Management shake-up at MSC Software

Mar 12, 2009 | Hot Topics

MSC today announced the departure of Chairman and CEO Bill Weyand and Glenn Weinkoop, President and COO, and their replacement by Ashfaq A. Munshi as interim Chief Executive Officer and President. The company’s Board of Directors has retained a national firm to...

ESI Group reports steep drop-off in Q4

Mar 10, 2009 | Hot Topics

ESI Group today reported revenue growth of 2% to EU70.2 million for the fiscal year endedJanuary 31, 2009. Excluding acquisitions, revenue declined about 5% from fiscal2007/2008. Like other engineering software companies, business slowed dramaticallyduring Q4: ESI...

Twenty-five years of VAR success

Mar 9, 2009 | Hot Topics

A lot of press releases come in every day and few are all that notable. One of today’s stands out, not for its content so much as for what it represents. Autodesk is holding its annual VAR (value-added reseller) conference this week and issued a...

Bentley moves user conference online

Mar 6, 2009 | Hot Topics

It’s official: citing cuts in its customers’ travel budgets, Bentley has moved its userconference online, reframing the content as a series of webinars. Given the cost toBentley to stage the annual extravaganza, this only makes sense, as its revenue is...

MSC rides a winding road

Mar 3, 2009 | Hot Topics

MSC Software proved last week that it is not immune to the slowdown in spending seenby other PLM suppliers. Total Q4 revenue of $65 million was down 9% from a year ago,leading the company to an operating loss for the quarter. For the year MSC reported totalrevenue of...

ANSYS – weak Q4 leads to worries about 2009

Mar 1, 2009 | Hot Topics

ANSYS shares were hammered late last week, falling to a 52-week low after the companydramatically lowered its forecasts for 2009 — even though results for 2008 were OK.On the plus side:- CEO Jim Cashman said that companies continue to see a need to innovate, and...

CD-adapco’s stimulus bill: "No Engineer Left Behind"

Feb 27, 2009 | Hot Topics

CD-adapco today upped the ante on helping displaced engineers improve their skills andmarketability. "No Engineer Left Behind" is a global program — all others that I’m aware ofare US-based — offering training at any CD-adapco facility, a...

Stimulus bill: what’s in it for PLM?

Feb 19, 2009 | Hot Topics

The Wall Street Journal posted a handy summary of the 1,073-page stimulus bill signedby President Obama on Monday. It’s possible that the bill contains provisions not in theJournal’s table, but judging by the summary, Washington is hoping that...

MSC and Elliott Assoc. reach agreement on “standstill”

Feb 14, 2009 | Hot Topics

Elliott Associates and MSC Software today filed a schedule 13D with the SEC stating that the two had reached and agreement under which the various Elliott entities that already own 13.4% of the outstanding shares of MSC will not buy more than 2.96 million additional...