Fort McMurray wildfires highlight our fragile infrastructure
The news coming out of Alberta, the center of Canada's oil sands production, is horrible. A entire town of nearly 90,000 evacuated as wildfires threaten homes, businesses and the fragile Arctic tundra that surrounds the city. The fires are still going, although as I...
Hexagon’s Q1 shows industry and geo pockets, both good & bad
Sometimes, being a conglomerate is a good thing and sometimes ... not so much. It's good when a diverse offering lets a company balance out slow industries with ones that are still growing, or hot geos with cold ones. Hexagon today reported Q1 revenues of €724...
ANSYS Q1 was a combo of platforms & headwinds
ANSYS just reported financial results for the first quarter of 2016. It wasn't a bad quarter, overall, but it certainly wasn't one that beat expectations. Tough comparable, the continued slowdown in the semiconductor industry, new sales heads that are yet to be...
ESI’s 2015 put the “tech bricks” in place for the future
ESI Group recently reported results for Q4 and the year ended 31 January 2016. I had the chance to speak with Dr. Vincent Chaillou, COO for Edition Operations, about the year and the results. There are always opportunities for improvement but, said Dr. Chaillou ESI...
Quickies: OnShape, Bentley, Hexagon and PP&M — oh my!
So much news, so little time. A quick roundup of interesting news: A couple of weeks ago, OnShape reported that it has now sold shares valued at a total of $105 million, an increase of $25 million from last year's announcement. By my reckoning, this brings...
PTC’s Q2 revenue misses but positions for the future
It's tough to be PTC right now. Most indicators are going in the right direction: subscriptions are ahead of expectations (though that means perpetual license revenue is below plan), IoT-related sales are growing as PTC sells both standalone IoT solutions and begins...
MuM had “best Q1 in company’s history”
Now, that's a headline. We're all worrying about how the switch to subscriptions across the software universe affects the software creators and their reseller partners, and how many will be unable to manage the cash flow implications of the change -- and here's one...
PTC surprised by subs, DS continues to roll
It's a big day in PLMish earnings, as PTC reported last night and Dassault Systèmes this morning. We'll get to details in other posts but here are the highlights: PTC continues to struggle with the mix of traditional and subscription licensing, causing revenue to come...
AVEVA’s shares up 10% on “in line with expectations” announcement
AVEVA today issued one of those uniquely British investor news releases that say little but try to reassure investors that the period ended March 31 was .... OK. AVEVA said fiscal 2016 results were in line with expectations, though adjusted profit before tax was...
Autodesk adds to its renderers, buys Solid Angle
Autodesk just announced that it has acquired Solid Angle, maker of Arnold, a ray-tracing image renderer for high-quality 3D animation and visual effects creation. Arnold was co-developed with Sony Pictures Imageworks and is now their main renderer. Autodesk says...
Quickie: Yokogawa closes KBC acquisition
Back in February, Yokogawa outbid AspenTech for KBC, the UK software developer and consultancy focused on operational optimization for the oil and gas industry. The deal needed to be approved by UK regulators, which happened on April 5, and on April 7 both boards of...
Altair makes waves, snaps up AWE
Altair is one of my favorite companies -- but I don't get the chance to write about it as often as I'd like because it's not publicly traded and so we miss those four chances per year to take a deeper dive. Why do I admire them? Because they dance to their own...
Are you on a path to obsolescence?
No, not you personally but your IT? How many different backup types do you have, cluttering up your environment? Just from my desk, I can see audio and data cartridges, CDs, DVDs. and USB drives of all sorts. In my filing cabinets, I'm pretty sure I've got big...
Geometric to be acquired by HCL
When we think of PLM, we tend to focus on the biggest of the big: Siemens PLM, Dassault Systemes, Autodesk, ANSYS, and so on -- but these companies rely on a host of component developers, outside software development resources and integration partners to bring their...
Aconex & Hexagon acquisitions keep up the pace in AEC
The world of engineering software had blistering pace of acquisitions at the start of the year, slowed a bit but seems to be picking up steam again. Two came across the wires in the last few days: First, Aconex announced that it is acquiring Conject for €65 million....
Autodesk’s REAL explores capture/compute/create
Autodesk’s REAL conference last week was a mashup of technology, both market-ready and in the creation stage, and scientific, artistic and business endeavors that show how why this tech matters. Like last year, it was fascinating; unlike last year, we’re seeing...
Exa’s Q4 beats, highlights cloud success
Exa Corp. last night announced results that definitely bucked the trend -- recall that ANSYS and DS both reported simulation results that were good but not expectation-beating. Exa's Q4 revenue was $18.3 million, up 8% year/year as reported and up 13% in constant...
ANSYS’ Q4 shows it’s not immune from subs’ effects
By now you've heard that ANSYS had an OK Q4 but still only reported revenue 2015 that was about on par with revenue in 2014. And the forecast for 2016 is, at best, lukewarm. Why? Yes, some of this is macro-economic and currency-related, but ANSYS is also seeing longer...
Yay! Stratasys sees slow return to growth in 2016
There's hope in the world of 3D printers! Stratasys announced earnings just now and provided guidance for 2016 that looks pretty good. Not awesome, mind you, but: Total revenue for Q4 was $173 million, down 20% from a year ago Citing weak demand from industrial...
Autodesk’s Q4 sets the stage for a bumpy FY17
As you know, Autodesk is in the midst of a transition from hefty upfront fees to a steadier stream of subscription revenue. The company's recently announced Q4 results highlight both the positives and negatives of the change -- but there was also a lot of good,...
