Quickie: Autodesk’s Derrek Cooper on NEi acquisition

If you recall, Autodesk didn’t really say that it had acquired certain assets of NEi Software last month — the news leaked out as customers found out from NEi partners and resellers. Last week, Autodesk’s Derrek Cooper blogged about it and gave some hints about Autodesk’s intentions; click here to read his entire post. Mr. Cooper is Autodesk’s CAE Simulation & Cloud Computing Product Leader. He writes that Autodesk recently posted an enhancement to subscription customers of Simulation Mechanical that includes the NEi (now Autodesk) Nastran solver. In addition, the update includes Autodesk Nastran Editor, new meshing and selection options and surface force distribution enhancement. If you need to do something outside the scope of Sim Mech, Mr. Cooper says you can use Nastran Editor or 3rd party tools. For a more complete description of the update, go here for a video overview. I’ve heard from others at Autodesk that the company intends to step up investment in Nastran and other NEi products, and that feedback from many customers has been positive — they like Autodesk’s increased commitment to structural CAE and to linking solutions like Moldflow to Composites to Mechanical Structural to create processes, rather than simply selling solvers. Mr. Cooper’s post starts with Autodesk has recently acquired certain assets of NEi Software. This is a big move toward a broader strategy that will unfold in the coming months. However, we decided to not make a formal announcement until we are ready to unveil specific parts of the overall plan. It’s never easy. In some ways, a company like Autodesk is d!@ned if it does say something and also d!@mned if it doesn’t when it makes an acquisition. Someone will always be upset that their world has changed — and sometimes, rightly so, if the acquisition fundamentally changes a product they’ve come to rely on. The quiet update to Simulation Mechanical seems to be the only first step of a multipart program. What do you think? Have you tried it? If you’re an NEi customer, is this what you expect? Respectful comments/criticisms/suggestions only, please.