EXTRANET NEWS * Week of 17 March 2003

EXTRANET NEWS * Week of 17 March 2003
Editors: Joel Orr and N'omi Orr
http://www.extranetnews.com

1. AUTODESK STREAMLINE: PLM EXTRANET
2. THE LIST
3. TIDBITS
4. QUOTE OF THE WEEK

1. AUTODESK STREAMLINE: PLM EXTRANET

Editor Joel Orr spoke with Autodesk's Tanuj Bansal, who is product-line manager for all the Autodesk PLM products except for CAD. ("PLM" stands for "product [or "process"] lifecycle management.")For more information, visit http://www.autodesk.com/streamline.

Streamline is "a hosted online project-collaboration service for manufacturers. The Autodesk Streamline service connects your extended manufacturing team to design information through a single-source project environment that is easy to implement, access, and use. Autodesk Streamline personalizes your design information for non-designers by presenting data in a format relevant to each team member. For example, a purchasing agent who only needs to see the bill-of-materials (BOM) data receives that BOM information in a format that is relevant," according to its Web site.

Streamline has transmogrified since its introduction. It was originally based on eRoom, a general-purpose Web-based collaborative system used by several large companies (e.g., Ford, HP). When it was announced, it had functionality that seemed to overlap somewhat with other Autodesk products—ProjectPoint and RedSpark, in particular.

But RedSpark died, and ProjectPoint turned out to be the underlying Web technology for both Buzzsaw (the company's AEC extranet) and Streamline. "ProjectPoint is actually easier for our customers to learn and use," said Tanuj. "And also, we didn't feel that our development needs were getting the attention we needed from eRoom. So we switched, and we are glad we did."

While the company emphasizes "sharing information across the design chain," most Streamline customers focus on areas that are somewhat downstream of design—purchasing, manufacturing, and field service. "The system can be used for collaborating on designs, but most of our 85 customers (using about 2000 seats) use Streamline for post-design communication and collaboration. We don't believe in 'check-list PLM'; we let our customers tell us what they need in a PLM system."

What began as a "nice-to-have" service for manufacturing users of Autocad and Inventor has turned into a kind of "PLM hub"

"We are particularly proud of the ease of deployment," said Tanuj. "We can have you up and running in a single day or less. And our pricing—around $500/user/year—makes Streamline attractive even under difficult economic conditions."

Global availability over the Web is a major appeal of this product. The Hong Kong government bought 1000 seats of Streamline last year to distribute to local firms, to increase their global competitiveness.

The Flash tour on the Web site is worth sitting through. It illustrates the particulars of collaboration between a machine-tool manufacturer in the US, a supplier of theirs in the UK, and their field service in Beijing. It demonstrates several important features, such as viewing and mark-up capabilities for CAD models even for users who do not have the CAD software.

Like Autocad, Streamline is being marketed through dealers and a specialized direct-sales force.

Our take: At the National Design Engineering Show a couple of weeks ago, Autodesk announced its intentions to be a major contender in the PLM arena. Autocad's success on the desktop was the result of bringing a lower-cost model to an existing market. Can this sort of bottom-up, connect-lots-of-small-pieces approach work in the complex field of PLM? Autodesk thinks so, and I agree. And Streamline is sure to play a central role in the unfolding of this drama.

2. THE LIST

Total companies: 257 (see who's on The List at http://www.extranetnews.com/).

3. TIDBITS

· MillTechnology Adopts NavisWorks For Virtually Clash-Free Building Services Coordination. http://go.cadwire.net/?24616,1,1

· Document Flow announces the release of CADsafe. It will form part of the SECUREsuite product range, designed to address drawing security and authenticity issues. http://go.cadwire.net/?24691,1,1.

· Project Extranets – An Introduction to Collaborative Working Online. This one-day conference will discuss the continuing development of extranets within the construction industry. Expert speakers include Stuart Cowperthwaite of Arup, Jon Malam of Mott MacDonald and Louise Townsend of Masons. Topics will include understanding extranets, choosing a specific extranet system for your business, and why extranets can benefit your business. Registration is £265+VAT before 27th February 2003 or £325+Vat thereafter. Thursday 27th March 2003 at The Salford Suite II, Old Trafford, Manchester. http://www.ajplus.co.uk/events/projectextranets.

· "The Dandelion Principle: Structuring for Greatness." Preview Joel's upcoming book at http://www.dandelionprinciple.com , and sign up there to receive a series of "seedlings" from "The Dandelion Principle" via email.

· COFES2003. Keynotes: Alan Kay and Jeff Harrow. May 15-18, 2003, Scottsdale Plaza Resort, Scottsdale, AZ. We've revamped the program with much more "how do we actually apply this stuff?" Go to the website to see who has registered to date. http://www.cofes.com

4. QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.

-- James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)

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