Mobile Workstations Are Now an Essential Tool

It has always been a bit surprising to me that the same productivity and need arguments that have driven the movement away from desktop PCs to mobile PCs has not impacted the workstation market in nearly the same way. As I posted a few weeks ago, the cost justification side is quite compelling. The “need” and the cost justification are not the inhibitors to the growth of mobile workstations.

One of the reasons that I believe has caused this delay in the take off for mobile workstations is the concern that the laptop form factor just doesn’t have enough performance to meet the demands of CAD professionals. This is an urban myth. Looking at the new generation of mobile workstations, the performance levels are clearly at a point where most work can be done on them, and they also have the flexibility to meet the unique demands of individual users. Read full article »

Good News on the SolidWorks Front

One of the most popular CAD tools being used today, SolidWorks has benefited from some positive activities in just the last few months.  Some of this revolves around cool new capabilities and the disclosure of new product direction that will help SolidWorks users make the right choices going forward.

In this blog I’ll review some of the most interesting and beneficial happenings around this outstanding product. Read full article »

Is “Social CAD” the Next Big Thing?

Social media may be the single hottest buzzword in the entire English speaking world today. It’s made some individuals billionaires and certainly commands the full attention of most people under 25. Yet for CAD professionals, the impact has been relatively small. Not in terms of traditional social media, but in the context of truly social CAD.

Beyond Traditional Social Media

The big “ah ha” moment in Social CAD is not merely adding some social media commentary features into CAD products, but fundamentally changing how things are designed. For example, AutoCAD’s Design Feed capability that lets you make a post that is linked to a specific design point or feature is kind of “Facebook added to CAD”. My thoughts are that we need to make possible social collaboration on the actual design itself. Think about opening up your design to a group of “friends” or “contacts” that are then going to work on this capability in real time. You would be getting input and design expertise from any number of sources, albeit ones you trust. Read full article »

CAD Trends From the Global Product Data Interoperability Summit

One of the most interesting annual conferences that CAD pros should track is the Global Product Data Interoperability Summit event put on by Northrop/Grumman that is focused on the aerospace and transportation industry, and all the attendant suppliers and partners as well. This event is interesting in that it provides a good sense of what some of the key CAD trends are going to be in coming years in this important sector. Read full article »

Outlook for 3D Printing

The impact of 3D printing on the CAD professional has been incredibly profound. The ability to actually create a physical manifestation of a design at very low cost, relatively quickly, and with strong quality is shortening the design cycle and giving designers a level of feedback that was never before possible. As we look into 2013, there are some very interesting trends starting to emerge. Read full article »