Dassault goes cloudy on design

Dassault Systèmes has jumped aboard the cloud bandwagon with the latest, V6 Release2014 of its 3DEXPERIENCE platform. For anyone looking wistfully at the capabilities of an aviation-standard engineering design and design management environment and realising the systems investment is just too large, making this system available as SaaS is going to be of obvious interest.

Given that, and given the views on the importance of a cloud offering expressed by Bernard Charlès, President and CEO of Dassault Systèmes,  it is somewhat surprising that the information available, either in the form of press releases or on the company’s website is, to say the least, sketchy.

“Today’s announcement is a pivotal moment in Dassault Systèmes history and the result of our commitment to bring innovative business value to our clients,” Charlès said . “It is, as well, a ‘cloud’ announcement, but the cloud is more than infrastructure and a delivery mechanism. The cloud is a way of working. It is where consumers voice their needs, their ideas, their feedback,” said. “It is where innovation is fostered and ideas take hold. The 3DEXPERIENCE platform reveals and delivers that potential. It gives our customers a holistic, inclusive and unified view of their business and ecosystem to create better experiences for their end-consumers.”

As well as continuing to be available for on-premise installation, the V6R2014 release will now be available to select customers as a SaaS-delivered service for the first time, opening up its design and product lifecycle management capabilities to a far wider range of potential customers.

The SaaS version features the availability of existing and new industry/user-focused offerings, including CATIA Concept Creative Design, Mechanical Design, Machine Equipment Design, Showreel Experience and Mechanical & Shape Engineering; SOLIDWORKS CAD system for mechanical and conceptual design work; a new Results Explorer for the SIMULIA analysis system, Abaqus Fluid, Concept Innovation for CATIA and Concept Innovation for SOLIDWORKS; the DELMIA digital manufacturing and production system for assembly planning and milling machining; and the ENOVIA Program Management and Engineering BOM Management system.

According to Monica Menghini, Executive VP for Industry & Marketing at Dassault Systèmes this release brings in a disruptive new user experience.

 “Our new navigational user interface is so intuitive that we wanted to give it a name: ‘IFWE Compass,’ because in business it is always a question of considering ‘what if’ scenarios to find the right path,” she said “This new release of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform will help business leaders connect ideas, people, data, and solutions to create experiences that delight their customers and inspire brand loyalty.”