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Having just returned from SolidWorks World 2008 in San Diego, I can say that the spirit of the SolidWorks community is alive and well. With over 4600 attendees and an action-packed agenda, the most notable element about the event is the intangible. What I am speaking of is the energy that one feels throughout the crowd. This energy is something that everyone using SolidWorks is responsible for and it is has made the solution more than a piece of software.
2007 saw the transition of the company to a new CEO, former COO Jeff Ray. Jeff and his management team have set ambitious goals for the company for the next five years. These include a true multi-product strategy, allowing users of the tool to really leverage the technology within their organizations. This year in San Diego, much emphasis was given to the new offering by SolidWorks, 3D VIA Composer. Composer allows companies to utilize product development documentation inside and outside the company seamlessly for applications such as technical product documentation and assembly manuals. Also, most notably, the data remains associative to the engineering model, which allows for concurrent, as opposed to serial, development of this content. In many cases, this solution will replace manual and time-consuming processes, which involve using digital cameras, Microsoft Word and desktop publishing tools. 3D VIA joins a great lineup of products including core SolidWorks, COSMOS Design Validation and SolidWorks Enterprise PDM data management.
The theme for the main stage guest speakers was clearly innovation. These speakers included Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway transporter, who spoke of his FIRST Initiative Robotics Competition, which serves to inspire children to follow math and science careers. The greatest challenge he found for the cause was not raising money; it was getting people to donate time to the event.
Surprises were the order for the day as well and included all customer attendees receiving an Ipod Nano, loaded up with a full library of SolidWorks content that they could share with associates and family and paint a visual picture of what they do and what it means to be part of the SolidWorks community.
CATI had a great turnout for our customer reception Monday night at the event. It is always a pleasure to sit down and chat with our valued clients and understand what our focus should be for the coming years. A number of our partners attended as well as SolidWorks personnel, including Jeff Ray.
Awards were presented the last day of the conference and we would like to congratulate Mark Peters, Impact Engineering, for the SWUGN (SW National User Group) Lifetime Achievement Award, Ed Eaton for 1st Place Model Mania Contest and our own Bob McGaughey for Elite Applications Engineer. Congrats.
Finally, the 2009 location of SolidWorks World will be early February in Orlando, Florida, at the Swan and Dolphin Resort. Hope to see you all there. |
