IBM and Dassault Systemes Announce CATIA V5 Release 1 and Enhancements to V4 Release 2.1

Strategic Insights -

IBM and Dassault Systemes have announced the general availability of CATIA Version 5 Release 1 for native Windows NT and UNIX, as well as three new products and 28 enhancements for CATIA Version 4 Release 2.1. This marks a significant milestone in the evolution of CATIA, a comprehensive product portfolio that improves competitiveness and productivity in advanced modeling, digital manufacturing, and plant design domains.

Key Takeaways:

  • CATIA Version 5 Release 1 is built using leading-edge standards such as STEP, Java, CORBA, and OLE, making it a next-generation object technology and architecture.
  • Version 5 Customers can benefit from reduced training requirements, with some customers reporting a 50% or more reduction in training time and a corresponding jump in design productivity.
  • The new CATIA Generative Composite Tape Design product addresses composite manufacturing processes, allowing tape courses to be automatically located and controlled for quality in accordance with manufacturing and stress constraints.
  • CATIA Version 4 Release 2.1 delivers high-speed milling strategies in both interactive NC definition and semi-automatic approaches, increasing the quality of surface finish and reducing bench time for manufactured parts.
  • A new product dedicated to conveyor design, AEC Conveyor Design, addresses the full conveyor design process from preliminary design to "catalog-driven" detail design.
  • IBM and Dassault Systemes are introducing a range of prepackaged service offerings to help customers maximize the advantages of CATIA Version 5 and CATIA Version 4.

Statistics:

  • 30+ customers tested CATIA Version 5 Release 1 in real project scenarios.
  • 118 products are now part of the CATIA V4 portfolio.
  • 3 new products and 28 enhancements were announced for CATIA Version 4 Release 2.1.
  • CATIA Version 5 Customers reported a 50% or more reduction in training time.
  • Over 13,000 CATIA-CADAM customers and 9,500 SolidWorks customers comprise Dassault Systemes' customer base.

Sources:

  • Business Wire, "IBM and Dassault Systemes Announce CATIA Version 5 Release 1 and Enhancements to CATIA Version 4 Release 2.1", March 9, 1999.
  • [Exact URLs not provided in original text: if they were, they would be included exactly as mentioned in the original text, e.g., http://www.catia.ibm.com]