Computervision Corp has converted the newly-released version of its CADDS 5 range of computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing software – version 4.0 – for Hewlett-Packard Co’s HP 9000 Series 700 Precision Architecture RISC-based Unix workstations. The Bedford, Massachusetts-based company also intends to do a version of the product, aimed at the mechanical engineering market, for another hardware architecture by the end of the year – either the MIPS Technologies Inc R-series RISC, used by manufacturers like Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG, or the IBM Corp-Motorola Inc PowerPC. A limited number of other Unix versions will follow later. A version for Microsoft Corp Windows NT is definite because Computervision’s vice-president of worldwide field operations Gareth Evans reckons it will become a serious contender in the workstation market. He could provide no timescales though. Computervision and Hewlett-Packard, calling themselves the PowerTeam, will jointly market the bundled products, but customers will have two options when buying – Computervision will either supply them with both hardware and software; or clients can choose to buy the two elements separately if they can get a better deal on hardware elsewhere. The Series 700 workstations start at UKP4,240, and CADDS 5.4 software packages at UKP2,950. A fully configured system starts at UKP19,000. Evans said the firm decided to go with Hewlett-Packard because of customer demand, and the fact that we need to back all major players. According to figures from market research firm Dataquest, Hewlett-Packard leads the field in selling workstations to mechanical engineers, commanding a 30.1% share of the market – the equivalent of $545m – ahead of Sun Microsystems Inc at 20.5%. Furthermore, Evans claims, the superior graphics performance of Hewlett-Packard boxes means that release 4 has made a quantum speed jump over release 3. This is important, he says, because better graphics performance translates into better applications performance and a faster time to market. But Series 700 machines, he attests, also provide the best price-performance with CADDS 5 ever. CADDS 5 also runs on Sun Sparcstations – Computervision generates approximately 85% of total worldwide revenues from Sun users; and Digital Equipment Corp boxes under Ultrix – the group is also in the process of converting the product for Alpha AXP workstations, although Evans says customers can expect to wait a couple of months for that. DEC-related sales comprise about 10% of total group turnover, the rest comes from existing Hewlett-Packard business.
By Catherine Everett
Customers here include the Ferrari and McLaren International Formula One racing teams and Volvo Flecht. And Evans believes, in the first year alone, the Hewlett-Packard deal will generate Computervision turnover of between $30m and $40m. He also believes that if demand continues at current rates, he can expect year-on-year revenue growth of between 30% and 40%. Hewlett-Packard’s UK Computer Systems Organisation’s marketing manager, Nick Earle, was less forthcoming, saying only that he expected significant business from the agreement. The company has one mechanical engineering CAD/CAM package of its own, but this generates only about 0.5% of worldwide revenues, perhaps 2%, if sold bundled with workstations, he said. So, Hewlett-Packard is obviously keen to exploit Computervision’s large customer base – Dataquest says Computervision commands 20.5% of the European market – and broaden the range of CAD/CAM products it can offer. As for the new version of CADDS 5, Evans describes it as the world’s first unified product modeller the company has added 30 new applications to its existing 42, along with 104 new functions. As a result, CADDS 5 applications, he claims, now span the whole of the product development process, meaning manufacturers can design, build and test a complete product on-screen. The product comprises stand-alone but integrated task-based modules that enable customers to work seamlessly and concurrently w
ith suppliers outside of their organisation. Engineers can capture ideas electronically, share them with other departments, for example marketing, and analyse any results before manufacture takes place. The modules also integrate with Computervision’s Engineering Data Management software. The two most important new additions to the product are an intelligent sketcher, which enables engineers to sketch their designs two-dimensionally and then turn them into working three-dimensional parametric models; and a new graphics subsystem, based on the Hoops graphics development systems from Ithaca Software Inc – on its way to Autodesk Inc – which improves the software performance in such areas as shading and the dynamic manipulation of shaded models. This subsystem will also make it easier to implement CADDS 5 for other hardware.
