Spatial Makes 3D Model Interoperability a Reality with ACIS 5.0
20 January 1999
Spatial Makes 3D Model Interoperability a Reality with ACIS 5.0
BOULDER, Colo.--Jan. 20, 1999--Spatial Technology Inc. (AMEX: STY), the leading developer of open, component 3D modeling technology, today announced the release of the ACIS(R) 3D Toolkit(TM) 5.0. ACIS 5.0 focuses on 3D CAD model interoperability and features tolerant modeling, enhanced healing technology, new bending functionality, enhanced blending capabilities, new selective Booleans, and over 400 customer requested enhancements. This groundbreaking ACIS release is shipping to customers today."With ACIS 5.0, Spatial is stepping up its attack on the problem of model data interchange, which remains one of the key barriers to CAD/CAM, CAE system interoperation," said Bruce Jenkins, vice president, Daratech, Inc. (Cambridge, MA). "Spatial's newly broadened vision and mission deserve careful consideration by both developers and end users working to craft interoperability solutions that streamline product development and accelerate time to market."
"ACIS 5.0 represents a huge advancement in Spatial's commitment to providing industry-leading interoperability solutions to the 1.3 million end users of ACIS-enabled applications, as well as users of non-ACIS based applications," said R. Bruce Morgan, president and CEO, Spatial. "The functionality and interoperability enhancements in ACIS 5.0 further demonstrate that ACIS is the leading 3D modeling kernel in the market. Customer and industry response to ACIS 5.0 is overwhelmingly positive and gives us great confidence that we will continue to expand our market leadership in kernel modeling through 1999 and well into the 21st century."
"We are proud to have adhered to our rigorous development schedule with the release of ACIS 5.0 this month, just nine months after ACIS 4.0 last April and only two months after ACIS 4.3 in November. Our aggressive schedule reflects our commitment to providing our over 480 customers with industry-leading modeling technology at a velocity unmatched in our industry," added Michael Hansen, director of product marketing, Spatial. "ACIS 5.0 is an important step forward in the CAD/CAM, CAE industry as it extends interoperability for the over 175 ACIS-enabled applications by facilitating data exchange between ACIS-enabled and non-ACIS based applications."
ACIS 5.0 Features:
-- Tolerant modeling allows ACIS-enabled applications to accept less
precise model data from non-ACIS based systems and still create
valid topology. This capability expands an end user's ability to
utilize a wide range of proprietary or legacy CAD model data in
an ACIS-enabled application--a fundamental step in solving their
model interoperability problems.
-- Capabilities from the ACIS Advanced Blending Husk have been
incorporated into the kernel's standard blending features.
-- New selective Booleans allow two or more bodies to be combined
with greater flexibility and speed by letting users keep or
discard a portion of these combined bodies.
-- Model bending has been enhanced to allow users to bend a part of
a body by specifying where to place the bend and to specify the
bending limits.
-- Error-feedback features have been extended to blending and
shelling operations to provide detailed information to users
during modeling operations.
Other enhancements to coincide with the release of ACIS 5.0 include extensions to the ACIS Local Operations Husk and the ACIS Healing Husk. In February 1999, Spatial expects to release an ACIS 5.0-enabled version of the ACIS 3D Open Viewer(TM).
What Our Customers Say About ACIS 5.0
"The Autodesk MCAD team is very pleased with the caliber of high-end modeling functionality being released in ACIS 5.0. Spatial's aggressive upgrade schedule has proven to be extremely beneficial to our Mechanical Desktop customers and enables us to release new ACIS capabilities at a record pace. We continue to be impressed with how quickly and efficiently Spatial responds to our specific requirements and the value of our partnership gets stronger every year." ...Dominic Gallello, vice president, Mechanical Market Group,
Autodesk, Inc.
"ACIS 5.0 continues the tremendous momentum we've seen from Spatial this past year. As new customers for IronCAD are increasing at a rapid pace, so is the need for the interoperability and functionality improvements in ACIS 5.0. We are especially excited with the improvements to Local Operations and Booleans. The ACIS 5.0 release further confirms Spatial's commitment to fulfilling the needs of their MCAD customers like VDS, and gives me great confidence that we have selected the right strategic modeling supplier." ...Dave Tiley, president and CEO, Visionary Design Systems, Inc.
"Baystate Technologies' partnership with Spatial has been strategic to our ability to readily implement powerful CAD innovations and effectively augment in-house development efforts. As CADKEY is a hybrid modeler incorporating wireframe, surface, and solid modeling into a single CAD environment, our internal development staff must focus on successive, multi-faceted enhancements of the product. The open, object-oriented architecture of ACIS gives us the freedom to selectively incorporate the increased functionality and interoperability solutions found in ACIS 5.0 to achieve our software development objectives for upcoming releases of the CADKEY mechanical CAD product lines in 1999." ...Robert W. Bean, P.E., president and CEO, Baystate Technologies,
Inc.
"We are very satisfied with the efforts of the Spatial development team in providing us with a constant flow of advanced 3D modeling functionality, performance, and interoperability solutions. Spatial has been very helpful in meeting our development requirements and we look forward to offering our customers the advanced modeling technology in ACIS 5.0." ...Efi Lebel, president and CEO, Cimatron Ltd.
"Spatial has continuously been on the mark with their ACIS release focus and release schedule. With ACIS 3.0, we saw increased functionality, with ACIS 4.0, we saw increased performance and we are thrilled with the latest interoperability enhancements and functionality improvements of ACIS 5.0. Spatial has set the standard for the pace of 3D modeling technology development and, once again, has fully justified our strategic decision to implement ACIS in our Bravo product family." ...Frank Stefanik, president, Applicon, Inc.
"Vellum Solids has been receiving excellent press lately due, in part, to its integrated ACIS functionality. With Spatial's release of ACIS 5.0, Vellum Solids will be able to take advantage of the newest functionality and interoperability improvements and be able to provide Vellum customers with the most robust conceptual design application available on the market." ...John Thornborrow, president, Ashlar, Inc.
"Kuraki Co. was successful in commercializing its MYPAC CAD/CAM application based on ACIS 4.2. We are very grateful to Spatial because this success was due to the enhanced functions like Blending/Shelling and the API expansion regarding surfaces. We expect a lot from the forthcoming release of ACIS 5.0 this month. Particularly, the IGES input feature, healing, and tolerant modeling which is a great merit for mold manufacturers. Because at present high-end CAD modeling data are supplied to these mold manufacturers, Kuraki Co. foresees that the market will rapidly become more demanding of data translators." ...Mr. Yoshiteru Wanifuchi, general manager, System Engineering
Department, Kuraki Co. Ltd., Japan
"Spatial has done an excellent job of providing Logotec with the most advanced 3D modeling functionality available. Now, with ACIS 5.0, Spatial is addressing the industry-wide interoperability problem, which is a top priority to our customers. We look forward to implementing new ACIS functionality into our product." ...Michael Weller, general manager, Logotec Software GmbH
"Information sharing and application integration are important benefits of TurboCAD Solid Modeler. This is why we are very enthusiastic about ACIS 5.0 and the new interoperability solutions being offered by Spatial Technology. Spatial's momentum is assurance to us that we are not only providing our customers with the most advanced 3D modeling technology but also the ability to interoperate with over 175 ACIS-enabled applications in the marketplace." ...Roopinder Tara, general manager, CAD division, IMSI
"As manufacturers, we have very high requirements regarding the precision, robustness and reliability of geometric modeling software. Last year, Spatial registered a remarkable progress with ACIS 4.0, which fully met our requirements. At present, we are in the process of detailed evaluation of ACIS 5.0 beta and we think that its expansions like healing, tolerant modeling, and local operations live up to our expectations. It may be said that with version 5.0 ACIS heralds a new stage of geometric modeling." ...Eiji Kawashita, general manager, Manufacturing Systems Division,
Hitachi Zosen Information Systems, Japan.
"With ACIS 5.0, Spatial continues its swift pace of development. Mechanical Desktop has had record sales and, keeping pace with our aggressive delivery schedule, we are happy to be able to offer our large customer base the latest ACIS advancements in blending, shelling, sweeping, lofting, selective Booleans, and performance improvements. We are very excited about ACIS 5.0 and look forward to implementing each new version of ACIS as fast as they become available." ...Roger Mollon, director, Component Technology, MCAD Market Group,
Autodesk, Inc.
"Applicon actively promotes its ACIS-enabled core and continues to be very impressed by the velocity at which Spatial is releasing new ACIS functionality. With ACIS 5.0, Spatial is once again addressing the needs of its customer base by actively developing performance and functionality enhancements to the kernel as well as introducing real solutions for the industry's continuing frustration with model interoperability." ...Rusty Wigal, director of marketing, Applicon, Inc.
"To support our customers and OEM partners, ESP has extended our integration of ACIS with FEMAP 6. We are very pleased with the significant functionality that ACIS 5.0 will provide our customers. Like Spatial, we are committed to providing intuitive, advanced CAD interoperability so that the exchange of engineering data becomes a truly seamless and easy to use operation." ...Jeff Rankin, director of marketing, Enterprise Software Products,
Inc.
What the Industry Experts Say About ACIS 5.0
"Engineering Automation Report recently designated Spatial Technology as the "Comeback Kid" for 1998. During the past year, the company has significantly improved the completeness and performance of its ACIS modeling technology. We are equally impressed by the steps the company is taking to broaden the overall span of its component technology. These steps will enable its licensees to focus on what makes their software packages unique as they take advantage of Spatial's foundation technology. The company is truly changing the economics of developing 3D solids-based applications." ...David Weisberg, publisher, Engineering Automation Report and A-E-C
Automation Newsletter
"Spatial continues to improve and add significant new capabilities to ACIS. The speed with which they have been able to release ACIS 5.0, following quickly after ACIS 4.0, is impressive and demonstrates their commitment to supporting their customers and pushing the technological envelope." ...John MacKrell, senior consultant, CIMdata
"Spatial's renewed aggressive ability to bring high-end 3D modeling functionality to its ACIS engine highlights the company's commitment to customers and their 3D modeling needs. The release of ACIS 5.0 offers users timely and impressive technological advancements in relation to the competition." ...Dr. Ken Versprille, senior analyst, DH Brown Associates
"We are particularly impressed with Spatial's ability to respond quickly to market needs and provide advanced solid modeling functionality in a rapid-fire manner. In the fiercely competitive CAD marketplace, ACIS-enabled customers certainly have an advantage as a result of Spatial's commitment to customer satisfaction and aggressive release schedules." ...Dr. Charles Clarke, IT and CAD/CAM consultant, Random Consulting,
UK
"Interoperability of CAD data is one of the highest hurdles software vendors have to overcome if there ever is to be true global product development and concurrent engineering. With ACIS 5.0, Spatial is one step closer to solving this universally perplexing issue." ...Gisela Wilson, president, Cambashi USA
"TechniCom applauds Spatial Technology as a technological leader in providing advanced solid modeling functionality and tools for CAD interoperability. ACIS 5.0 will promote increased design productivity and quality." ...Raymond Kurland, president, TechniCom, Inc.
"We predict that ACIS-enabled software products will continue to benefit from Spatial's tireless efforts to offer technological advancements in solid and surface modeling functionality. ACIS 5.0 complements the design engineering environment with outstanding interoperability tools, robust modeling capabilities, and a proven track record." ...Jeffrey Rowe, principal CAD/CAM/CAE consultant, Cairowest Digital
Studio
"CAD shoot-outs can be a nerve-wracking experience for those who participate. If you can't handle tough solid modeling problems, you're going to end up looking bad. At last year's M/TECH and Autofact CAD shoot-outs, companies such as Ashlar, Baystate, VDS, and IMSI were able to take on the toughest competitors in the market with confidence because they used ACIS as their modeling kernel." ...Evan Yares, competition director, Archimedes MCAD Competition
"Spatial's ACIS 5.0 carries the promise of cutting manufacturing cycles with technology to heal CAD models damaged by translations." ...Paul Dvorak, senior editor, Machine Design
"CADENCE readers will be interested in the latest technology behind ACIS 5.0. Applications such as Mechanical Desktop are sure to benefit from new functionality and improved interoperability operations." ...Arnie Williams, editor in chief, CADENCE
"Desktop Engineering has watched the vitality of Spatial's customers--CAD industry leaders such as Applicon, Ashlar, Autodesk, Baystate, Cimatron, IMSI, VDS, and others--flourish as a direct result of Spatial's focus on technical excellence. The release of ACIS 5.0 rolls out another milestone in interoperability capabilities and advanced solid modeling." ...Tony Lockwood, editor, Desktop Engineering
"Our readers will take special interest in the latest release of ACIS. Mechanical Desktop and other CAD users that employ ACIS functionality will no doubt benefit from the new, advanced functionality." ...Joe O'Halloran, group editor, Concept, Creation, Context (C3) and
CGI Magazines
What a Financial Expert Says About ACIS 5.0
"The fifth ACIS release in a year shows that R&D is firing on all pistons just like the marketing/sales department which signed a record 74 new license agreements in 1998. We're looking for the momentum to continue into 1999 with the majority of sales generated from products introduced in the trailing twelve months, accretive acquisitions, relationships with industry leaders, and strong earnings growth to bolster investor confidence. The market still hasn't recognized how important Spatial's technology is to a number of world-class Mechanical CAD software participants." ...Andy Drol, financial analyst, Neidiger, Tucker, Bruner, Inc.
About Spatial Technology
Spatial Technology Inc. is the world leader in the development of open, component 3D modeling technology. The ACIS 3D Toolkit, Spatial's flagship product, is universally recognized as the de facto standard 3D modeling kernel for the MCAD, CAM, CAE, and AEC industries. With over 480 ACIS licensees and more than 1.3 million end users of over 175 ACIS-enabled applications, ACIS is indisputably the most widely used 3D modeling kernel in the world.
The open architecture of ACIS and the industry standard ACIS SAT(TM) file format are known as the "ACIS Geometry Bus." The ACIS Geometry Bus is the key to 3D model interoperability among ACIS-enabled applications, including AutoCAD and Mechanical Desktop by Autodesk, Inc, Bravo by Applicon, Inc., CADKEY by Baystate Technologies, Inc., Grade/CUBE II by Hitachi Zosen Information Systems, GSCAD by Intergraph Corporation , IronCAD by Visionary Design Systems, Inc., MegaCAD by Megatech Software GmbH, TurboCAD Solid Modeler by IMSI, and Vellum Solids by Ashlar Inc.
To further extend Spatial's leadership in sharing and accessing CAD model data throughout the design and manufacturing process, Spatial and InterData Access, Inc. (IDA) have combined their technical expertise, products, and financial strength. IDA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Spatial, is a leading provider of product data viewing, data translation, and digital mock-up software and consulting services to Fortune 500 industrial companies worldwide. IDA products include IntraVISION(TM), CALSVIEW(TM), VisionShare(TM), Data Exchange Manager, and IGES/STEP development tools. IDA's customers include Boeing, Bombardier, Caterpillar, Diebold, General Electric, Harley Davidson, Hitachi, Lear Jet, Motorola, Northrop Grumman, and Silicon Graphics. For more information, visit IDA's Web site at http://www.ida.com.
Spatial Technology is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, and has offices in Europe and Asia. Shares of Spatial stock are publicly traded on the Nasdaq-AMEX exchange under the symbol "STY" (AMEX: STY). For more information, visit Spatial's Web site at http://www.spatial.com, or call 303/544-2900.
Statements made in this news release that are not historical facts may be forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statement. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by any forward-looking information. A description of risks and uncertainties attendant to Spatial Technology Inc. and its industry, and other factors which could affect the Company's financial results, are included in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to the Company's annual report on Form 10-KSB for the year ended December 31, 1997.
Spatial Technology Inc., ACIS 3D Toolkit and SAT are trademarks. ACIS is a registered trademark of Spatial Technology Inc. IntraVISION, CALSVIEW, and VisionShare are trademarks of InterData Access, Inc. All other products are trademarks of their respective owners.