Alibre Looks To Partners To Cultivate Sales

"The margin we give our VARs is very high," said Steve Milliren, director of sales at Alibre, based here.

Milliren should know what resellers like. Prior to his current role at Alibre, he spent 10 years with reseller Advanced Data Graphics. While there,

Milliren sold products Alibre competes with today, including offerings from AutoDesk, Catia and PTC.

Alibre's technology,the 4.0 edition of Alibre Design was launched in May,lets engineers collaborate on product design and development over the Web, regardless of their proximity to one another, Milliren said. Alibre Design can be added onto or used instead of software such as AutoDesk's AutoCAD.

During the first year of a reseller's relationship with Alibre, the software vendor splits the commission 50-50 with the partner, Milliren said. The commission is calculated on the price of the software,$495,times the number of users at an account.

"To be on every engineer's desk, you have to be somewhat affordable," Milliren said in reference to Alibre's low price point. "We make it up in volume."

Milliren expects that by the end of 2002, about one-third of Alibre Design's U.S. sales will go through the channel, while virtually all international sales will be indirect. Seventeen channel partners have signed on to date, Milliren said.

While online teamwork is commonplace for many industries, solution providers say some engineers have been reluctant to embrace the Web as a venue for their joint efforts.

"Traditionally, the method that engineers use is to manufacture the parts and ship them to a location for assembly," said Roy Burchfield, founder and president of CAD Visions, a Dallas-based reseller of Alibre Design and other CAD products. "But that's a little late for them to find out that the holes are not lining up properly."

Even with rapid prototyping, it could still take three or four days to find out whether parts work together as envisioned, Burchfield said. By engaging in some of the design work over the Web, engineers can save on airfare and hotel accommodations, and team members can verify that their parts will fit with one another, he said.

Alibre's product "is still somewhat of a cutting-edge technology," said Burchfield, who characterized Alibre Design as one item in CAD Visions' "bag of tricks." While the solution provider's relationship with Alibre is new, Burchfield said he is confident that even the engineers most resistant to change will quickly grasp the benefits of Alibre Design.

Christian Playford, director of business development at Engineering.com, an engineering community portal, also said his company's sales of Alibre are "nominal" at this point, but a number of steps he is taking could change that.

"We do product positioning and other activities that create market awareness. We'll include [information about Alibre in our newsletter, which goes out to [approximately 85,000 engineers," he said, adding the engineers can purchase the software through Engineering.com or Alibre itself.

Engineering.com has its own software marketplace featuring products from 75-plus vendors, Playford said. Engineering.com, which also does a healthy business in workstations from Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Sun Microsystems, not only sells the products but helps customers implement them.

By and large, Alibre's partners tend to see Alibre Design as a door-opener to other sales opportunities.

"You grow the margin by including consultations, training, support and customization. Think of it as a seed you are going to plant in the ground that will bear more fruit later," CAD Visions' Burchfield said.