeds as fast as it once did. The change has huge implications for users
and developers of CAD and engineering software.

** Industrial machinery CAD checklist -- In a three-part series, we review both the technical
and management aspects to consider when choosing three-D CAD systems for developing
industrial equipment.

** Test-driving the Quadro FX 1100 -- Nvidia says its new graphics card aces the
benchmarks. We put it through its paces to see if it will boost performance for the typical
CAD user.

** High-quality rendering for CATIA -- New software interfaces to ART’s ray-tracing
accelerators enable CATIA users to get highly realistic images much faster. Why other CAD
vendors should take notice.

** Do you need gate-level simulation? -- For two decades, electronics engineers have relied
on costly gate-level simulation to validate digital designs. Now this granddaddy of electrical
engineering software is falling out of use. Find out why and whether your company should
phase it out too.

** Agile 9 strengthens ties to CAD -- Following its purchase of Eigner, Agile Software plans
to include engineering PDM functions in its next software release.

** CATIA add-on makes entering notes easier -- xNotes lets users of CATIA V5 on Windows
systems store, organize, and insert standard drawing notes.

It's not too late to read these and other helpful product reviews, tutorials, and business
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Received on Tue Feb 03 03:07:32 2004

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