CAD Software Keeps Pace With Computer System Development

PTC doesn't have an application specifically for PCB design. But the Needham, Mass.-based company's flagship Pro/Engineer 3-D mechanical CAD application is used for a broad range of system-design tasks. About 25 percent of Pro/Engineer sales are through VARs to smaller companies, according to Chad Hawkinson, vice president of product strategy, electronics.

Like other CAD software vendors, PTC has been working to integrate its multiple products to improve sharing of system data and designs across a company. PTC, for example, has linked its Mathcad software, which is popular among electrical engineers, with Pro/Engineer for a range of design tasks. In late 2007 PTC acquired CoCreate Software, a line of CAD and product data management applications.

PTC's two-year-old Product Development System is an effort to manage and synchronize electrical, mechanical and software design data and project teams. The PDS offers system designers a way to integrate Pro/Engineer with electrical CAD tools and software configuration management software, the latter including IBM's Rational ClearCase.

"The key issue we hear about the most from our customers is how to align the different disciplines during the design process," Hawkinson said.

In September, Mentor and PTC announced links between Mentor's electrical CAD products and PTC's mechanical CAD tools based on electromechanical data interchange standards approved by the ProSTEP iViP Association, a CAD industry standards organization. That linkage, according to the companies, provides design collaboration capabilities that will improve a company's CAD process from design inception to manufacturing.

One of the biggest trends is linking CAD applications to major product life-cycle management (PLM) systems in an effort to take company-wide sharing of product data to the next level.

Cadence, for example, has integrated ADW with Paris-based Dassault Systemes' PLM system and Mazzitelli said links to other PLM systems are in the works. That allows engineers to tap into PLM data, such as customer specifications for computer systems, and load it into their desktop CAD systems. AutoDesk has been working to link its AutoDesk Inventor (for digital prototyping) and AutoCAD Electrical (for designing and documenting electrical control systems) with PLM systems, Hession said, although he declined to provide more details.

PTC offers its own PLM system, Windchill, for managing product data through change management and release-to-manufacturing processes and to help system designers collaborate with outside developers. In June PTC unveiled Windchill ProductPoint, a system based on Microsoft Corp.'s Office SharePoint Server 2007 and the .Net framework for capturing, handling and sharing product development information. ProductPoint supports Pro/Engineer data as well as other CAD file formats.

Most CAD applications support a range of operating environments. While many have their roots in Unix, many also support Windows and now support Linux as well. PTC, for example, supports HP-UX, IBM AIX and Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Solaris, as well as Windows, Linux and a number of IBM platforms. Cadence supports Windows, Linux and Solaris.

AutoCAD, however, currently runs only on Windows-based PCs, but Hession wouldn't rule out support for other desktop operating systems in the future. "It's something we're always looking at," he said.

While the CAD industry isn't immune from the economic slowdown, Mentor's Isaac said businesses such as custom system builders still need CAD technology to design ever-more innovative products to stay ahead of the competition and to design those products in a more cost-effective manner.

Cadence's Mazzitelli said the goal within most businesses today is to do more with less and increase IT ROI. Today's more tightly integrated CAD systems help system builders get their designs to manufacturing more quickly.