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Autodesk Inventor Beats SolidWorks in Independent 3D Mechanical Design Software Competition; Head-to-Head Shoot-Out Confirms Superiority of Autodesk Inventor

Aug 08, 2002
SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Aug 8, 2002 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Autodesk, Inc. (Nasdaq:ADSK), the world's leading design software and digital content company, today announced that Autodesk Inventor won against Dassault's SolidWorks software in a head-to-head "shoot-out" co-hosted by the Silicon Valley AutoCAD Power Users (SVAPU) and the Marin AutoCAD Users Group. The results confirm what thousands of manufacturing customers worldwide already experienced, that Autodesk Inventor is the most advanced mechanical CAD system in the mid-price range and a superior solution to SolidWorks. Autodesk Inventor helps mechanical designers and engineers increase productivity and get better products to market faster than their competition, thus providing them with a competitive advantage.

Betty Baugh, president of the Industrial Designers Society of America, who judged the six-round competition before an audience of AutoCAD, SolidWorks and Autodesk Inventor users said, "Autodesk Inventor was the clear winner. The software was extremely intuitive and required fewer steps to accomplish the same design tasks."

The event poised two competitors--one using Autodesk Inventor and the other using SolidWorks--to perform the same tasks simultaneously. "It was a real competition with competent users, unknown factors and real world scenarios. It was clear nothing was staged and the users came in blind," said Richard Byle, senior mechanical designer for the Imaging Products Division of Bio-Rad Laboratories and an active SolidWorks user.

Both SolidWorks and Autodesk were invited to participate, however only Autodesk sent a representative. "We hired a SolidWorks expert who has been working with the product since 1995," said Elise Moss, president of SVAPU. "Many SolidWorks users in the audience expressed positive feedback about Inventor. Although no shoot-out, demo, or class can cover all software features, this shoot-out hit the real problems that designers confront every day."

The six rounds of the competition included: converting AutoCAD 2D to 3D, bringing a part into an assembly, importing and working with an IGES file, creating an assembly and working with the product's included fastener library, creating an exploded view and an animation, and completing a surprise engineering change order which required the user to convert a sheet-metal part to plastic. The capabilities of Autodesk Inventor, its speed, and ease of use were clearly demonstrated throughout the competition. For example, during Round 4 an assembly design was completed in 12 minutes in Autodesk Inventor as opposed to 42 minutes with SolidWorks.

"I was impressed with Inventor and specifically its importing of documents and manipulative capabilities," said Heather Bird, engineer at biotech company TeleChem International, Inc./arrayit.com and current AutoCAD user. "Inventor is extremely exciting because I see it as a valuable vehicle to enhance my professional growth and empower me to produce a more professional product."

"Many manufacturing companies are looking to move from 2D to 3D. Autodesk Inventor represents the smartest choice, giving them unparalleled ease of use, productivity, and a complete manufacturing solution," said Robert Kross, vice president of the Manufacturing Division at Autodesk. "Manufacturing companies are evaluating the two software packages in the real world every day. Feedback from these companies and the rapid adoption rate of Autodesk Inventor tells us that Inventor is already a winning solution for our customers."

    About Autodesk
Founded in 1982, Autodesk, Inc., is the world's leading design and digital media creation, management, and distribution company. The company serves a diverse portfolio of markets, including building design, geographic information systems, manufacturing, digital media, and wireless data services. By delivering tools that foster innovation and creativity, Autodesk helps customers throughout the value chain leverage digital design data to work better, faster, and smarter. For more information about the company, see www.autodesk.com.

Autodesk, AutoCAD and Autodesk Inventor, are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

CONTACT:          Autodesk, Inc.
                  Cindi Goodsell, 415/507-8452
                  cindi.goodsell@autodesk.com

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