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About this Issue….
Welcome to AECWeekly! Software vendors vie for contracts in the hopes of locking customers into proprietary software solutions, while at the same time offering some flexibility in the form of interoperability and in some cases use the word “open” to describe their solutions. While this is going on, a strong movement toward embracing open source solutions is forcing the hand of some software vendors. When entire countries declare that they are going open source, something has gotta give. Read about it in this week's Industry News.
AECWeekly is a news magazine featuring important industry news profiles, a summary of recently published AEC product and company news, customer wins, and coming events. Brought to you by AECCafe.
AECWeekly examines select top news each week, picks out worthwhile reading from around the web, and special interest items you might not find elsewhere. This issue will feature Industry News, Acquisitions/Alliances/Agreements, Announcements, Awards, New Products, Around the Web and Upcoming Events.
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Susan Smith, Managing Editor
Industry News
Free Open Source Software Moves In
By Susan Smith
Software vendors vie for contracts in the hopes of locking customers into proprietary software solutions, while at the same time offering some flexibility in the form of interoperability and in some cases use the word “open” to describe their solutions. While this is going on, a strong movement toward embracing open source solutions is forcing the hand of some software vendors. When entire countries declare that they are going open source, something has gotta give.
Interestingly, Norway's Minister of Modernization Morten Andreas Meyer announced at a press conference Oslo a couple of weeks ago that "Proprietary formats will no longer be acceptable in communication between citizens and government." His new information technology plan in Norway - "eNorge 2009 - the digital leap", charges all government institutions, both at the national and local level, to work out a recommendation for the use of open source code in the public sector by the end of 2005. By the end of 2006 everyone working in the public sector in Norway must have in place a plan for the use of open source code and open standards. This is a tall order, as the country is likely as deeply ensconced in Microsoft products as the rest of the world.
Looking into the future, the plan will require a massive restructuring of Public sector in Norway to achieve digital communication between every citizen and the government. To achieve that goal, every citizen will be given their own "home page" for communication with government and for services available to the public 24/7. Included will be a personal electronic ID for every Norwegian citizen. Besides the obvious cost savings of free software (adopters pay for support only with open source), the cost of data will go down, and citizens will be able to access information more easily and for less or no cost.
What open source software will Norway be interested in? It looks as though the plan favors Linux and Apple Computer, a company that has opened up to include open source and open standards more and more.
There are numerous other open source softwares including GNU, FreeBSD, Darwin, and Mambo.
In February of 2005, it was reported that South America was moving toward open source more insistently than any other countries. Almost all governments in South America seem to be setting an open source agenda.
For South America as a whole economics are driving the move toward open source. Brazil is by far the largest country with the largest economy and has 170 million citizens. The huge technology gap between Brazil and other countries is what Brazil's President, Luiz Inacio da Silva, wants to close and has earmarked open source as the means by which to do it. Sergio Amadeu, a former economics professor and Open Source enthusiast, was appointed by da Silva to head Brazil's National Information Technology Institute. Amadeu has written a book entitled "Digital Exclusion: Misery in the Information Era,” which focuses on the gap between the wealthy and the poor. His dream is to see Open Source in government software usage, educational software usage and home computer usage. Right now, only about 10 percent of the population have home computers. Amadeu became well known when he launched a network of 86 free computer centers running Open Source software in Sao Paulo.
42 percent of Argentine companies use Linux and many are planning to use open source for all applications. Those countries that have created mandates for the public administration and the state to create plans to adopt open source in the coming years include Venezuela and Peru. Peru is unique in viewing the ownership and responsibility for the use of data and software as the citizens' right and this has become a political issue. Everywhere in South America, the government is the largest purchaser of software, but it is expected that there will be a trickle down effect to the private sector as well.
After announcements such as this, you can hardly expect the big players to remain silent. In the past few months, Microsoft is fighting fire with fire”: it has committed to working with open source products and has shown interest in adopting some aspects of the open source model. Probably the biggest step for the software giant was to accept software engineer Shawn Walker's terms that his Web content management system that was built on top of Microsoft's Windows remain as a free and open source system. That product, now called DotNetNuke, is to this day open source.
Microsoft's management software allows Microsoft customers to oversee Linux servers, and over the past year Microsoft has released development tools with their source code. This practice is not isolated, in fact, Microsoft expects to expand it.
Clearly, if governments choose open source, then Microsoft will follow suit. What will probably happen is Microsoft will use open source development to build some applications in order to win more corporate customers. Microsoft recognizes the need to offer open standard formats even if as yet they have not opened up their most popular word processing, spreadsheet and media formats. A step in the right direction: recently Microsoft hired more open source programmers who can help the company understand open source. This is a big switch from the days when Steve Ballmer, chief executive of Microsoft, pronounced Linux and open source philosophy a “cancer.”
Today, programming software such as the open source LAMP which offers a development environment and database for free, and the free Linux with its 35.6 percent hike in server revenue to $1.3 billion [accounting for almost 1/10 of total worldwide server revenue] present a significant threat to all proprietary software companies who seek to gain customers and marketshare. Open source companies are now offering infrastructure middleware to compete with those of Microsoft, IBM and others.
Some experts say that although the open source offerings may be free, and offer the same things as the established software vendors, they still need to be integrated. Major software vendors also continue to offer the most state-of-the-art solutions.
Microsoft is obviously deeply entrenched in many organizations worldwide. In the case of Norway's decision, large organizations like the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) and TV2 whose Internet interactive TV and radio transmissions are based primarily on Microsoft Media formats, may have a lot to lose. What will most likely change: large companies like Microsoft will refocus to offer whatever their existing customers need the most to be in compliance with the new order. And it would seem that the new dictate will probably open the door for employment: for an entire bevy of consultants and system integrators.
Acquisitions/Alliances/Agreements
Sun Microsystems, Inc. announced it has completed the acquisition of Tarantella, Inc. Sun's investment in Tarantella underscores the company's commitment to an Open Source desktop delivered through the network.
With the close of this acquisition, Sun now owns all assets of a leading provider of software that enables organizations to access and manage information, data and applications across virtually all platforms, networks and devices. Putting Sun's R&D and marketing might behind Tarantella's technology allows the industry to deliver secure access to data and applications anywhere on virtually any Java enabled device as a service. Sun believes this capability will be a catalyst for accelerating the adoption of a utility computing model for the desktop and is extending an invitation to service providers, OEMs, device manufacturers and others to build on these new business opportunities.
Awards
Primavera Systems, Inc., announced that Gartner has rated the company "Strong Positive" in its report, MarketScope: Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) for Professional Services, 2005, dated June 22, 2005 by Matt Light, Daniel B. Stang and Nicole S. Latimer-Livingston. According to Gartner, a company designated as "Strong Positive" is a solid provider of strategic products, services or solutions. Current customers should continue investments, while potential customers should consider this vendor a strong strategic choice.
CH2M Hill, an employee-owned, multinational firm providing engineering, construction, operations, communications, security, environmental, and related services, has won a 2005 BE Award for its Marquette Interchange Design Automation project in Milwaukee, Wis. The award category was "Civil: New Technology Adoption."
Sheppard Robson, an architectural practice in the United Kingdom providing architectural, urban design, interior design, and planning services, has won a 2005 BE Award for its Ford Centre of Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence (CEME) project in Dagenham, U.K. The award category was "Building: BIM for Architecture, Private Building."
The 171 17th Street building, the 500- thousand-square-foot office tower located in the ATLANTIC STATION® redevelopment, was awarded Silver certification in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Core and Shell Development program by the U.S. Green Building Council. The office tower is the first LEED Silver-Core & Shell certified high-rise office building in the world and the first high-rise office building in Georgia to receive any LEED certification.
New Products
@Last Software, Inc., makers of SketchUp software, announced the release of SketchUp 5. SketchUp is a simple-yet-powerful tool that enables everyone to design and communicate in 3D on both Macintosh® and Windows® platforms.
SketchUp 5 brings heaps of new features to designers worldwide, including a suite of cool new terrain tools called The Sandbox™, which creates easy ways to model terrain and similar organic shapes, add roads, building pads and parking lots. The Sandbox allows the projection of 2D geometry onto complex 3D surfaces -- with ease.
Autodesk Inc. announced that its digital content creation solutions have been used by digital artists to realize their ideas for eye-catching visual effects in many of this summer's upcoming and released blockbuster films.
Autodesk's media and entertainment solutions are used to create high-value content that is consumed through multiple mediums, such as in theatres, on television and on DVD. This year, Autodesk's systems and software helped clients shape the following films: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Cinesite), Bewitched (Sony Pictures Imageworks, Rhythm & Hues), Fantastic Four (Meteor Studios, Pacific Title & Art Studio), Mr. & Mrs. Smith (Digital Dimension), Cinderella Man (Digital Domain), Land of the Dead (Spin Productions), Seven Swords (Digital Pictures Iloura, Digital Pictures Melbourne), Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl (Hybride Technologies, The Orphanage, R!OT), Lords of Dogtown (Gray Matter FX), Stealth (Digital Domain), The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (Cinesite) and The Amityville Horror (Asylum).
Autodesk helps architects and builders create designs and manage fast, precise project execution -- from a new home on "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" to comic strip hero Dilbert's ideal house featured on HGTV, to a high-school shop classroom on Discovery Channel's "Monster House."
MaxonForm add-on to ArchiCAD allows simple integration within the model, and its documentation, of "organic" design vision.
At the forefront of virtual design, ArchiCAD can now seamlessly deliver on one of the most visible trends of contemporary architecture organic building design and meet every architect's wish for total freedom to design.
While ArchiCAD's modeling, documentation and workflow robustness are widely acknowledged, now organic flexibility can be easily integrated into the model, its documentation and construction data. This is due to Graphisoft's tie-up with MAXON Computer GmbH, a leader in free-form modeling and animation software, and developers of CINEMA 4D. The result - an organic modeling software called MaxonForm, which runs on both Macintosh and PC, that has all the powerful modeling capabilities of CINEMA 4D, without rendering or animation.
Axiom, developer of time-saving MicroStation software solutions, announced the release of a new version of Microsoft Office Importer, the MicroStation software utility that imports huge quantities of spreadsheet and word-processing data into MicroStation with precision formatting.
Intergraph Corporation announced SmartPlant® Process Safety, a new software safety modeling application for conducting and managing hazard and operability (HAZOP) studies. SmartPlant Process Safety captures company HAZOP knowledge and consistently applies it across the engineering enterprise and the facility life cycle to lower operational risk and shorten schedules without compromising quality. Integrating process safety into initial engineering enables hazard identification and remediation much earlier, before change becomes limited and costly.
MWH Soft, a provider of environmental and water resources applications software, announced the release of its acclaimed Scheduler™ extension, the premier energy management solution for water distribution systems, for the H2OMAP Water GIS platform. The new extension allows water utilities worldwide to enhance business efficiency by quickly developing sound, cost-effective pumping policies that reduce operational costs and enable more reliable operations.
Around the Web
Autodesk CEO Looks for Growth Opportunities, San Jose Mercury News, July 10, 2005 Autodesk, based in San Rafael, is the leader in computer-aided design (CAD) software, which revolutionized drafting in the 1980s by bringing it inexpensively onto a personal computer. Along the way, [CEO Carol] Bartz has transformed Autodesk from a single-product firm serving architects to one that now offers an array of products at the heart of many things that are designed , from dams to buildings to Hollywood special effects.
Dangers to Underground Infrastructure, Newswise, July 11, 2005--London has responded effectively to the disruption of services following terrorist bombings July 7, but the event underscores the need for a careful examination of the vulnerabilities of the underground infrastructure of our cities, says a Cornell University engineer.
Upcoming Events
| AESE 2005 - 'Advances in Experimental Structural Engineering' | |
| Date: | July 19 - 21, 2005 |
| Place: | Nagoya, Japan |
| Watershed Management Conference 2005 | |
| Date: | July 19 - 22, 2005 |
| Place: | Williamsburg, VA USA |
| The 2005 Watershed Management Conference, "Managing Watersheds for Human and Natural Impacts: Engineering, Ecological, and Economic Challenges" is sponsored by the Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). This will be the ninth in a series of specialty conferences focused on watershed management. The conference was first held in Billings, Montana, in 1965 and has been repeated every five years since. This year's conference will be held east of the Mississippi River, where the problems and challenges of urbanization and sprawl are particularly acute. Urbanization and land use change
are pressing concerns throughout the U.S. as well as other parts of the world. In addition to the traditional challenges of meeting water quantity and quality regulations and flood mitigation requirements, today's hydrologic engineers and watershed mangers must also contend with managing for sensitive species, the arrival of new water-borne diseases such as the West Nile virus, and increasingly complex regulations (e.g., TMDL's).
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| Watershed Management Conference 2005 | |
| Date: | July 19 - 22, 2005 |
| Place: | Williamsburg, VA USA |
| he 2005 Watershed Management Conference, "Managing Watersheds for Human and Natural Impacts: Engineering, Ecological, and Economic Challenges" is sponsored by the Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). This will be the ninth in a series of specialty conferences focused on watershed management. The conference was first held in Billings, Montana, in 1965 and has been repeated every five years since. This year's conference will be held east of the Mississippi River, where the problems and challenges of urbanization and sprawl are particularly acute. Urbanization and land use change
are pressing concerns throughout the U.S. as well as other parts of the world. In addition to the traditional challenges of meeting water quantity and quality regulations and flood mitigation requirements, today's hydrologic engineers and watershed mangers must also contend with managing for sensitive species, the arrival of new water-borne diseases such as the West Nile virus, and increasingly complex regulations (e.g., TMDL's). |
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| The AIA Florida Annual Convention and Tradeshow | |
| Date: | July 27 - 30, 2005 |
| Place: | Marco Island Marriott
Marco Island, FL USA |
| July 29 - Annual Tradeshow Extravaganza
July 30 - Design and Honor Awards Presentation and Dinner. |
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You can find the full AECCafe.com event calendar here.
To read more news, click here.
-- Susan Smith, AECCafe.com Managing Editor.