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, Financials, Contract Awards, Awards, New Products, Letters to the Editor and Upcoming Events.
AECWeekly welcomes letters and feedback from readers, so let us know what you think. Please send me your comments.
Best wishes,
Susan Smith, Managing Editor
Industry News
IntelliCAD 6.2 Update
by Susan Smith
In a conversation this week with David Lorenzo, development director of the IntelliCAD Technology Consortium (ITC), I learned about the latest update to the IntelliCAD platform. But first, a little background on the origins of IntelliCAD.
IntelliCAD has been around for quite awhile. In order to write about the new features, I must go back to the origins of the Consortium. I'll provide a brief summary of the interesting history here, but Ralph Grabowski's "An Outside Look in at IntelliCAD" will give you a much more detailed story.
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The name of the software was taken from a programming firm that was formed in the early 1990s. The firm IntelliCAD created the AutoCAD Data Extension (ADE) which they sold to Autodesk, later to become part of Autodesk Map, which exists within Map and some features of IntelliCAD. According to Autodesk, ADE is used to read and write data from DWG files and provides the multi-user DWG capabilities that are a core function of Map 3D.
A company called Softdesk that built applications on top of AutoCAD using ObjectARx, bought IntelliCAD, then Autodesk bought Softdesk for $90 million. Shortly after the purchase, Autodesk spun off Softdesk as Boomerang Technologies. Visio purchased Boomerang and IntelliCAD, then purchased MarComp to gain its DWG read/write libraries.
The OpenDWG Alliance (renamed the Open Design Alliance (ODA)) was formed by Visio at this time as a name under which Visio could release the DWG libraries for free.
Visio had burst onto the market with their AutoCAD-clone product priced at 10 percent that of AutoCAD - disruptive technology if ever there was such a thing. Yet it did not sell all that well. They ended up offering IntelliCAD 98 for free. Visio formed the ITC to take care of the code, yet the ITC found that some components of the code needed to be compensated in the form of royalty payments, which rendered the entire software package not free.
During this time Visio was sold to Microsoft, and various companies including SolidWorks, CADopia, Bricscad NV and Progesoft, bought IntelliCAD source code and continue to use it today. These companies are referred to by ITC as “members.”
According to David Lorenzo, the IntelliCAD source code is available for license by these Commercial Members of the ITC. These members are also responsible for end-user sales and support of the IntelliCAD base technology. Only those listed on the member pages have a license to distribute their versions of IntelliCAD or products using the IntelliCAD base technology. They may have other resellers who sell their products.
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Since there is such a close link between the ITC and the ODA, what is the relationship between those two companies today? “The ITC is a Founding member of the ODA. The ODA is not an official member of the ITC but they work very closely with us, we probably provide more feedback on the DWGdirect libraries than any other ODA member,” explained Lorenzo.
“Some of our members are also members of the ODA. For example, a member will become an IntelliCAD member so that they can resell IntelliCAD, but they may want to create other products outside of IntelliCAD that read and write DWG or DGN files. Although the ITC licenses the ODA libraries for IntelliCAD it does not allow IntelliCAD members to utilize the ODA libraries to create products outside of IntelliCAD - this would break our license with the ODA. So you may be asking yourself why don't more people license the ODA tools and build their own CAD engine rather than license IntelliCAD? We'll, it's impossible for a member to maintain (much less create) a product like IntelliCAD for $20,000 a year.
As a founding member of the ODA our internal development team has access to the ODA source code for DWGdirect, but we cannot provide access to this source code to our members - again, this breaks our license agreement with the ODA, you must be a founding member of the ODA to have access to source code. Generally this is not a problem because our members do not license IntelliCAD to get to the ODA source, they just require the ODA DWGdirect binaries and the IntelliCAD source. Just like you can't get all the source code to the .NET library from Microsoft - it's just another library that you link in.”
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Performance gains in the last two releases of IntelliCAD have made it possible to add to IntelliCAD 6.2 the ability to handle large files by displaying and inserting drawings with large polyface meshes. There is new support for true colors which includes more than 16 million colors, and color books for organizing collections of colors. There is also ADeko Raster, a new raster imaging solution which makes it easy for users to work with image files inside their drawings.
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New features in IntelliCAD 6.2 include:
- The COM API has also been greatly improved and added to.
- ability to view thumbnail images while browsing drawing files
- draw and view wipeout entities
- attach WAV files as audio notes
- use new extension entity snap options
- modify commands to snap to the midpoint of specified points
Acquisitions/Agreements/Alliances
Fakespace Systems Inc. announced it has been awarded the contract to upgrade the C6, a six-sided virtual reality room at Iowa State University's Virtual Reality Applications Center (VRAC). Fakespace will apply the latest generation of stereoscopic projection technology and its integration expertise to create an environment supporting the display of simulations generated by a cluster-based computing system at the unprecedented resolution of 100 million pixels.
Reed Construction Data and Beck Technology, LLC, a member of The Beck Group, have announced the signing of a letter of intent between their firms to codevelop and jointly market a combined technology platform aimed at providing architects, owners and developers with better upfront project definition and improved budget estimation. This product will use the RSMeans line of construction cost information, widely recognized as the undisputed market leader and authority on costing data.
Deltek, provider of enterprise management software for project-focused organizations, announced that premier landscape construction and management firm, Austin Outdoor, has licensed Deltek Costpoint and Deltek Time Collection to manage its project accounting, payroll, purchasing, reporting and timekeeping needs.
Announcements
CollabNet, provider of on-demand distributed software development solutions, announced the Sun Grid Developer Community, created by Sun Microsystems, has selected CollabNet as its enabling technology. Launching at JavaOne in San Francisco this week, the Sun Grid Developer Community is the first computing utility grid available via the Internet. With Sun Grid, CollabNet now powers seven Sun community development projects, including NetBeans.org, java.net and OpenOffice.org. CollabNet enables globally distributed development teams in both open source communities and enterprises to easily and effectively collaborate via the web in order to drive software innovation.
Before a ballroom full of the world's most renown architects, contractors and developers, The Los Angeles Business Council (LABC) honored the "best of the breed" of the region's architectural projects in it's 36th Annual Los Angeles Architectural Awards. The Los Angeles Architectural Awards program is the only event of its kind, recognizing entire project teams -- architects, contractors and clients -- behind some of the most outstanding architectural projects in the region. Awards were presented to 19 project teams across eleven architectural and building categories by co-chairs Andy Cohen, Executive Director of Gensler and Brooke Lauter, First Vice President -- Corporate Communications of Arden Realty.
The Art Institutes International Minnesota is introducing an associate's degree program in Interior Planning with AutoCAD. The Interior Planning with AutoCAD associate's degree program was developed for the student who desires to gain the skills and knowledge required to work in entry-level job positions such as draftsman, plans checker, planner, detailer, or designer; all of which have varying levels of responsibility and positions. Depending on the drafter's skill, the jobs can range from preparing drawings from notes and instructions of engineers and architects, to designing products, detailing and selecting materials, and preparing specifications.
To learn more about the Interior Planning with AutoCAD program at The Art Institutes International Minnesota, please call 1-800-777-3643 or visit the website.
Avatech Solutions, Inc., provider of design and engineering, product lifecycle management, and facilities management solutions, invites design professionals to a free event presented by AutoCAD Technical Evangelist Lynn Allen.
Throughout the morning, Lynn will share powerful tips and tricks for AutoCAD and highlight the leading software's most powerful features. Attendees will learn many time-saving techniques and get in-depth information about features which they can take advantage of right away. As well Lynn plans to lead a general discussion about the benefits of model-based design. See website
Financials
Autodesk, Inc. announced financial results for its first fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2006. For the first quarter, Autodesk reported record net revenues of $436 million, a 23 percent increase over $355 million reported in the first quarter of the prior year. On a constant currency basis, revenues increased 28 percent. See press release.
HP announced financial results for its second fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2006, with net revenue of $22.6 billion, representing growth of 5% year-over-year, or 8% when adjusted for the effects of currency. GAAP operating profit was $1.7 billion and GAAP diluted earnings per share (EPS) was $0.51 per share, up from $0.33 in the prior-year period. See press release.
Contract Awards
Autodesk, Inc. announced that Disney Mobile will use Autodesk(R) software and professional services to bring their forthcoming Family Locator(TM) wireless location services to market. Disney Mobile is leveraging Autodesk's award-winning LocationLogic(TM) platform and software applications to enable parents to locate their children's handsets using GPS technology.
Awards
Oce has been recognized at this year's ON DEMAND Conference & Exposition with the Best of Show award in the Printing Equipment category for its groundbreaking Oce VarioPrint(R) 6250 printer, the world's fastest and most productive digital duplex cut-sheet printing system. The Oce VarioPrint 6250 was recognized for its offset class quality, near perfect registration and breakthrough performance at 250 letter-, 160 legal- and 132 ledger-size duplex prints per minute, making it up to 70 percent more productive than any other printer in its class.
New Products
Bentley Systems, Incorporated unveiled ProjectWise StartPoint, an entry-level collaboration tool, based on Microsoft Office SharePoint technologies, for MicroStation and AutoCAD users.
ProjectWise StartPoint opens the power of ProjectWise, the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry's leading system of collaboration servers, to a broad population of new users and teams. Its highlights:
- Provides direct access to SharePoint platform collaboration tools from within MicroStation, MicroStation PowerDraft, and AutoCAD
- Makes SharePoint technologies aware of relationships critical in CAD files, allowing AEC users to use SharePoint for their entire project
- Requires no additional server software beyond SharePoint technologies, so deployment is easy
- Provides a cost-effective starting point for organizations that wish to grow to high-end ProjectWise capabilities
FM:System's support for AutoCAD gives customers the ability to:
- Link spatial information in AutoCAD DWG floor plans to other sources of workplace data such as HR or ERP systems. This generates highly detailed information for more accurate financial reporting and better leasing decisions.
- Use floor plans to visualize information like space types, allocation, utilization, move plans, emergency plans, and more.
Version 1.3 of Oce DOKuStar Professional, the flagship of the Oce DOKuStar product range was introduced to the North American market. Oce DOKuStar Professional was developed to rapidly and efficiently handle high-volume and demanding data capture applications.
Oce Imagistics Inc. introduced the Oce Imagistics cm2520 MFP to deliver fast, high-quality color and productivity beyond color or monochrome output. At 25ppm, the cm2520 is a total workgroup productivity center that is both a viable monochrome MFP as well as a color device. The standard on-board print/scan controller enables users to scan documents to E-mail, an FTP server, desktop or specially setup User Box on the cm2520's 40 GB HDD. Ultra compact PDF scanning reduces file sizes by up to 85% to reduce network traffic from increased use of scanning applications.
Trelligence and Graphisoft(R) announced the availability of Affinity for Archicad(R), a software solution that applies Building Information Modeling (BIM) methodologies to the pre-design stages of building projects. Affinity for Archicad extends the capabilities of the Graphisoft Archicad Virtual Building(TM) solution to include the processes of programming and design conceptualization.
Nemetschek North America announced that its distribution partner in Norway, Dakantus AS, has released its localized version of VectorWorks 12. Dakantus has developed this version of VectorWorks to meet the specific needs of designers in the Norwegian marketplace.
Letters to the Editor
RE: Freedom to Design with Archicad version 10
This is an excellent short review of the latest version of Archicad for architectural design, but it does not mention how this product supports integrates the design with other design functions (both within and outside the Graphisoft domain) and with downstream functions including construction and FM. Collaboration and integration are key issues in allowing design software to support enhanced workflow and better design as alternatives can be evaluated from many perspectives earlier in the design.
Paul Teicholz
Paul -
I did not go into the issue of collaboration and integration in this article as I had discussed the recent release of Change Manager from Graphisoft in this article:
Also I wrote this article in July, 2005 about the Demand for IT in Construction which references another story I wrote about 5D for construction.
Graphisoft has taken on the construction industry on the trend of Archicad, because it offers a wonderful modeling engine as well as a ready base of customers. They have created the following systems for scheduling, bidding, procurement and site management and have recently signed a global deal with Oracle to connect to their ERP suite for construction.
Constructor clients can view the Virtual Building and the addition of all the other synchronized information.
Perhaps the printing of your letter and my response in the next newsletter can fill in any gaps.
Thanks for your interest in AECCafe.
Susan Smith
Upcoming Events
| BE Conference 2006 | |
| Date: | May 21 - 25, 2006 |
| Place: | Charlotte Convention Center, Charlotte, NC USA |
| The BE Conference is a once-a-year learning opportunity for Bentley users and their managers who want to sharpen their skills and expand their knowledge. The BE Conference includes hundreds of information-rich sessions: Training: more than 300 learning units offered from the Bentley Institute - the biggest selection of the year. New Technology Updates: direct from Bentley developers and product managers, including the latest on MicroStation V8 XM Edition. Best-Practice sessions: from accomplished peers and technology experts. Keynotes: hear from business gurus, Keith Bentley, and other Bentley executives.
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| Visions of Architecture | |
| Date: | May 21 - 26, 2006 |
| Place: | Berlin, Germany |
| Photographing Architecture in Berlin: Digression on Aesthetics and History. A summer workshop for architects sponsored by the Department of Architecture, Penn State University. Earn 39 AIA CEUs while exploring one of Europe's premier architectural attractions.
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| 2006 World Environmental and Water Resources Congress | |
| Date: | May 21 - 25, 2006 |
| Place: | Qwest Center Omaha
Omaha, NE USA |
| The 2006 WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL AND WATER RESOURCES CONGRESS encourages you to attend to study a myriad of related issues; share insights, experiences, theories, and best practices; and strategize ways to move forward to address the challenges we face as civil engineers and related professionals, both practitioners and academics.
We invite you to attend stimulating technical sessions in 26 tracks, including two focused symposia on "Urban Watershed Management" and "Groundwater Hydrology, Quality, and Management." Choose from five distinguished award lectures, two pre-conference workshops, and four field trips. Take this opportunity to meet and speak with professionals from around the globe, who have experience with projects, research, and techniques and who can offer fresh perspectives. Whether you are new to this field or have years of experience, you can boost your career, meet new partners, and identify new resources for your efforts on behalf of your clients and employers. |
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| The Third International Conference on Durability & Field Applications of Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Composites for Construction | |
| Date: | May 23 - 25, 2006 |
| Place: | Quebec City, Canada |
| The conference will focus on durability of Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites and structures newly constructed, repaired and strengthened with these materials. Undoubtedly, durability is the key element for successful application of FRP composites in construction where life cycle cost has, by large, proven to be the most important issue for new construction materials.
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| SEGD Annual Conference: Moving Forward/Design in Motion | |
| Date: | May 31 - June 3, 2006 |
| Place: | Hollywood, CA USA |
| The 2006 Annual Conference & Expo of the Society for Environmental Graphic Design (SEGD) addresses the complex field of environmental graphic design and the role of environmental graphic designers in moving forward. With Hollywood as the perfect setting and SEGD as guide, the event will feature people who have designed motion and affected the human experience through their work in design.
On Saturday, June 3, thirty-two outstanding designers will receive 2006 SEGD Design Awards, which recognize excellence in environmental graphic design. The conference also features an Expo on Friday, June 2, where more than 80 exhibitors will feature leading-edge products, materials, and services for specialty sign and exhibit design. |
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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.