Beginning in September, Autodesk Ltd of Guildford, Surrey will be changing the way it categorises the status of its Main Dealership and Authorised Dealers. It is introducing a channel strategy in which, at the lower level, dealers will be classified as Autodesk Authorised Dealers, then where applicable these dealers will be accredited to recognise their specific skill areas, such as the Education Resellers category or the Mapping, Geographic Information Systems and Infrastructure accreditation. Above this level is the Premier Support Centre which recognises a dealer’s expertise in the provision of technical services such as telephone support and then comes the Premier Training Centre which recognises organisations that offer software training for Autodesk customers. The highest tier is that of System Centre encompassing all of the lower levels. These dealers will also be trained by Autodesk will be involved in debating standards. Unless they are superseded by a System Centre status current Main dealerships will be maintained until the end of November. On a separate track, in order to encourage AutoCAD users to use the product in conjunction with Autodesk’s other tools and with third party software, the company has come out with what it calls the Special Edition Series, which until the end of October will offer a 20% discount on the typical retail price of the AutoCAD product plus Autodesk tools third party software if you purchase a pre-set combination of products from a choice of six.