AECCafe Today 
Susan Smith
Susan Smith has worked as an editor and writer in the technology industry for over 16 years. As an editor she has been responsible for the launch of a number of technology trade publications, both in print and online. Currently, Susan is the Editor of GISCafe and AECCafe, as well as those sites’ … More » ZWCAD goes 3DAugust 26th, 2010 by Susan Smith
ZWCAD Software Co. Ltd (ZWSOFT) just acquired VX Corporation, a company well known in both CAD and MCAD industries for its 3D CAD/CAM solution based on their VX kernel. According to the press release, “VX development team located in Florida will continue to create innovative 3D CAD/CAM software as a division of ZWSOFT but will now be aided by a much larger International team. As a wholly owned subsidiary of ZWSOFT, the VX and ZWSOFT will adopt this powerful technology for their latest product, ZW3D.” Currently, ZWSOFT Services has 180,000 users worldwide. The first indication that the Chinese 2D CAD company was going 3D could be found on their website dedicated to their 2010 Partner Conference held on September 25-28 in Guangzhou, China. At that conference, an event was announced: “First Showing of ZW3D – ZWSOFT’s All-In-One 3D Solution“. ZWSOFT has been growing exponentially, one sure sign of growth being that other companies are launching products built on it. ALITOP, a software company specializing in surveying and civil engineering, recently announced MDT for ZWCAD, a low cost product for surveying and civil projects. ZWmech, an “integrated engineering add-on for ZWCAD,” designed to “speed up the modeling process,” was announced recently from ASVIC, a company that develops CAD based software products.
Comment on the building industryJuly 27th, 2010 by Susan Smith
“The whole [building] industry has been reminded that we’re actually driven by the credit markets, no matter what else we want to say, the banks determine how well architecture is doing. As long as credit is tight the big buildings don’t get built. We still see tight credit markets and that’s keeping the architecture side conservative.” –Sean Flaherty, CEO, Nemetschek New iPhone app for construction site clean up releasedJuly 21st, 2010 by Susan Smith
SmartBuilder Software in Ireland has just launched an iPhone application for construction professionals called “Site Clean Up” which sends warning notices to sub-contractors to cleaning up the site by a certain date. Architecture 2030 named one of top three most effective orgs in green building design…July 15th, 2010 by Susan Smith
The annual Design Futures Council “2010 Sustainable Design Survey” of 240 design industry leaders in the U.S. ranked Architecture 2030 among the top three most effective organizations forwarding green building design and construction in the U.S. Intergraph to be acquired by Hexagon ABJuly 13th, 2010 by Susan Smith
The recent announcement that Intergraph has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Hexagon AB, raised questions among the media. Hexagon AB is a global measurement technology company, and the transaction is valued at approximately $2.125 billion. According to the press release, “Upon closing of the transaction, Intergraph will operate as a separate Hexagon division under the Intergraph name and branding. Intergraph will become Hexagon’s core software platform and will continue to provide differentiated and vertically-focused software solutions to its core industries. Intergraph software will also be integrated into Hexagon’s existing measurement and precision technology system markets to provide a visual presentation layer for the management, analysis and sharing of the vast amounts of critical data produced by these products.” Intergraph customers are assured that “upon closing of the transaction, Intergraph will operate as a separate Hexagon division under the Intergraph name and branding. Intergraph will become Hexagon’s core software platform and will continue to provide differentiated and vertically-focused software solutions to its core industries. Intergraph software will also be integrated into Hexagon’s existing measurement and precision technology system markets to provide a visual presentation layer for the management, analysis and sharing of the vast amounts of critical data produced by these products.” One question that arose among those of us who have followed Intergraph since the days when Bentley Systems was owned by Intergraph, is: does Intergraph still own 30 percenet of Bentley Systems, and if so, how is Bentley affected by the recent news of this acquisition? Chris Barron, vice president of corporate marketing for Bentley, responded: “As a privately held company, Bentley does not routinely report on the identity of its minority stockholders or the stockholders or the size of their holdings. However, in response to your question, we can advise you that the Bentley shares previously held by Intergraph were transferred to an affiliate of its private equity owners following its going private transaction in 2006 and we have no indications that those shares are part of the sale to Hexagon.” In 2006, Intergraph was acquired by an investor group led by Hellman & Friedman LLC, TPG Capital and JMI Equity. Pending regulatory approvals, as well as satisfaction of other customary closing conditions, the transaction is expected to be completed in the third or fourth quarter of 2010.
Incidentally, Hexagon AB is also the parent company for ERDAS, Inc., a company that focuses on incorporating geospatial information into businesses’ existing systems and data. ERDAS states that they do not see any change in business as a result of the Intergraph acquisition for the immediate future.
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