6/Nov

By DE Editors

November 29, 2006Dear DE Reader:Want to make the honcho at a small or mid-sized business cranky?Suggest that they get a PLM (product lifecycle management) system.Before they were laid off after the crash in 2001, many of these folkswere with some big outfit and had experience in implementing PLM. Backthen it often was a nightmare because A) you lived with the team fromthe PLM outfit, B) opened up a joint checking account with the PLMoutfit, and C) you never got it working or adopted by your colleagues.To avoid being slugged, I suggest that you recommend an outfit likeArena Solutions because it is PLM for the rest of us.Arena Solutions offers good, solid, and, most importantly, on-demandPLM. You build Arena PLM around your business needs and uniqueoperating culture. The philosophy at Arena Solutions is PLMsoftware-as-a-service. What that means is that you leverage only thesecure Internet-based PLM services you need — no deployment hassles orfeature overload. Think solving your pain points without adding morepain points.Arena PLM Fall 06 just came out. It features new, integratedvalue-added services such as dynamic reference content, improved billof materials accuracy, and collaboration across the outsourced supplychain. You can even avail yourself of voice and text messaging usingSkype Software.Michael Topolovac and his team at Arena Solutions empower themanufacturing enterprise to focus product innovation, not on installingupgrades or maintaining IT infrastructure. Check out the links from thewrite-up. Especially check the link referencing the video entitled"This is my product.“Check out Arena Solutions from the links below.Thanks, Pal—LockwoodEditor’s Pick of the Week—November 29, 2006Arena Solutions’ Latest Edition Adds Services to On-Demand PLM SolutionFall 06 introduces improved collaboration and greater visibility across supply chain.Arena Solutions(Foster City, CA) a provider of on-demand product lifecycle managementsolutions for manufacturing companies, has introduced Arena PLM Fall06. The latest release of Arena’s PLM application features new,integrated value-added services aimed at enriching product data withdynamic reference content, improved bill of materials (BOM) accuracy,and simplified collaboration across the outsourced supply chain. Byintegrating with Avnet Prómiere’s dynamic content and working withSkype software, Arena enables new enterprise mash-up services.Arena PLM makes it easy for OEMs, suppliers, and outsourced partners tocollaborate in real-time around a single set of information —regardless of geographic location or IT infrastructure. The intentionis to help manufacturers deliver higher quality products to marketfaster, better manage and maintain regulatory compliance, andcollaborate more effectively with an ever-expanding global supply chainfor improved performance. <<Dynamic content from the Avnet Prómiere electroniccomponent database can be directly integrated into the Arena PLMsolution.>>With Fall 06, Arena Solutions has added a new value added service intoits PLM application that enables manufacturers to easily andintuitively integrate dynamic content from Avnet Prómiere directly intotheir Arena PLM solution through a point-and-click interface. AvnetPrómiere offers an accurate and complete database of electroniccomponent content via a reseller relationship with IHS, a leadingprovider of critical technical information and decision support toolsfor a broad range of industries. The content database consists of richdata for more than 19 million unique electronic components including,but not limited to, critical end-of-lifecycle data, Restriction ofHazardous Substances (RoHS) and environmental regulation information,product change notifications, and part datasheets.Manufacturers can evaluate and integrate Avnet reference content withinthe context of their BOM in real time, significantly improving thecritical BOM scrubbing process. BOM scrubbing is the process ofvalidating, cleansing, analyzing, and replacing data in your bill ofmaterials to ensure that product data is accurate throughout theproduct lifecycle. By being able to instantly access the Avnet Prómieredatabase from within Arena PLM, manufacturers can improve itemselection and reduce component duplication, determine and eliminatenon-compliant components in new product design, identify environmentalcompliance and supply chain issues early, and then extend thatvisibility to the supply chain to minimize sourcing errors. Inaddition, by being able to analyze components reference data in realtime manufacturers can gain early visibility into critical end-of-lifedata, and avoid using obsolete or near end-of-life parts, savingcompanies innumerable hours and valuable dollars.Arena PLM Fall 06 uses Skype Software to enable customers to instantlycall and text chat with their co-workers, suppliers, and partnerswithin the context of their PLM environment. This service enhancescommunications within Arena PLM, by enabling users to detect theon-line presence of specific product teams, and then instantly engagethem in a conference call, text chat, or send group e-mail. Inaddition, manufacturers can instantly save chat transcripts associatedwith a product record for improved reporting, and more easily invitesuppliers to participate in collaborative change requests. The newintegrated service enables the Arena PLM community to significantlyincrease productivity and collaborate more effectively with theirglobal supply chain. <<Skype Software enables users to instantly call and text chat withtheir co-workers, suppliers, and partners within the context of theirPLM environment. >> “We are committed to simplifying and empowering more effectivecollaboration between manufacturers and their global suppliers,” saidMichael Topolovac, CEO of Arena Solutions. “With our latest release, weare raising the bar on user productivity and delivering our customersunique, value-added services that are only possible through asoftware-as-a-service model.“Because Arena PLM is delivered on-demand, these feature and interfaceimprovements are instantly available to all users. Manufacturers canfocus 100% of their efforts on product innovation, not on installingupgrades or maintaining IT infrastructure.To view an interactive screenshot featuring Arena PLM’s integration with Avnet Prómiere, click here.By clicking hereand registering, you can access two datasheets that deal specificallywith newly added Avnet Prómiere integration and the Skype VoIPcapabilities in the Fall 06 release. For more information, please visit the company’s website at arenasolutions.com and be sure to click on the “This is my product” link on the bottom left to see a fun video. Here’s an additional link for the CEO keynote and the Fall ‘06 product demonstration during the Arena launch event.

 November 22, 2006Dear DE Reader:Engineers, like word weenies, will tinker with something forever ifthey can. Unfortunately, your business, like mine, has competitors whoare not going to wait for you. To survive, you have to compress yourprocess cycle and do more earlier in the process, both to keep downcostly last-minute expenses and to beat those other ninnies to market.This is why I keep recommending things like upfront analysis. And thisis why I suggest that you check out CFdesign V9. Whether you are CFDmaven or not, you can put CFdesign V9 to good use compressing yourdesign cycle while producing higher quality designs.CFdesign V9 is fully associative and integrated with Autodesk Inventor,CATIA V5, CoCreate, Pro/Engineer Wildfire, Solid Edge, SolidWorks, andUGS NX. Blue Ridge Numerics says it delivers flow and thermalsimulations up to 20 times faster than before. But to me the big thingis that it provides all sorts of automation such as auto meshing thatreduces your fiddling around with set up, which is probably the numberone time waster going. You can fiddle with it as much as you want, butwhy not let the computer do the dirty work so that you can get on withyour work?I am on the record as describing CFdesign as a disruptive technology.Using it will certainly disrupt some bad habits like endless setups.But with its performance enhancements, automation tools, andcustomizable libraries, CFdesign V9 is also a sustaining technology.Because with CFdesign, you will sustain and enhance your innovationadvantage over your competitors.Check out CFdesign V9 from the links below.Thanks, Pal.—Lockwood  CFdesign V9 Generates First-Pass CFD SimulationDelivers high-fidelity design reviews quickly, painlessly.   Blue Ridge Numerics(Charlottesville, VA) has released CFdesign version 9, the newestversion of its upfront CFD software for mechanical, electro-mechanical,and thermalengineers. In addition to new analysis features, CFdesign V9 enablesengineers to set up and view first-pass fluid flow and heat transfersimulations quickly, and V9 is said to now generate high-fidelitydesign reviews up to 20 times faster than with previous versions.The new automation process that more quickly completes simulations isbased on two new features, auto mesh sizing and rules on parts, according to the company. AutoMesh Sizing performs a topological interrogation of the geometricmodel, assigning mesh sizes based on curvature, geometric gradients,and proximity to neighboring features.The new Rules on Parts feature intelligently detects MCAD part nameswithin an assembly and automatically assigns volumetric boundaryconditions and material properties. Boundary conditions include heatgeneration and total heat generation, both of which can besteady-state, transient, or temperature dependent. Materials areassigned from CFdesign’s customizable library of fluids, solids,printed circuit boards, and the newly added two-resistor electroniccomponents.

< < A CFdesign V9 simulation of a power inverter.

CFdesign V9’s new Accelerant Solver uses proprietary CPU optimizationalgorithms to reduce the time it takes to achieve fully convergedfluid-flow and heat-transfer results. New analysis features include Solar Loading, which shows transientelectromagnetic heat transfer from the sun; Compact Thermal Models,which allow CFdesign V9, with just the Theta JB and Theta JC parameters, to supply board temperature, junction temperature, casetemperature, heat transfer between junction and board, and heattransfer between junction and case for every component within thesystem; Free Motion, which shows movement of solids in any flowdirection; and Thermostatically Controlled Fans and Blowers.  Blue Ridge says that CFdesign V9 delivers its greatest value tousers when used to conduct comprehensive design optimization studiesprior to physical prototype testing. The software contains two newenabling technologies for this effort: process automation scripting andthe design review server. Process automation scripting allows users tocreate a project-specific script that defines model setup, analysisexecution, and results extraction for a large number of similaranalyses that differ parametrically. The design review serverdistributes computations across available networked computers,providing a way to conduct extensive, highly interactive design reviewsessions while working within current hardware and network limits. CFdesign V9 is fully associative and integrated with Autodesk Inventor,CATIA V5, CoCreate, Pro/Engineer Wildfire, SolidWorks, Solid Edge, andUGS NX. Fluid-flow and heat-transfer results can betransferred as an input deck for structural simulations in Abaqus,ANSYS, Cosmos, Nastran, and Pro/Mechanica. To learn more, click here to sign up for a CFD Starter Kit CD or visit cfdesign.com. Click here to go a list of nine major new features in CFdesign V9 augmented by video presentations.

 November 15, 2006Dear DE Reader:Years ago at a multibillion-dollar house of publishing, a handful of usfailed to re-invent the wheel. Drunk with ignorance, we thought wecould build an online service even though such an entity bore norelationship to our core competency. We failed spectacularly. We wasteda ton of money, and lost our careers at that joint. I wish Jeff Drustand his team at CDS — Catalog Data Solutions — had been around.Stories like mine are a dime a dozen; I see them played out onlineevery day.  Like you, I can tell when some outfit is struggling todevelop an in-house e-commerce solution. Stuff doesn’t work. 404messages. And, my favorite, you cannot find what you know should bethere. Bringing your business online is not easy. This is where CDScomes in.The team at CDS has expertise in developing 3D interactive catalogs ande-commerce functionality for manufacturers. CDS has the tools and datacenter to get your models online, create and maintain your catalog,link to your order system, and give your customers and potentialcustomers the search tools, downloadable models, and productconfigurators they need to integrate your stuff into their designs —any time of day or night.Catalog Data Solutions specializes in getting your product line onlineand making it easy for website visitors to become your customers. Onthe side, they also cure the headaches you develop wasting time, money,and energy to do what you think is a simple thing.Check out the online demos from the DE write-up linked below andimagine how your products might benefit from such a treatment viaCatalog Data Solutions.Thanks, Pal.—Lockwood Online Catalogs Mean Business CDS provides tools to get you selling online all day, every day. Catalog Data Solutions Inc. (CDS; San Jose, CA) offers manufacturers,suppliers, and distributors its CDS line of products for interactiveonline catalogs, e-commerce, 3D CAD model delivery, and productconfiguration. Additionally, CDS offers a range of professionalservices covering hosted services, product delivery, and technicalconsulting as well as large-scale project implementation management. The CDS product line comprises four compatible modules: Catalog,Configurator, CAD Model Generator, and 3D Spare Part Catalog. Themodular nature of the products enable you to build and custom-tailoryour online offering as your needs evolve. CDS Catalog is a hosted service for your interactive online catalog.For your end users, it provides tools for product selection andconfiguration as well as attribute, graphical, part number, and keywordsearches. Business metrics include reports and graphs ranging from pageviews to most popular categories to repeat orders. CDS Configurator provides advanced tools to guide users through complexproduct configurations, including custom orders using nonstandardparts. Its guided option selection functionality prevents customersfrom configuring unavailable products. Features include part numbervalidation, assembly support, the ability to enable customers toconfigure and download CAD models and CAD drawings, built-in 3D viewer,the ability to include images and animations, direct entry of ordersinto ERP and order fulfillment systems, and the ability send customersorder confirmations, quotes, and change order alerts via e-mail. CDS CAD Model Generator enables you to build online an catalog orenhance an existing catalog with 3D models, 3D preview, and CADdrawings. It works with most Industry standard CAD formats. 3D SparePart Catalog is a web-based tool that enables OEMs to simplify theselection and purchase of aftermarket parts and accessories.Platform-independent, 3D Spare Part Catalog integrates with mostexisting e-business platforms. For more information, click here to go to the Catalog Data Solutionshome page. Click here to register for a white paper covering onlineopportunities for manufacturers. Click here to access a free online demoof the CDS product line in action. 

November 8, 2006Dear Desktop Engineering Reader:This morning Dell announced Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors for itsPrecision 390, 490, and 690 workstations as well as for its PowerEdgeservers. This is great stuff.Why do I think that? Well, imagine bringing 8 processors in two CPUsockets to bear on your multithreaded CAE, oil and gas simulations, andmedical imaging applications. Your performance should blast through theroof. Maybe by 50 percent or more. It should also boost yourmultitasking applications by immense proportions. (If, however, Excel,Spider Solitaire, and Firefox running simultaneously are your idea ofextreme multitasking, this announcement is not for you.)Your key takeaway is that the availability of Quad-Core workstations isa landmark moment. Dell is offering a lot of horsepower for extremeintense-computing with its Quad-Core Precision Workstations andPowerEdge servers. Your desktop and data center are about to change bigtime.Check out the links below for more.Thanks, Pal.—LockwoodAnthony J. LockwoodEditorial Director, Desktop Engineering Dell Delivers QuadsQuad-core servers, workstations boost performance of multithreaded applications and multitasking. Dell (Round Rock, TX) today, November 8, introduced PowerEdge serversand Dell Precision workstations equipped with Intel Quad-Coreprocessors. Systems equipped with Quad-Core Intel Xeon processorsshould provide substantial performance increases of multithreadedapplications. When outfitted with quad-core Intel Xeon processors, the two-socketPowerEdge 1900, 1950, 2950, 2900, SC1430 servers as well as the 1955blade server can rival the performance of Intel dual-core, four-socketsystems and deliver up to 63 percent greater performance1 with up to 40percent enhanced performance per watt while continuing to reducecomplexity in the enterprise, according to Dell. Both the two-socket Dell Precision 690 and Dell Precision 490 desktopworkstations can be configured with new Quad-Core Intel Xeonprocessors. Additionally, the single-socket Dell Precision 390 supportsthe Intel Core 2 Extreme quad-core processor. Dell says that the performance of such multi-threaded applications asAutodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Maya3D animation, modeling, and renderingcomponents can scale dramatically with the addition of processor cores.When configured with Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors, the DellPrecision 690 and 490 workstations can deliver hardware performancegains of up to 54 percent on multithreaded applications, according toDell. Dell, of course, cautions you that actual performance will vary basedon configuration, usage, and manufacturing variability. Nonetheless,Dell bases this assertion upon the results of SPECapc 3ds Max renderingbenchmark tests run by Dell Labs. The test system was a Dell Precision690 configured with two 2.66GHz Intel Xeon X5355quad-core (Clovertown)CPUs (8 cores), 4GB DDR2 667MHz dual channel memory, 80GB SATA HDD,NVIDIA Quadro FX3500 graphics board, and Windows XP SP2. The comparisonsystem was an identical Dell Precision 690, except that it wasconfigured with two dual-core 2.66GHz Intel Xeon 5150 (Woodcrest) CPUs.(The SPECapc 3ds Max rendering benchmark test is developed andmaintained by Standard Performance Evaluation Corp.) Dell asserts that the quad-core processor-based platform offers “anideal choice to capitalize on consolidation and virtualization projectsby better balancing capacity demand within the same physical space andprice range.” In such a virtualized environment, the new processors onDell hardware have shown up to a 69 percent performance improvement. Inaddition, the Dell PowerEdge 1950, 1955, 2900 and 2950 servers withquad-core processors are certified for VMware VI 3 virtualizationsoftware. The Dell Precision 690 and Dell Precision 490 workstations are designedfor engineers who work with massive data sets and images, while the 390seeks to deliver a balance between advanced performance, scalability,and price. The Dell PowerEdge 1950, 2900, 2950, SC1430 and 1955 blade serversfeaturing Intel 5300 series quad-core Xeon processors are availableimmediately. Prices start at $1,599, $1,599, $1,699, $1,049 and $1,799respectively. Click here for additional information on PowerEdge servers. The Dell Precision 690, 490 and 390 leveraging new Intel quad-coreprocessors and certified for most MCAD, CAE, DCC, and GIS applicationsare also available immediately. Prices for the Dell Precision 390 withthe Intel Core 2 Extreme quad-core processor start at $2,213. DellPrecision 690 and 490 featuring Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors startat $2,399 and $2,149, respectively. For more information on Dell Precision workstations, click here. 

 November 1, 2006 Dear DE Reader: Town records indicate that the main part of my house was there in 1792.Them charming New England cottages aren’t so charming on weekends whenI play handyman. Nothing is square, and nothing is the same size. Andafter 200 years of handyjerks like me, what you find when you open awall is a maze of different-sized and spaced studs, braces, and thingsthat seem to be supporting something. Although habit might be the onlything keeping the joint standing, you don’t want to mess around so youkeep the madness going. Which brings me to the new handheld K-Scan MMZ laser scanner fromMetris. Bringing one of these babies to bear on a project might notimprove my lousy cutting, but rest assured my measurements would beprecise. The K-Scan MMZ is designed for those jobs where you want to set up, getyour measurements, and get out of there. It does not have an arm towrestle with, so you can easily use it for those odd shapes and goofyplaces. It gives you different degrees of resolution forquick-and-dirty or high-resolution scanning, and it can collect up to23,000 points a second washing things with its 20 LEDs. So, if you restore old houses or cars, or if you’re on a diet ofprojects that require scanning in some oddball shape off site, theK-Scan MMZ from Metris might be just want you need. Check out the write-up and the links below to learn more. Thanks, Pal. —Lockwood Metris Releases New Handheld Digitizer K-Scan MMZ scans objects onsite, allows choice of speed or higher resolution. The new K-Scan MMZ handheld laser scanner from Metris(Leuven, Belgium) is for those on-site 3D digitizing jobs where you need quick andaccurate results without wasting time on complicated set-ups. The newK-Scan MMZ brings together the Metris ModelMaker Z laser scanner andthe K600/ K610 optical portable CMM (coordinate measuring machine) tocreate such a solution. The K-Scan MMZ can go to places not accessible with traditional desktopscanners because it eschews an articulated arm and instead using alightweight—2.31-pound (1050g)—handheld probe. The probe, which offers70 and 140mm stripe widths for faster or higher resolution scanning, isequipped with 20 LEDs, which provides ample visibility for the opticalCMM, independent of the probe’s orientation. The probe and the scanningtask are controllable using programmable buttons. The K-Scan MMZ’s measurement range is from 1.5 to 6 meters, and thepoint-cloud data can be acquired at a rate of up to 23,000 pointssecond. Metris says that the K-Scan MMZ has an “Enhanced SensorPerformance” feature that automatically adapts the laser intensity tothe surface properties, enabling scanning of both shiny and darksurfaces with minimum user interaction. The K-Scan MMZ is driven by the company’s KUBE acquisition andlaser-data post-processing software. The software references,visualizes, and meshes the scanned object. The resulting point clouds,acquired at a rate of 23,000 points second, can be further analyzed inthe Metris KUBE for basic inspection tasks or exported to Metris Focussoftware for full detailed analysis. Other features of K-Scan MMZ handheld scanning solution includeautomatic alignment of the probe and the object under measurement andan auxiliary laser  For complete details, visit metris.com.