Autodesk to acquire Upchain PLM
Super quick: Autodesk just announced that it will acquire Upchain, maker of cloud-based PLM and PDM solutions. The acquisition price wasn't disclosed but it appears that the companies expect the transaction to close by July 31, 2021. In an email to industry analysts,...
Bentley adds to its digital cities offering with INRO deal
Bentley Systems just announced that it has acquired INRO Software, a maker of transportation planning, traffic simulation, and mobility visualization solutions. You may recall that Bentley has already acquired and built a few pedestrian and traffic modeling solutions...
Siemens weighs in on 2020 and 2021 — and is optimistic
Last month, I was fortunate enough to speak with Tony Hemmelgarn, CEO Siemens' Digital Industries Software division. Mr. Hemmelgarn oversees much of what we think of as Siemens' PLM business, with brands such as Teamcenter, NX, Simcenter, Tecnomatix, and Mentor (now...
Shapr3D: Cool CAD on an iPad (and now, macOS too)
You probably don't know this about me, but I used to be really good at CAD. A long time ago, after the advent of the PC but before Bitcoin. I used to demo CAD in some of my product management roles. Still, stone age. Today I love talking to CAD people about what they...
3 on a Friday: Procad + Acatec for configs, Autodesk closes Innovyze, Spectris grows its CAE/test platform
Lots of acquisition news this week. I already covered Bentley's expansion in Maximo implementations and Hexagon's into AI-powered CAE -- here are a few more of interest: Ralf Steck pointed out that Procad, a German PLM provider, acquired a majority stake in Acatec,...
Hexagon to acquire CADLM for AI-powered CAE
Hexagon announced that it will acquire CADLM SAS, a "pioneer in powering computer-aided engineering (CAE) with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to revolutionise the impact of simulation in product development processes and lifecycles". CADLM's ODYSSEE...
Super quick: Bentley snaps up another Maximo reseller
You may remember that Bentley acquired The Cohesive Companies IBM Maximo's largest North American reseller, last summer. Well, Cohesive has just acquired Ontracks Consulting, which Bentley says is "a leading implementer of IBM Maximo headquartered in Edmonton,...
3 on a Monday: VELO3D to go public via SPAC, Nemetschek talks subs transition, the Suez Canal is back in business
Wait - it's Monday, not Friday! Yes, that's unfortunately true. Technical issues last week kept us from posting. Things seem to be working well now, but please let us know via the contact form on the About Us page if something is misbehaving. These SPACs are starting...
4 on a Friday: AVEVA+OSIsoft a done deal, MuM’s 2020 leads to optimism, Unity acquires for AEC, Ansoft’s Csendes elected to NAE
What a week! Here are a few more things to know before kicking back for the weekend: On Friday, AVEVA said that it completed its acquisition of OSIsoft. All that's left now is to issue 13,655,570 million shares to Estudillo Holdings, "a company majority owned by Dr....
Wrapping up 2020 earnings with Ansys, Autodesk, and Bentley
I have been trying to get to writing long-form pieces about how 2020 ended for Ansys, Autodesk, and Bentley ever since the companies reported but it’s been crazybusy. We’re nearing the end of March, which means companies will start their earnings cycles all over again...
4 on a Friday: More on Bentley+Seequent, Markforged to go public, US infrastructure grade upped from D to C+, and Renishaw is for sale
Time for a recap of the week, news bits I don't have time to write about in more detail. Let's start with Bentley. Late yesterday, Bentley announced that it would be acquiring Seequent, maker of solutions for modeling the earth deep below the surface; I wrote about it...
Bentley acquires Seequent for ~$1.05 Billion
Bentley just announced that it was acquiring Seequent, a "leader in software for geological and geophysical modeling, geotechnical stability, and cloud services for geodata management, visibility, and collaboration". I need to learn more, but Bentley says "Seequent...
Altair reports strong Q4, cautiously optimistic about 2021
Last week, Altair announced results for Q4 that closed 2020 on a high note, beating revenue guidance by a lot, and setting up a solid 2021. The details: Total revenue in Q4 was $133.4 million, up 8% as reported (up 5% in constant currencies, cc)Software product...
Bentley builds construction portfolio with E7
A couple of days ago, amid all of the earnings reports (and ahead of its own, on Tuesday), Bentley Systems announced that it has acquired E7, an Australia-based maker of project delivery software for heavy civil construction. E7's platform includes mobile and web apps...
4 on a Friday: DS invests in AVSimulation, Newforma acquires, more on Cadence+Numeca, Siemens’ MindSphere on Red Hat OpenShift
It's been another busy week of earnings and other PLMish news. Here are some bits and pieces I didn't have the time to write about more fully: Dassault Systèmes invested €10 million for a 15% stake in AVSimulation, joining Oktal Sydac and Renault which own,...
Altair acquires Flow Simulator & Autodesk acquires Innovyze
Goodness. Not even 7:30AM here on the US East Coast and the news is flying fast. Autodesk just announced it will acquire Innovyze, a leader in "water infrastructure software", for $1 billion (net of cash subject to working capital and tax closing adjustments). Why?...
Hexagon’s 2020 showed sequential improvement — should continue in 2021
Continuing the earnings catchup, today we tune into Hexagon, the parent company of brands such as MSC Software, Leica, and PPM (fka Intergraph PPM). In all, 2020 was a mixed year for the company, which sells quite a bit of hardware into manufacturing and other...
DS’s needle moved in 2020, mostly in life sciences — and SolidWorks is a billion-dollar brand!
Earlier this month, Dassault Systèmes (DS) reported results for its fourth quarter and, therefore, the full year of 2020. First a quick recap, then a bit about what it all might mean, and then some reflections on this month's 3DExperience World (aka SolidWorks World)...
5 on a Friday: Rescale, Lectra+Gerber, Hexagon’s R-evolution, C3D Labs’ 2020 results, and SAP’s no-code acquisition
It's been a week. Let's wrap it up with a few newsy tidbits that didn't make it into full blog posts. Rescale, the hybrid HPC cloud platform for simulation closed $50m in Series C funding --announced last week, not sure when it happened -- from investors including...
Why so many CADs? And can I switch between them?
I am often asked, especially by people who are new to the CAD world, what the differences are between all of the CAD tools on the market. What's the best? And what happens if I don't like the product I started with -- can I switch? There are no easy answers --to any...
