3D Systems expands into aero, medical
The news just keeps on coming -- clearly, the engineering software space is in the throws of a massive acquisition binge. Today, 3D Systems announced that it has acquired Paramount Industries, a direct manufacturing and product development solutions provider to the...
CENIT & Softech: Mixed pictures
Yesterday was a really busy news day, what with earnings news from AVEVA, CENIT and Softech and the merger of Objet and Stratasys-- not to mention trying to write future posts about COFES, Rulestream and CD-adapco’s user conference --and so a couple of items had to be...
AVEVA’s fiscal 2012: “strong finish”
AVEVA today offered a sneak preview of its performance during the September 2011 - March 2012 portion of their fiscal year. Full results will be announced on May 28. The wording of the announcement makes it a bit difficult to parse, with not-particularly-glowing...
Makers: Objet and Stratasys merge
Last week, 3D Systems acquired My Robot Nation as it continues to broaden its reach to the consumer maker market. Today, Stratasys and Objet further heated up the 3D printing market on news that they would merge their two companies into the Stratasys brand. It’s a...
DDD acquires My Robot Nation
The move to bring ever more technology into the hands of makers picked up a bit more steam yesterday, as 3D Systems Corp. (DDD) announced that it has acquired My Robot Nation, a web platform that enables users to design and manufacture their own toy robots. It’s quite...
Why do companies preannounce?
A couple of readers have emailed and tweeted to ask: Why does a company like PTC rush to announce bad news? After all, they reason, releasing the news now or later doesn’t change the ultimate outcome: PTC’s results are what they are, the stock price probably would...
PTC hits a “substantial pothole”
I go away for a few days, and what happens? PTC starts earnings season off very early with a bit of bad news. It’s nothing fatal, and not even all that remarkable a shortfall but even so, the company’s shares fell as much as 23% on the news. Basically, a large deal in...
MuM’s 2011 shows a VAR in transition
Mensch und Maschine last week gave formal, final results for 2011 that confirmed its earlier disclosure and provides more details -- but the big takeaway is that MuM’s new strategy appears to be working. Over the last 18 months or so, MuM has sold off much of its...
CD-adapco: Bikes, cars and so much more
Did you know that the weight of a bicycle becomes relevant only when the grade of the road you're riding on is 8% or higher? The bike's aerodynamics come into play on flats, uphills and downhills and, it turns out, have a significantly greater impact on a cyclist's...
Nemetschek bullish on 2012
Nemetschek, the German provider of AEC tools including the Allplan and Graphisoft brands, published final results for 2011 that were in line with earlier figures. As anticipated, revenue grew 10% in 2011 to €164 million. Growth and profitability were driven by...
ESI: 2011 shows strong growth in base
ESI Group, with a fiscal year ending January 31, 2012, reported total revenue of €94 million, an increase of 12% over last year as its large automotive and aerospace clients ramped up spending. CEO Alain de Rouvray said, “Faced with substantial competitive pressure...
Delcam sees record revenue, profit in 2011
Sorry for the quiet -- I’ve been traveling a lot over the last few weeks, and you’ll hear about some of that in coming posts. But in the meantime, let’s catch up on recent financial news. First up, Delcam reported more extensively on its performance in 2011. Delcam,...
Autodesk PLM 360: Insanely configurable?
I've spent the last few days playing around with Autodesk's new PLM 360 offering. I'm an engineer and have been around CAD, PDM, PLM and the like for 30 years - but no one should think of me as a PLM implementation expert. I also don't have to configure anything for a...
Bentley says economy on track
Bentley Systems today held a conference call to update analysts and journalists on its progress in 2011 and offer outlook for 2012. The company did this for the first time last year to satisfy credit ratings agencies but, I think, also wants to also put its strength...
Quickies: CENIT, Delcam & Rand
Still trying to catch up! Here are a few news items from the overflowing inbox: CENIT announced preliminary results for 2011 that show total revenue up 16% to €108 million. Detailed results will be out on April 16. CENIT resells Dassault Systèmes’ PLM offering as well...
Quickies: AspenTech, Cimatron, Comet & MuM
Trying to keep up with the news flow isn’t easy this week! Here are a few tidbits that might have escaped your notice: Aspen Tech has acquired SolidSim Engineering GmbH, a provider of solids process modeling software. It's a natural combination, since a lot of process...
Quick recap: Autodesk launches PLM 360
Today Autodesk finally launched its much-touted PLM product, Autodesk PLM 360. I tried to live-tweet (follow me at @monica_schnitge) the event but here’s a quick recap of the high points: Autodesk PLM 360 is available today, at www.autodeskplm360.com. Autodesk PLM 360...
Mentor Graphics hits a billion
Mentor reported that revenue was up 4% $320 million for FQ4 ended January 31, 2011. For the quarter, systems and software revenue was up just 2%, while service and support revenue was up 10% to $100 million. For the year, the company reported revenue of $1,015...
Autodesk: MFG reports record; is AEC back?
Autodesk reported results last week for the fourth quarter and full year ended January 31, 2011 that pretty much blew past expectations and continued the strong trends seen over the last several quarters, albeit with a bit of deceleration in many of the individual...
ANSYS Q4 was solid, also cautious for 2012
ANSYS reported revenue yesterday for the fourth quarter and all of 2011. In a nutshell, Q4 was terrific by pretty much any measure and only in part due to the contribution of the Apache acquisition. Wall Street was less impressed as tax adjustments lowered net income...
