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The Evolution of CAD Software

One of the few 3D CAD software events in the year 2000 other than mostly routine upgrades, updates and extensions to the leading vendors traditional 3D software products, was Dassault Systemes' acquisition of Spatial Technology's ACIS 3D solid modeling kernel in late 2000. Despite its 1996 IPO, which proved that a component technology vendor could achieve commercial success, Spatial had lost its way; partly because it had never managed to license ACIS to a leading 3D CAD software vendor and partly because like many other vendors it had over-invested in non-essential Internet ASP development. To this date neither Dassault Systemes nor its SolidWorks subsidiary use ACIS and the reasons for the acquisition remain obscure.

Early in 2001, Unigraphics Solutions changed its name to UGS and acquired SDRC. At the same time EDS bought back the 14% of UGS stock that it had publicly sold in the late 1990s (UGS was recently acquired from EDS by a consortium of venture capital funds). Ford were relying on SDRC for the core of the C3P platform but were prompted to consider a multi-vendor strategy for their future PLM software needs. That strategy began to be implemented in early 2003 when Ford announced that they were implementing IBM-Dassault Systemes' CATIA and ENOVIA software.

While there have been no fundamental technology breakthroughs (what Professor Clayton Christensen would term "disruptive technological changes") since Pro/Engineer's release in 1987, the early part of this decade did see one or two interesting developments in making it simpler and more intuitive to create 3D CAD models. In late 2001 think3 introduced its GSM "Global Shape Modeling" into its thinkDesign software to make it possible to "push and pull" NURBS surfaces. Early in 2003, PTC (which is how Parametric Technology now likes to be known) released its new WildFire 3D CAD software which also attempted to make it simpler to create 3D geometry.

The only new 3D CAD software vendor (at least that I am legally allowed to mention) that emerged to upset the industry's status quo was ImpactXoft, which in 1999-2000 jointly developed the IX/Speed and XXen CAD software with Japan's Toyota Caelum. Initial releases of IX/Speed and XXen were made early in 2001. Dassault Systemes made a substantial investment in ImpactXoft at the end of 2002 and IX, having now broken away from the joint development agreement with Toyota Caelum, has joined a long list of companies that have become partners of Dassault Systemes developing on the CATIA Component Application Architecture.

So today, in July 2004, the CAD software industry is dominated by 3 PLM solution vendors (IBM-Dassault Systemes with CATIA & ENOVIA, UGS with Unigraphics & iMAN, and PTC with Pro/Engineer & WindChill) and Autodesk, whose market value is typically slightly below Dassault Systemes' and more than 3x that of PTC. SolidWorks and SolidEdge (owned by Dassault Systemes and UGS respectively) continue to battle with Autodesk's Inventor in the mid-price CAD software market and there are many small CAD software vendors, some of which are listed on CADAZZ's free CAD software pages who survive by being excellent in niche markets and by being data compatible with the CAD software programs offered by the four leading vendors.

True innovation of the kind that drove the industry forward in the 70s and 80s seems to have died though, if only temporarily, and as Clayton Christensen might say, "This is one market just waiting for a big bang to happen!".