Quickies: Autodesk acquires & Dassault Systèmes updates guidance
Autodesk University starts today, virtually, so expect a lot of news. First up, Autodesk announced that it is acquiring Spacemaker, a company that makes artificial intelligence (AI) and generative design solutions for architects, urban designers, and real estate...
It’s good to be a CAE supplier: notes on Ansys and Altair earnings
Altair and Ansys reported results for the quarter ended September 30, 2020, a few weeks agoand it's time to catch up. First, a quick recap of the individual results, then what investment analysts call a read-across -- what it means in a bigger-picture world. For Q3,...
Tech Soft 3D continues buildout, acquires Visual Kinematics
Tech Soft 3D today announced that it has acquired Visual Kinematics (VKI), which makes DevTools, a suite of component software development kits (SDKs) for CAE applications. This comes just a few weeks after Tech Soft acquired Ceetron, and began adding its...
PTC’s Q4 ends fiscal year on a strong note
PTC announced fiscal Q4 and 2020 results a week ago and I haven't had time for a full write-up -- and now the earnings are starting to pile up. So here's a quick recap of what we learned during the PTC call as well as some inferences we can make. I hope to get back to...
Hexagon acquires PAS Global for its OT, cybersecurity expertise
Hexagon just announced that it will acquire PAS Global, a maker of operations technology (OT) and cybersecurity solutions that are used across industries to prevent, detect, and remediate cyber threats, reduce process safety risks and make plant operations more...
Battery Ventures buys Cimatron & GibbsCAM from 3D Systems
It was just announced that Battery Ventures, an investor across our PLMish universe and most recently in Tech Soft, will buy the Cimatron and GibbsCAM software businesses from 3D Systems Corporation. But they won't be a standalone company Per Battery's announcement,...
Siemens adds computational chemistry modeling to Simcenter
This is interesting. Maybe ten years ago, innovation was all about electrifying mechanical systems. Today, it seems to rely on material science: what can we create that's lighter, stronger, conductive, responsive, or in some other way unique, as a product...
Quickie: Hexagon snaps up ESPRIT CAM solutions
Remember just yesterday, when Hexagon CEO Ola Rollén told investors to stay tuned, that there was significant acquisition activity, even in a time of Covid? Welp. Today, Hexagon announced that it will acquire D.P. Technology, maker of the ESPRIT suite of CAM...
Hexagon’s Q3 was flat year/year on an organic, constant currency basis!!
Is that awesome? No, but in the current economy, we'll take it. Hexagon reported results today that continue the theme of less-bad-than-before, though not yet upward trending. Total revenue in Q3 was €940 million, flat on an organic and constant currency basis with...
ESI’s Q3 shows slowing declines — no upturn just yet, though
ESI Group just reported its Q3 results -- and they pretty much reflect the patterns seen so far this year but hint that things may soon improve. Total Q3 revenue was €22 million, down 12% as reported, and down 9% in constant currencies (cc). The details: License...
Ansys to acquire Analytical Graphics for $700 million
Ansys just announced that it will acquire Analytical Graphics (AGI), maker of electronics simulation solutions for space applications, for a whopping $700 million, 2/3 of which will be paid in cash and the rest, through the issuance of Ansys common stock. To assemble...
A mixed bag: Schneider Electric and Dassault Systèmes announce very different Q3s
There's much to parse with both of these companies, so this is a brief recital of facts while I figure out what, if anything it all means. Press releases and recaps were in the inbox this morning, and I was immediately struck by how different the headlines were:...
MuM’s Q3 down 7% — but that’s better than Q2
One of the earnings bellwethers in our PLMish universe, Mensch und Maschine (MuM), reported this morning that its Q3 was ... not as bad as Q2 ... and that it expects Q4 to start ramping back up. For MuM, like many others in our PLMish universe, the year started...
CGTech to be acquired by Sandvik
Sandvik, a global engineering company with about 40,000 employees, has announced that it will acquire CGTech, the company you probably know best as the maker of VERICUT, the CNC verification and optimization software. Sandvik is a publicly-traded company in Sweden and...
Tech Soft acquires Ceetron for CAE visualization
Now this is interesting. Just into the inbox: Tech Soft 3D, the leading provider of engineering software development toolkits, today announces that it has acquired Ceetron AS, experts in developing 3D visualization technology for the computer-aided engineering (CAE)...
Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure dives deep into digital twins
Depending on whom you're speaking with, digital twins are either unfathomably complex and therefore out of reach, self-serving vendor-babble, or a really useful way of thinking about assets and technology. I'm hosting a series of panels on digital plants at Bentley...
AVEVA reports H1 revenue down 12% cc
I thought we weren't going to get an update on AVEVA earnings until Schneider Electric reports Q3 results -- but, no, it came sooner. Yesterday, AVEVA said that revenue for its April to September half-year would be around £333 million, down 15% as reported (12% in...
Altair acquires M-Base for plastics
Altair just announced that is has acquired M-Base Engineering + Software GmbH, supplier of the Material Data Center materials database and material information system, targeted at the makers and users of plastics. Altair says this addition will "allow Altair to offer...
An appreciation: SolidWorks’ Vic Leventhal
My social feeds lit up this weekend with the sad news that Vic Leventhal has died. If you use Solidworks, think of Vic. If you work for or rely on a CAD reseller, think of Vic. If you've ever built a PLMish sales channel -- Vic was the guy who paved the way. Obvs, Jon...
BSY rings the Nasdaq bell last week
I had promised you a photo of Bentleys ringing the opening bell at the Nasdaq, but can go one better -- a video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf4Kk-k0iOQ&ab_channel=BentleySystems%2CInc. The first 3:30 minutes or so are of the big LED pilar billboard in Times...
