Solid Applications News...
22nd April 2008 | Siemens PLM Software Announce Solid Edge
with Synchronous Technology
Siemens PLM Software Delivers the Next Big
Breakthrough in Digital Product Development with
Synchronous Technology
Siemens Accelerates CAD Technology Breakthrough,
Integrates
Synchronous Technology into Product Announcements
PLANO, Texas and HANNOVER, Germany, April 22, 2008 –
Siemens PLM Software, a business unit of the Siemens
Industry Automation Division and a leading global
provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software
and services, today announced the next big breakthrough
in digital product development with synchronous
technology, the PLM industry’s first-ever history-free,
feature-based modelling technology, that provides users
with up to 100 times faster design experience than ever
before.
Launched via a global webcast in conjunction with
Hannover Fair, Siemens PLM Software’s new patent-pending
technology combines the best of constraint-driven
techniques with direct modelling, and is being
integrated into the company’s next versions of NX™ and
Solid Edge® software.
“Siemens recognized the huge potential of synchronous
technology during the due diligence process of acquiring
UGS,” said Anton Huber, CEO, Siemens Industry Automation
Division. “Knowing that the digital model is at the
heart of our shared vision to unify the product and
production lifecycles, we have worked together to
accelerate this breakthrough in CAD technology. The
digital model impacts every phase of the PLM process and
is key to delivering innovation faster than ever before.
This technology will fundamentally change the way
manufacturers design products and enable them to
accelerate their innovation process, ultimately driving
increases in top line revenue.”
“This new synchronous technology is indeed a
breakthrough,” said Jack Beeckman, PLM manager, Liebert
Corp. “It marks a new era in modelling that allows an
engineer the freedom to be an engineer. With an
instantaneous modelling experience, this is going to
change the way people think about using CAD. More
importantly it's going to change the way CAD enables
them to think about ‘what’ they want to model, and not
‘how’ they want to model.”
First-Ever History-Free, Feature-Based Modelling
The technology is the first-ever design solution that
simultaneously synchronizes geometry and rules through a
new decision-making inference engine. It accelerates
innovation in four key areas:
- Fast idea capture:
Synchronous technology captures ideas as fast as the
user thinks them, with up to 100 times faster design
experience. Designers can devote more time to
innovation with new techniques that provide the
efficiency of parametric dimension-driven modelling
without the computational overhead of pre-planned
dependencies. The technology defines optionally
persistent dimensions, parameters and design rules
at time of creation or edit, without the overhead of
an ordered history.
- Fast design changes:
The technology automates the implementation of
planned or unplanned design changes to seconds
versus hours thorough unparalleled ease of editing,
regardless of design origination, with or without
the presence of a history tree.
- Improved multi-CAD reuse:
The technology allows users to reuse data from other
CAD systems without remodelling. Users can succeed
in a multi-CAD environment with a fast, flexible
system that enables them to edit other CAD system
data faster than they can in the original system,
regardless of the design methodology. A technique
called “suggestive selection” automatically infers
the function of various design elements without the
need for feature or constraint definitions. This
increases design reuse and OEM/supplier efficiency.
- New user experience:
The technology provides a new user interaction
experience that simplifies CAD and makes 3D as easy
to use as 2D. The interaction paradigm merges
historically independent 2D and 3D environments,
providing the robustness of a mature 3D modeller
with the ease of 2D. New inference technology
automatically infers common constraints and executes
typical commands based on cursor position. This
makes design tools simple to learn and use for
occasional users, driving downstream use to
manufacturing engineering and the shop floor.
“While there have been important advances in 3D
design technology over the years, designers have not
been able to create persistent features without the
computational overhead needed to re-compute models from
the construction history,” said Chuck Grindstaff,
executive vice president of Products, Siemens PLM
Software. “Traditional parametric modelling serially
applies rules to geometry, helping to automate planned
change but not addressing unanticipated engineering
changes. History-less modelling concentrates on geometry
in an unconstrained manner, but sacrifices intelligence
and intent. Direct editing minimizes the need to
understand a complex history but does not address
features.
“Our new synchronous technology incorporates the best
of constrained and unconstrained techniques to deal with
change in an extremely powerful and efficient manner.
Applying the right technique to the job at hand, enables
dimension-driven modelling to reach its full potential,
generating tremendous productivity gains over
traditional methods.”
"Synchronous technology breaks through the
architectural barrier inherent in a history-based
modelling system,” said Dr. Ken Versprille, PLM Research
Director, CPDA. “Its ability to recognize current
geometry conditions and localize dependencies in real
time, allows synchronous technology to solve for model
changes without the typical replay of the full
construction history from the point of edit. Depending
on model complexity and how far back in the history that
edit occurs, users will see dramatic performance gains.
A 100 times speed improvement could be a conservative
estimate.”
Availability
The patent-pending technology was jointly developed
between Siemens PLM Software’s NX and Solid Edge
organizations. Siemens PLM Software’s synchronous
technology will be implemented in the next versions of
both Solid Edge and NX as a proprietary application
layer built on its D-Cubed™ and Parasolid® software. The
next versions are scheduled for launch on May 21 at the
annual Siemens PLM Software Analyst and Media Conference
in Boston.
For information on today’s announcement, join the
global launch webcast at 9 a.m. CDT or view a replay at
www.siemens.com/plm/breakthrough.
About Siemens PLM Software
Siemens PLM Software, a business unit of the Siemens
Industry Automation Division, is a leading global
provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software
and services with 4.6 million licensed seats and 51,000
customers worldwide. Headquartered in Plano, Texas,
Siemens PLM Software’s open enterprise solutions enable
a world where organizations and their partners
collaborate through Global Innovation Networks to
deliver world-class products and services. For more
information on Siemens PLM Software products and
services, visit
www.siemens.com/plm.
About Siemens Industry Automation Division
The Siemens Industry Automation Division (Nuremberg),
a division of the Siemens Industry Sector, is a
worldwide leader in the fields of automation systems,
low-voltage switchgear and industrial software. Its
portfolio ranges from standard products for the
manufacturing and process industry to solutions for
whole industries and systems that encompass the
automation of entire automobile production facilities
and chemical plants. As a leading software supplier,
Industry Automation optimizes the entire value added
chain of manufacturers – from product design and
development to production, sales and a wide range of
maintenance services.
Note: Siemens and the Siemens logo are registered
trademarks of Siemens AG. Solid Edge, D-Cubed, Parasolid
and NX are trademarks or registered trademarks of
Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software Inc. or
its subsidiaries in the United States and in other
countries. All other trademarks, registered trademarks
or service marks belong to their respective holders.
