Feb 15

Written by: Joel Orr
2/15/2008 

Autodesk held its World Press Days in San Francisco earlier this week. The bottom line: Autodesk is focusing on helping customers integrate all the product lines where it makes sense. The use of REVIT for facilities, integrated with the use of Inventor for the machines that get placed in the facilities, along with Civil 3D for the site - you get the idea.

Running throughout the presentations was the thread of sustainability. Green designs were featured, and environmental impact considered in each case study.

CEO Carl Bass kicked off the event, and was accessible throughout. There is the clear sense that the company is blossoming with an engineer at the helm.

Autodesk's digital prototyping message was prominent, and several speakers went into some depth to explain that this approach to the automation of design is well-thought-out, and is sound both philosophically and organizationally.

The firm now has a Plant division and corresponding products. Integrating many pieces they already own, and some that are coming, this division is sure to be a serious player in Plant. (And there will be some adjustments required of third parties, as Autodesk begins offering additional functionality; the company is proactively working with their leading partners to help them make the best of it.)

Autodesk Labs showed several cool things: large-screen multi-touch displays; web-based 'client-free' CAD; image search; and more. Of course, no release plans. But "software as a service" (SaaS) is hot.

If you want to get a nice overview of Autocad 2009 features, check out Lynn Allen's Blog. Product announcements and official news are at Autodesk's site.