Autodesk adds CFdesign to its quiver
Big news: Autodesk announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Blue Ridge Numerics, Inc., maker of the CFdesign computational fluid dynamics software, for approximately $39 million in cash. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions...
Nemetschek “Back on Track”
Nemetschek, one of Europe’s largest suppliers of solutions for architects and the building industry, reported today that revenue in 2010 grew by 10% to €150 million. This returns the company to 2008 levels -- and the outlook is good, meaning that Nemetschek, at least,...
DS announces banner 2010, cautious for 2011
2010 was a big year for Dassault Systèmes as it tightened control on its distribution network by buying IBM PLM, closing the biggest acquisition in DS’ history. Did this distract management? Lead to complications in merging sales teams and assigning territories and...
Rand + Avatech showing results
Rand Worldwide, created by the reverse merger of Rand and Avatech, today announced results for the second quarter of its fiscal 2011. Rand’s published comparisons are between the merged entity for the period ended December 31, 2010 and Rand-alone for the period ended...
More good news: Tekla, CENIT
A Bank of America Merrill Lynch report arrived in my inbox this morning with the title “Do earnings never end” -- how true. Here are two quick notes on today’s announcements to keep you up-to-date while I finish going over the results reported by Dassault Systemes on...
AspenTech gains momentum
Aspen Technology on Tuesday announced 2FQ11 results showing that its transition from a perpetual to subscription model continues to gain momentum. AspenTech's total revenue of $50 million up 17% over last year, including a 983% (no typo: 983%) increase in subscription...
Cimatron: 2010 was a very good year
Cimatron, provider of the CimatronE and GibbsCAM solutions for mold and die design, milling and other machining solutions, today announced its highest-ever quarterly and annual revenue. Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2010 was up 13% from Q4 2009 to $11 million,...
MuM’s the (good) word
Last week German reseller Mensch und Maschine (MuM) disclosed preliminary results for 2010 that showed strong growth in revenue and operating profit for the fourth quarter and for the year as a whole. For the year, total sales were up up 19% to €195 million while Q4...
SGI blows by expectations
My morning news troll turned up the fact that shares of SGI, maker of servers and data storage hardware, are up nearly 20% in pre-opening trading. Why? Because SGI reported results yesterday that are making traders giddy: SGI believes it is benefitting from an upswing...
AVEVA says all OK
Plant and marine design software supplier AVEVA Group on Friday issued an Interim Trading update in which it said that business from November through January continues more or less to plan, leading the company’s board to “remains confident of a successful outturn for...
PTC reports an Optima Q1
(Sorry. The Optima is a model of Kia automobile. Bad pun, I know, but hard to resist.) PTC is usually the first PLM company to report results and is therefore seen as a bit of the canary in a coal mine (send in the canary; if it dies, there’s not enough oxygen for...
The perfect press release, 2011
We’re getting into earnings season and user group meetings are starting up again, which means it’s time for a press release bonanza. I last wrote about crafting the perfect press release in 2009, but the current crop show that the PLM world needs a refresher. Press...
Simplify, simplify
I’ve been talking with a lot of engineers and scientists outside the typical PLM realm about their work, the processes the use and the IT tools they rely on -- and the answers are forcing me to redefine how I see enabling tools.It’s all about perspective. I’m a naval...
Quick hits: Bentley, IBM
A few quick thoughts while I work through the pile in the inbox: Bentley to buy back Intergraph’s stake The Huntsville (AL) Times on Monday published a blog post about Bentley Systems buying back the shares that had been owned by Intergraph. In the dark ages,...
Altair expands into CFD
Altair Engineering yesterday announced the acquisition of ACUSIM Software, maker of the AcuSolve family of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) products. Altair develops and markets a broad set of CAE tools, including the RADIOSS solver and the HyperMesh suite of...
Shining the light on LIDAR
Laser scanning is hot. Process plant design software vendors such as AVEVA, Bentley Systems and Intergraph have long had partner programs to integrate LIDAR models into their design and operations workflows; Autodesk is now actively promoting it -- and last month...
Delcam says Q4 was “buoyant”
UK CAM software vendor Delcam issued a trading update today that characterized sales during the fourth quarter as “buoyant”. The December quarter is typically Delcam’s biggest revenue quarter, so this is very good news. The company reports that software license and...
Avatech officially becomes Rand
Avatech made it official: As of January 1, 2011 it will be known as Rand Worldwide, Inc. and change its ticker symbol to RWWI on the over the counter market in the US. This is the final step in the reverse merger closed last year and unifies two brands. As of 5PM on...
Notes from an MSC MD workshop
Happy New Year! 2011 is already shaping up to be an interesting year, so I hope you took a few days off to rest up ... Just before the holiday break, I attended an all-day MD Nastran workshop put on by MSC Software in suburban Boston. We began the day with a quick...