3D, Games and Product Development

January 27, 2011

Almost two years ago, I published the following post – Virtual World: Where is the boarder between game and PLM software? Gaming technology is developing very fast. Today’s games open lots of opportunities to improve existing design and engineering software, as well as to develop a new class of application. This week, during SolidWorks World 2011 in San Antonio, Dassault and SolidWorks presented a new product – Post3D, part of 3DVia brand portfolio.

The idea of this application is to allow multiple users to participate in a product review in a virtual way. You can take a brief look on what Dassault means by that on the following video:

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Virtual Collaboration – Community and Game

I found the idea of Post3D inspiring. There are few straightforward issues with Post3D – the ability to load 3D models and review them. My hunch, there is something beyond that. The main point is the ability to communicate in a different way. In addition such type of software can release product from 3D CAD boundaries. By using game-like technologies, in the future, you’ll be able to share and use 3D data beyond the point of creation in CAD system. The ability to interact in 3D is one of the key aspects in a vision of Dassault’s CEO Bernard Charles. In the next longer video, you can see Dassault’s Charles personally demonstrating the new virtual showroom together with his colleagues during SolidWorks world.

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What is my conclusion? I can see Game Technologies as a clear trend in a future of design and product development. Games develop a new way to interact. When I watch my kids playing Kinect, I can see a huge potential Gaming technology will bring later into PLM space. However, the learning curve can be tough for non-GenY folks. It will be interesting to see the adoption curve of such visionary tools. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg

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Microsoft in the PLM Spotlight

November 15, 2010

Last week in Orlando, I had a chance to attend Microsoft’s presentation during DSCC2010 keynote presentation. Microsoft’s trajectory is interesting. Think about last few weeks of news – Steve Balmer sells stocks worth a billion to save on taxes, Ray Ozzie exits his CSA role at Microsoft.

Role-Based, OWPX and Cloud-y Services

The following two pictures from Microsoft presentation made me think about what will drive Microsoft strategy in the organization. Role-based? OWPX. You can see it stands for Outlook, Word, PowerPoint and Excel. These individual apps are relying on Application Integration and Communication.

The next picture adds clouds on top of 200-like enterprise architecture.

Microsoft stated during the presentation – “Microsoft- IT as a service”. What does it mean? To move OWPX to the cloud? Start owning SharePoint and other Microsoft servers and sell them as a service?

Collaboration Everywhere and Technology?

Another interesting spot in Microsoft presentation is a notion of collaboration. It states – Collaboration Everywhere. It connects all silos of PLM, ERP, SCM, CRM, MES into a single box. I have a hard time to understand what does it mean. From the technological notes on the side of the slide I can learn the following – business process integration, composite apps and integrating data with analytics. For me, it means lots of consultancy hours on top of Microsoft servers to make it work. All – data, processes, applications, etc. are different. Microsoft sells individual pieces. What is missing, in my view, on these pictures is experiences.

DS V6 Organic Architecture

I found PLM experience in Bernard Charles keynote presentation about V6. The slide about Organic architecture put all enterprise architectures in a dust. V6 Organic Architecture sells Lifelike user experience. It sounds very Apple-minded. Apple is focused on experience and cool devices. Mr. Charles was focused on explaining how DS architecture will be focused on delivery a very unique experience to customers. It can be an interesting turn.

What is my conclusion? Microsoft sells servers to the enterprise. Big servers. Lots of servers. OWPX. Is it a strategy? In my view, this is Microsoft’s enterprise lock-in. On the very bottom level, PLM functions depend on Microsoft Servers. Most of PLM boxes run on Windows machines. And it deeply connected on Office / Excel. However, future belongs to experience – the number of Apple devices on DSCC2010 was bigger than ever before.

Just my thoughts..

Best, Oleg

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Posted by olegshilovitsky

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