Every PLM vendor hearts unemployed engineers and designers!
A bit of an editorial: After yesterday's barrage of offers of help for unemployed designers andengineers (following the trickle of offers earlier in the year), I asked around to see if anyother vendors were embarking on similar programs. I somehow missed Bentley's...
Solidworks cares about displaced workers, too!
SolidWorks announced that it is giving back to loyal users and helping them hone theirskills as they face tough competition in the job market. Originally mentioned at SolidWorksWorld in February but activated this week, SolidWorks' Engineering Stimulus Packageoffers a...
Take-aways from Autodesk Investor Day
I was unable to listen to the entire day, but found the following particularly interesting:- Autodesk is trying to help its channel partners make it to the other end of the recession, inpart by reducing the inventory they have to hold in order to remain authorized....
Autodesk launches displaced worker program
Today Autodesk formally rolls out the Autodesk Assistance Program which offers "free"software licenses, free online training, reduced-cost classroom training and discountedcertification programs for unemployed architects, designers and engineers. The...
Autodesk announces more job cuts and hires new CFO
Autodesk today announced that it has not seen any improvement in global economicconditions and therefore is further reducing its operating expenses. The company plans towring out another $100 million to $150 million, on an annualized basis. Details are still...
Rackable Systems buying SGI
Since this is from an SEC filing, I don't think it's a practical joke: Rackable Systems willbuy "substantially all the assets, except for certain excluded assets, of SGI for $25 million,subject to adjustment in certain circumstances, plus the assumption of...
AVEVA acquires instrumentation product IDO
AVEVA has announced the acquisition of iDesignOffice Pty Ltd, the Australian creator ofInstrumentation Design Office (IDO). IDO is a set of applications for creating and maintaininginstrumentation engineering data for process plants. IDO will be renamed...
President chastises GM and Chrysler
Wow. GM and Chrysler have been sent back to the drawing boards to come up with betterplans if they want more bailout money. The text of President Obama's statement aboutthe government's decision to offer a limited bailout for the GM and Chrysler includes thefollowing...
Formula One: PLM Bellwether #1
I've recently been researching PLM bellwethers, those groups or individuals whose use of atechnology or process portends its eventual wider adoption. Bellwethers set the stage,control early research and guide its commercialization. Formula One (F1) racing...
CD-adapco sales up 22% last year – and so far this year
We're not quite done with earnings announcements, it appears. And maybe 2009 won't bethe disaster everyone forecasts. CD-adapco President Steve MacDonald said the followingat the company's annual European user conference:“In the midst of constant reminders about how...
The Tata Nano: "Triumph of Indian Ingenuity"
That's how the BBC referred to the $2000 car introduced yesterday in India. Their reporterhad a chance to test-drive the car and said it was surprisingly ... not disappointing. At leastaccording to the BBC, there had been concerns that Tata's price target of 100,000...
IBM buying Sun?
Sun Microsystems' share price has nearly doubled since Wednesday on rumors that IBMis interested in acquiring the troubled hardware maker. For many old-timers Sunworkstations were the first non-proprietary hardware on which CAD software was availableand their...
Update: MSC exec change — Investors like!
Yesterday I wrote that investors seemed lukewarm to the the change in CEO and COO atMSC, with Ashfaq Munshi taking over. By the close of trading, MSC shares were up 11%and look to open "up" today signalling that shareholders have confidence in Mr. Munshi...
Happy Pi Day!
Yes, it's that time again: tomorrow, March 14, marks Pi Day. For those who need therefresher, Pi= 3.1415926535... (3.14 -- get it?) According to the day's website, Pi Day is"celebrated by math enthusiasts around the world". Economy got you down?...
Management shake-up at MSC Software
MSC today announced the departure of Chairman and CEO Bill Weyand and Glenn Weinkoop, President and COO, and their replacement by Ashfaq A. Munshi as interim Chief Executive Officer and President. The company's Board of Directors has retained a national firm to...
ESI Group reports steep drop-off in Q4
ESI Group today reported revenue growth of 2% to EU70.2 million for the fiscal year endedJanuary 31, 2009. Excluding acquisitions, revenue declined about 5% from fiscal2007/2008. Like other engineering software companies, business slowed dramaticallyduring Q4: ESI...
Twenty-five years of VAR success
A lot of press releases come in every day and few are all that notable. One of today's stands out, not for its content so much as for what it represents. Autodesk is holding its annual VAR (value-added reseller) conference this week and issued a release congratulating...
Bentley moves user conference online
It's official: citing cuts in its customers' travel budgets, Bentley has moved its userconference online, reframing the content as a series of webinars. Given the cost toBentley to stage the annual extravaganza, this only makes sense, as its revenue is likelystresses...
Autodesk’s portfolio approach doesn’t isolate from this storm
Autodesk last week reported final figures for the quarter and year ended January 31, 2009that were in line with its preannouncement.The company has always said that itsdiversified approach (serving so many end-user industries around the world) would help toinsulate it...
MSC rides a winding road
MSC Software proved last week that it is not immune to the slowdown in spending seenby other PLM suppliers. Total Q4 revenue of $65 million was down 9% from a year ago,leading the company to an operating loss for the quarter. For the year MSC reported totalrevenue of...
