Q3: So, how did we do?

Nov 18, 2009 | Hot Topics

It’s always hard to create context around companies whose businesses, and business models, are so different but we can draw a couple of conclusions now that Autodesk, Dassault Systèmes and PTC have reported for the summer quarter: • Starting at the top: all three...

Autodesk rev flattening out, license up seq

Nov 17, 2009 | Hot Topics

Autodesk reported surprisingly solid results today, as FQ3 was the first quarter in 5 that showed sequential stabilizing in almost all categories of business, the exceptions being Asia Pac and Manufacturing. The outlook is improving too, as the company gave a modest...

Avatech sees sequential growth and returns to profit

Nov 16, 2009 | Hot Topics

Avatech reported today that there are signs that the US is in the early stages of a recovery that “could take some time,” according to President and CFO Lawrence Rychlak. The company still sees a tough sales environment in many areas, especially in Florida and...

AVEVA: Lower costs, resilience in oil & gas, cautious 2010

Nov 12, 2009 | Hot Topics

AVEVA Group gave further insight into its business performance in the last six months, reporting that revenue had declined 6.5% to £69.9 million as “challenging” market conditions affected its end-user markets. Though decline is markedly lower than that seen by other...

New alliance shakes up plant design CAD world

Nov 11, 2009 | Hot Topics

Intergraph and Autodesk announced today that they have reached an agreement that allows Autodesk to embed Intergraph ISOGEN into AutoCAD Plant 3D. ISOGEN, with about 50,000 users worldwide, is often considered the industry standard for the automatic production of...

Autodesk SketchBook Mobile nearing 1 millionth download

Nov 10, 2009 | Hot Topics

Autodesk’s Manufacturing business unit held an analyst event last week in Portland, OR. Lots of interesting stuff under non-disclosure that I can’t write about until we get the all-clear. Not under NDA is the fact that right about now the 1 millionth buyer will...

Is SAP debuting new licensing schemes?

Nov 10, 2009 | Hot Topics

Sort of. Over the last few months, SAP and its customers have made the news by signaling changes in the way the software giant licenses its product and prices maintenance. The most recent news has SAP experimenting with flat-rate pricing and extended payment plans for...

ANSYS Q3: Short-term caution, long-term optimism?

Nov 9, 2009 | Hot Topics

By now, you’ve undoubtedly seen ANSYS’ Q3 results. To quickly recap, revenue was $128.2 million, up 5% from a year ago and at the high end of guidance — but disappointing nonetheless as organic revenue (without Ansoft) fell 5.5% and total software license...

WSJ: Jittery Companies Stash Cash

Nov 3, 2009 | Hot Topics

The Wall Street Journal had a great article yesterday on the apparent hoarding of cash by America’s public companies. According to the piece, “in the second quarter, the 500 largest nonfinancial U.S. firms, by total assets, held about $994 billion in cash and short...

Quick hits: news roundup

Nov 2, 2009 | Hot Topics

We’ve been so focused on the big news of last week (in case you missed it, Dassault Systèmes is buying the DS-focused IBM PLM division of IBM and PTC and DS announced earnings) that a lot of other noteworthy items slipped under the radar. A quick recap: How long...