Morning coffee: patents, deals and Björk
Welcome to a shiny new week! I'll be at PTC Live Global, the first user conference that will feature PTC's combo of CAD + PLM + ALM + SLM+ IoT + well, whatever other initials come out of it. Last year, we all learned about "servitization", creating bundles that...
ESI’s Q1 down year/year, partly due to planned change in services
ESI Group reported today that fiscal Q1 2014/5 revenue was down 7% to €20.1 million, in part because of the company's intention focus on high value services engagements that are likely to lead to future license sales. Had services revenue held constant with last year,...
They did it again: HXGN acquires data & content database provider
Hexagon continues its acquisitive ways, adding North West Geomatics Ltd. (aka North West Group) to its quiver of geospatial data providers. North West also created Valtus, a database that enables the integration of content through a hosting service. Valtus appears to...
Quickie: Autodesk acquires Bitsquid, adds real-time 3D vis to design
What a day! Autodesk just announced that it has acquired Bitsquid, the Swedish creator of the Bitsquid game engine. Not surprising, this bolsters Autodesk's offering for the game development industry but it also has potential in other markets that can benefit from...
Quickie: Autodesk’s Derrek Cooper on NEi acquisition
If you recall, Autodesk didn't really say that it had acquired certain assets of NEi Software last month -- the news leaked out as customers found out from NEi partners and resellers. Last week, Autodesk's Derrek Cooper blogged about it and gave some hints about...
Mining heats up: Trimble acquires MIS
As you know, I was at Hexagon's user conference, HxGN LIVE, last week, where mining was featured as an emerging market for Hexagon's offerings. Hexagon's team told investors that mining is an underserved industry, technologically, and that even in times when new mines...
SIMULIA SCC highlights simulation in an enterprise context
It took an entire day, but Dassault Systèmes (DS) finally got its point across during the last session of day one at the SIMULIA Customer Conference 2014: the 3DExperience platform may be new, but is comprised of the same Abaqus CAE, iSIGHT, Tosca and other products...
Solid Edge U showcases cool toys and happy customers
It's a sleepy Tuesday morning in Atlanta. Siemens PLM and Solid Edge welcome us to the latest iteration of Solid Edge University, etcetera etcetera etcetera. Just as we're settling in for some serious corporate presentations, in zooms a guy on a go-kart -- but it's...
Quickies: Hexagon & Trimble acquire to extend their capabilities
I'm at the Hexagon user conference, HxGN LIVE in Las Vegas, and you know the event wouldn't be complete without an announcement or two or ten. Yesterday, Hexagon announced that it has acquired iLab Sistemas, a Brazilian provider of planning and optimization solutions...
Musings on analyst craftsmen and the rest of the world
Many old-school simulation experts are craftsmen, honing their meshes and input decks to fine precision. That competence is often stashed in simulation centers of excellence that act as internal service bureaus for project teams -- great for the kind of simulation...