Fall is here!

Fall is here!

Oct 13, 2014 | Hot Topics

Today is Columbus Day, the official height of leaf peeping season and, for some, a holiday. I’m heading to Berlin for the AVEVA World Summit, a 2+ day deep dive into the world of plant/ship design, construction and operation. I hope to see many of you there. But...
Nemetschek acquires Bluebeam for $100 million

Nemetschek acquires Bluebeam for $100 million

Oct 3, 2014 | Hot Topics

Did you think the week was going to go by without any acquisitions? Nemetschek squeezed this one in, just before the start of the weekend. The company just announced that it will acquire Bluebeam Software, maker of Bluebeam Revu and other AEC-focused PDF creation,...
PTC says FQ4 at or above expectations, restructures anyway

PTC says FQ4 at or above expectations, restructures anyway

Oct 1, 2014 | Hot Topics

Hot off the presses from PTC: Basically, PTC says that FQ4 revenue will be at or above the high end of earlier guidance ($340 million to $355 million), and that Axeda will add another $4 million to $5 million in revenue on top of that. Even so, the company last week...
MSC’s Apex rising to simulation’s challenges

MSC’s Apex rising to simulation’s challenges

Oct 1, 2014 | Hot Topics

What do we most often hear, when talking to people about why they don’t do simulation, or don’t do more simulation? It’s usually one of more of three things: It’s too hard and experts are too expensive (or not needed constantly, so it’s...
Rand’s FY14 up on all counts, buys back LOTS of shares

Rand’s FY14 up on all counts, buys back LOTS of shares

Sep 30, 2014 | Hot Topics

Rand Worldwide, one of Autodesk’s largest resellers and a provider of technology solutions in its own right, yesterday announced results for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2014. Total revenue was $92 million, up 11% over the prior year (y/y), led by product...
Rand’s FY14 up on all counts, buys back LOTS of shares

Bentley acquires SITEOPS civil / site design

Sep 29, 2014 | Hot Topics

Need to plan a new housing development or retail site? Bentley Systems last week said that it has acquired BLUERIDGE Analytics for its SITEOPS, a site engineering product that allows civil engineers and site planners to look at a piece of land and simulate its use:...
It’s good to be SolidWorks

It’s good to be SolidWorks

Sep 25, 2014 | Hot Topics

New releases are funny things: companies pour their hearts into delivering bug fixes and new features that they hope will make customers happy, yet many customers don’t even know about most of the new features/fixes — they’ve found their favorite...
Siemens goes big at SMM in Hamburg

Siemens goes big at SMM in Hamburg

Sep 23, 2014 | Hot Topics

You probably don’t know this, but my family lived in Hamburg, Germany, when I was little. Some of my best memories are of going with my Dad to the Port of Hamburg and crawling around ships with him on a Saturday. Memories are tricky, though: I probably got to do...
Direct, parametric — better together?

Direct, parametric — better together?

Sep 22, 2014 | Hot Topics

Debating the merits of direct and parametric modeling is all the rage. Is one better than the other? Which one should you use? Are you doing something wrong if you’re not using [direct|parametric], if you’re using [parametric|direct] now? No, depends,...
Autodesk Accelerate: Customers talk PLM 360

Autodesk Accelerate: Customers talk PLM 360

Sep 22, 2014 | Hot Topics

Heard over and over in Boston’s District Hall last week: “I got a trial license of PLM 360, played with it for 6* months (although I was still doing my real job most of the time) and then started rolling out workspaces. As we got further into it, we...