and DWG files. And more. Read about Pangaea in this week's Industry News.

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, Around the Web, and Upcoming Events.

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Susan Smith, Managing Editor

Industry News

A “Non-industry Specific Software Development Company” Gets There First

By Susan Smith

solution DualCad for viewing and editing DGN and DWG files. And more.

Steve Shein, president, got his start in CAD back in 1980, working on Intergraph PDP equipment. The number of employees fluctuates as they hire consultants quite often for the labor intensive tasks. At this writing they have four full time employees.

database linkage information."

Their product DualCad Edit is an off-the-shelf mini CAD package, “sort of AutoCAD LT but for DGN files as well,” explained Shein. “Or you can use our PCS Custom OCX and build your own CAD package.”

At this time, said Shein, “we are the only company producing a PocketPC application for viewing and editing MicroStation files (PocketDGN).”

capabilities to our PocketDGN.'

What has been the response to the PocketDGN and other like products? “We have offered PocketDGN for almost 4 years now. The product was ahead of its time, or to be more exact, ahead of the capabilities of the handheld hardware. Today, the PocketPC platform is finally at an affordable level, while delivering acceptable performance levels for field users. We are about to release our PocketOCX, a mobile version of our ActiveX control. This will allow developers to create CAD applications for the PocketPC.”

Like the company, Pangaea's clients are not industry specific. They include the U.S. Army and Air Force, many U.S. DOTs, Daimler Chrysler, Bechtel, Texas Utilities, Detroit Energy, Union Pacific Railroad, Norfolk Southern Railroad, BNSF Railroad, Aramco, Caltrans, Miller Brewing, Ch2mHill, CSX, Stanford Linear Accelerator, Exxon Mobil, Pharmacia Upjohn, and Hong Kong Mass Transit.

Although a number of larger CAD and AEC companies talk a great deal about customer service and providing what their customers are asking for, in comparison, there is something profound about the way Pangaea is right on target with much-needed solutions and able to implement them quickly and efficiently, while not making a lot of noise about it. “As a small company we can react quickly to the trends that appear from our user base,” explained Shein. For example, “We have noticed an increased need for a Linux based DGN solution, and we will be working to provide this in 2005.”

They are aiming for a release of their Pocket OCX for ActiveX Control around May 1.

Prices:

DualCad Edit $299.00

WebDGN $4500.00 (unlimited client side license included)

PCS Custom Plus OCX Developer $1400.00 Runtime $170.00

PocketDGN $49.00

PocketOCX same as PCS Custom OCX

Acquisitions/Alliances/Agreements

Mathsoft, a calculation management firm, and ANSYS, Inc., a global innovator of simulation software and technologies, announced plans to integrate their solutions to streamline customers' product development.

The integration will closely marry Mathsoft's engineering calculation and documentation capabilities with ANSYS' simulation capabilities.

Six CAD industry web sites joined forces to launch the Targeted Advertising Consortium (TAC). By banding together, the TAC's combined audience gives advertisers the opportunity to expand their reach to very a diverse, yet CAD-focused technical audience. The founding members of the Targeted Advertising Consortium are CADwire.net, 3DCADTips.com, EPJournal.com, AECNews.com, MCADcentral.com, and Click4Links.com.

Informative Graphics Corp. (IGC), Web-document and collaboration technology company, announced that it has entered into an IGC Distributor Partner agreement with Consulcad, an enterprise project infrastructure delivery and consulting firm based in Melbourne, to conduct sales and support of IGC's product line in Australia and New Zealand.

Announcements

ACADIA 2005 - Oct 13-16, 2005 - Savannah, Georgia - Conference addressing recent developments in innovative technologies and smart materials that have created new opportunities and are suggesting significant changes in the way we design and build architecture.

Autodesk, Inc. announced that Daniel Gary Woolsey, a Petaluma, California resident, is being sentenced in a Santa Rosa, California court after pleading "no contest" last month to one felony count of selling pirated copies of Autodesk's AutoCAD(R) software on the Internet in violation of California Penal Code section 350. Three other counts of selling Autodesk(R) software and one count of selling Adobe Systems' PhotoShop(R) software were dropped as part of a plea bargain agreement. As part of a continuing effort to enforce Autodesk's rights under copyright law, the company worked with the Northern California Computer Crimes Task Force (NC3TF) on the investigation.

Autodesk, Inc. announced Autodesk Media and Entertainment division. Formerly known as Discreet, the division will remain dedicated to providing innovative products and services for the film, video, gaming, and related media and entertainment markets.

faciliCAD LLC announced support for AutoCAD(R) 2006 next generation design software from Autodesk, Inc.

Ameri-CAD, Inc. announced support for Autodesk(R) Architectural Desktop 2006.

Sepialine -- a provider of Cost Recovery solutions -- announced compatibility with AutoCAD 2006 design software.

You can find the full AECCafe event calendar here.

To read more news, click here.

-- Susan Smith, AECCafe.com Managing Editor.