Makers, the new super geeks?
Autodesk’s acquisitive ways continue as the company today announced its purchase of Instructables, a website that lets people share their do-it-yourself ("DIY") project ideas. There are many interesting aspects to this acquisition - not the least of which is...
Nemetschek: Web, international key to growth
Not to be left out of the good news bubble in the engineering software world, Nemetschek today reports that revenue grew 11% in the first half of 2011, to €79 million on double-digit increases in license and maintenance revenues. Based on this performance, the company...
DS: balanced growth in Q2
The first thing to note about Dassault Systèmes’ earnings release is that it is a complicated, day-long affair that involves face-to-face meetings with analysts in Paris, interviews with Bloomberg news and other outlets and an analyst earnings telephone call -- all...
PTC Q2 beats – and it’s not due to MKS
Parametric Technology Corp. (PTC) reported fiscal third quarter revenue of $292 million, nicely ahead of earlier guidance of revenue between $275 million and $285 million and up 20% from a year ago. Some of the upside came from MKS, which contributed $6 million in the...
MuM all according to plan
The engineering software public reporting season starts in earnest this week, with Mensch und Maschine (MuM), PTC, Dassault Systemes and Nemetschek releasing information on their second quarter performance and their view of the year still to come.MuM kicked things off...
Acquisition happy!
I spent much of today trying to find a way to write about today's two pieces of news in a unifying, compare-and-contrast kind of way and I couldn't come up with anything. Nada. In both cases, these acquisitions fill technology gaps for their buyers, but that's the...
GPS + drills = Trimble’s vision
Back in May, Trimble Navigation announced that it wanted to acquire Tekla Corporation to build out its vision of a connected construction site. Yesterday the company said that its Finnish subsidiary had acquired over 99% of Tekla's outstanding shares, meaning that the...
FIRST builds the next generation
Friday’s launch of the last NASA space shuttle mission made me think of many things -- not the least of which is just how much people of my generation were motivated by the space program to become engineers, scientists and astronaut-wannabees. (C’mon - it’s OK to...
AVEVA making steady progress
AVEVA released an interim statement today, in which it briefly goes over business trends seen in the June quarter (AVEVA reports in more detail twice a year). The statement used words such as “further growth”, “strengthening” and “steady progress” -- so while no...
1 2 3 4 User conferences
If you've been following this blog over the last few months, you'll have noticed that I've been traveling. A LOT. In all, I attended 4 user conferences and 3 other meetings in 5 weeks. Aside from the surreality of bouncing between Orlando, Las Vegas and Orlando again...
Altair’s building something big
Last week, I spent several days with Altair and its customers in Orlando -- I'm not sure how, but I've managed to miss all previous HyperWorks user conferences and was excited to see what Altair is all about. I came away very impressed, both with the technology and...
ANSYS to acquire Apache – who?
I spent a good part of the day learning about Apache, the company ANSYS announced today it was planning to buy. While I can't say that I understand exactly how PowerArtist, Totem, RedHawk and Sentinel work, here's what I've learned since the first blog post...
ANSYS to acquire Apache Design
ANSYS today announced that it intends to acquire Apache Design Solutions, Inc., which provides advanced, low power solutions in the electronics industry for approximately $310 million in cash. I am told that Apache was just about to price its IPO, so we’ll have to...
PTC roadmaps aplenty
Another Las Vegas extravaganza wrapped yesterday, as thousands of PTC faithful headed for the exits at Caesar’s Palace. I’m not a fan of Vegas in general, but PTC made it work. The company showcased its new management team (energetic, visionary with practical bits...
ESI revenue up 9% in Q1
ESI Group yesterday reported results for the quarter ended April 30, 2011. Total revenue for the quarter was €17.3 million, up 9% as reported and up 8% in constant currencies. The company said performance was strongest in Europe and the Americas, with a year/year...
PTC World, day 1: Creo and more
PTC users have gathered in Las Vegas for PTC World 2011 to hear from the company and other users how to use PTC products for competitive advantage. After a long day of presentations and meetings, here are a few impressions on what I’ve learned; more to come in the...
PP&M: Solving Complex Problems
My head is spinning after 2+ days at Hexagon’s first user conference since the close of the Intergraph acquisition. This is one complicated company! First, a couple of general impressions, then some detail from the PP&M keynotes. I attended Monday’s investor...
Hexagon: €3.5 Billion by 2015
Hexagon held a Capital Markets Day for investors today and laid out its goals for the next 5 years -- they’re ambitious but the company says they are attainable. And CEO Ola Rollén has a plan if there’s another recession. But before the financials, a bit of what...
Bentley shows what’s possible
Let’s just get it out there: I love user conferences. The marketing hype, neat stuff in the vendor/sponsor area, new product announcements, a motivational speaker ... the whole thing. The best part, though, is hanging out with users. I talk to users all year long but...
AVEVA has a banner F2011
AVEVA today announced that revenue for the year ended March 31, 2011 grew 17% to a record £174 million, with strong performance in the oil and gas vertical and in Asia. Three percent of growth came from acquisitions (ADB and Logimatic’s MARS business last June), which...
