SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Aug 9, 2004 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Autodesk (Nasdaq: ADSK), the world's leading design software and digital content company, today announced significant enhancements to the Autodesk(R) Buzzsaw(R) service to provide more visibility and control on building, manufacturing, and infrastructure projects. Autodesk Buzzsaw provides a platform that enables building owners, developers, architects, construction, and facilities managers the ability to manage and share information more effectively throughout planning, design, construction and operations processes. As a result, cost savings and greater productivity are achieved through improved team collaboration and projects are completed more accurately, quickly, and profitably.

"One of the biggest challenges in store development involves driving costs out of the equation, becoming more efficient, and taking time out of the process," says Jeff Roster, Principal Analyst with Gartner. "One of the logical extensions to that is improving the infrastructures to the different parts of the process. Online collaboration, if done right, can do just that."

In a recent study, Zweig White named Autodesk Buzzsaw as the number one project collaboration solution. Among the factors influencing this ranking was the growing adoption of Autodesk Buzzsaw with building owners, which increased 49 percent during the last year. Limited Brands, Barnes and Noble, and Wyndham International, are several examples of accelerating growth companies using Buzzsaw to manage their construction project portfolio.

The latest release of Autodesk Buzzsaw offers even more features for building owners and their consultants to gain improved visibility and control over the multiple firms involved in developing a commercial property. Using workflow and business process modeling tools to create a foundation for efficient communication among project members, managers gain greater insight into project status to identify data discrepancies, ensure work keeps pace with changing requirements, and pre-empt issues so projects stay on schedule. Electronic distribution of drawings and documents helps streamline the review process and cut travel and shipping costs. Efficient management and tracking of numerous construction elements -- from building permits and bid packages to multiple design and construction teams -- contributes to completion of projects on-time and on-budget.

John Bryant, Wyndham International's Director Capital Assets, said, "With Autodesk's project collaboration and management service, we can more efficiently manage design and construction projects. Any efficiency we can gain in the roll-out of new hotel concepts helps provide Wyndham with a competitive advantage."

Unprecedented Visibility Saves Time and Improves Productivity

One of the chief concerns when managing construction projects is lack of visibility into the project status and the absence of timely information and notification of critical issues. Autodesk Buzzsaw includes enhanced project portfolio management capabilities that provide detailed reports on schedule, budget, and project status. A richer project dashboard also displays key performance indicators for all projects in process. Additionally, users can more easily monitor project processes and identify discrepancies early enough to keep projects on track and speed time to market.

Improved Control

Maintaining control of project performance is one of the primary problems facing project and construction managers. Autodesk Buzzsaw enables building professionals to drive standard processes with workflow rules, roles and templates. This feature sets specific routing rules by role, group, or individual member and sets standard rules for due dates of specific processes, helping insure the project stays on track and within budget. Additional features accelerate project communication and avoid delays caused by inaccurate information.

"Autodesk Buzzsaw gives the building industry the power to collaborate more productively," said Amar Hanspal, senior director of Autodesk's collaboration services division. "Even more important, firms that are able to standardize process and workflow using Autodesk Buzzsaw are poised for advantage: These are the architects, developers and builders who can act swiftly on new business opportunities."

Availability

Autodesk Buzzsaw is available immediately worldwide in five languages: English, Japanese, simplified Chinese, Korean, and German. For more information, visit www.autodesk.com/buzzsaw.

About Autodesk

Autodesk is the world's leading design software and digital content company, offering customers progressive business solutions through powerful technology products and services. Autodesk helps customers in the building, manufacturing, infrastructure, digital media, and wireless data services fields increase the value of their digital design data and improve efficiencies across their entire project lifecycle management processes. For more information about the company, see www.autodesk.com.

NOTE: Autodesk and Buzzsaw are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

Contact: Colleen Nichols, 415-356-0722
Email: colleen.nichols@autodesk.com

SOURCE Autodesk, Inc.

http://www.autodesk.com