Archives for "On-Demand/SaaS"
Design in the cloud?
A new article in Design News looks at the state of design collaboration, specifically the steps being taken by design tool vendors to move design collaboration into the cloud (that place, according to the article, “where the Web is employed to deliver on-demand access to a shared pool of computing resources, be it servers, storage, applications or services”).
Full disclosure: The article does mention Arena customer Mobius Photonics and Arena bill of materials (BOM) management software, which has always been offered in the cloud. But the bigger question examined is whether there are cloudy skies ahead for CAD and CAE tools. The article acknowledges the traditional reasons for skepticism about that possibility, including availability of the bandwidth and CPUs needed to deliver “the performance and interactivity required for data-intensive, graphically demanding CAD and CAE applications.” It concludes, however, that cloud-based solutions will at least have a place in the design tool mix of the future.
Particularly interesting is a brief discussion of some of the ways Autodesk is leveraging the cloud to offer new solutions. Read the full article to learn more.
P.S. Not surprisingly, the cloud is a topic that’s near & dear to our hearts. Feel free to check out some of our previous posts on the subject:
Cloudy…with a chance of clearing
Dear SolidWorks, Welcome to the cloud
Dispatch from SolidWorks World: Solid clouds?
You can also learn more about the advantages of on-demand software-as-a-service (SaaS) (i.e. cloud-based) solutions on our website.
Cloudy…with a chance of clearing
There’s a lot of talk these days about the cloud…some of it from us even. However, we can’t help but share the concern Kenneth Wong expressed in a recent blog post, where he asserts that the term ‘cloud’ is being “interpreted, reinterpreted and misinterpreted (sometimes deliberately) till it becomes a fuzzy buzzword.” So we were glad to see Kenneth go on to offer a list of criteria for what sets true cloud computing apart from the impostors. The main items he cites are: where cloud software program files reside (on remote servers), how the software is accessed (via network–most commonly internet–protocols) and how that access is granted (through a subscription, not a license).
Read Clearing Up Cloud Computing — Before It’s Too Late for Kenneth’s complete definition of cloud computing and his thoughts on where cloud solutions are best applied.
Thanks for helping clear things up, Kenneth!
Dear SolidWorks, Welcome to the cloud.
Today at SolidWorks World, Jeff Ray, CEO of SolidWorks, announced Product Data Sharing (PDS) as the first of the company’s online services to be available on the Enovia v6 backbone. SolidWorks definitely took a cue from social networking and online communities like LinkedIn and Facebook. Now designers can open a SolidWorks add-in and select other designers in their network to collaborate and comment on designs. The files get pushed to the cloud and the collaborator can view the model with the SolidWorks add-in or a web browser (Internet Explorer).
The browser, using a plug-in, allows collaborators to perform some common operations–they can view, rotate, slice and even comment on the design. It’s unclear at this time how licensing will work, but I’m sure we’ll hear before the service launches later this year.
Product Data Sharing sounds like a great step in helping designers and others collaborate on drawings. I can see how it can cut down on design and collaboration times, especially for team members in different locations.
[Warning: shameless marketing plug ahead]
On behalf of Arena (a long-time SolidWorks partner), I’d like to welcome SolidWorks to the cloud. It’s a fine place, even though its name changes every few years (anyone remember On-Demand? SaaS? Single-instance-multi-tenant?), and I think PDS will be very happy there. I also think our customers will find a lot of utility using this complementary cloud-based tool in conjunction with Arena collaborative BOM and change management.
[End of shameless plug]
That’s it for me from SolidWorks World 2010. Be sure to check out pictures from the event on Flickr.
Dispatch from SolidWorks World: Solid Clouds?
At the main stage session on the first day of SolidWorks World 2010 we got a sneak preview of “CAD in the cloud.”
What? You can’t do that!!! CAD will NEVER work on anything but desktop computers. Right?
Apparently, Dassault’s vision is expanding from “professional designers” to all “professionals.” Interesting vision–and an interesting demo. We got a real-time view of what it would look like to view a 3D model–in real time–with a browser.
SolidWorks, welcome to the cloud.
Looking forward to Day 2’s keynote speaker: that guy who sunk Titanic.
Until then…
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