The Hindu Business Line : Autodesk plans annual release of AutoCAD

AUTODESK is planning an annual release of its flagship product AutoCAD. The US-based design software and digital content company initiated this proposal with the introduction of AutoCAD 2005 to the Indian market place last week.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr. Andre Pravaz, Vice-President, Autodesk (Asia Pacific), said the decision (to release one version every year) was based on the feedback it received from its customers.

``Each release would be theme-based. This year, our theme is `work for capability','' he said and explained that AutoCAD 2005 software provided productivity tools, which helped to create, manage and share entire sets of related drawings across the organisation.

Citing an example, he said, ``Imagine you are working on a project. You would probably have to create hundreds of drawing files relating to it. Each of these would have multiple layouts depicting different views or scales of project data. Most organisations manage sheet sets using a file or folder structure on local disk/drive and network servers.

``AutoCAD 2005 goes beyond the single drawing productivity by providing new tools that make it easier to manage the entire sets of related drawings or sheet sets. The Sheet Manager helps to eliminate confusion and time wasted on referencing and cross-referencing individual drawings, facilitates automatic updation of tags, callouts and labels.''

He added that in management of design format using DWF (Design Web Format) files, it was possible to produce sheet set without any interruption to the work.

Elaborating on CAD's potential, he said, ``The new standard in CAD productivity ensures maximum speed, power and efficiency throughout the process. Though this standard began with the earlier release - AutoCAD 2004, which gave users measurable efficiency gains of up to 70 per cent increase in productivity, the new tools in AutoCAD 2005 is expected to free the user from tedious drafting tasks and help in managing sets of drawings efficiently.''

To a query he said yearly releases would be non-disruptive. ``We have a subscription programme. We are therefore committed to give our customers the true value for their money. Further, we have to continue to retain and improve our customer base.''

On whether the company intended to phase out some of the earlier versions of the product, Mr Parvaz said, ``We are planning to phase out AutoCAD 2002 by January next. But our customers need not worry. In the 2004 and 2005 version, there is no change in hardware specifications''

While the various versions of the product works well on Microsoft platform, the company, he said was monitoring its use on the Linux platform.

On investment, he said that the company's R&D spend was close to $200 million (about Rs 900 crore). `It is quite significant. Our investment on research and development efforts is 22 per cent of our total expenses every year.'

On the India market potential, he said that the customer base was increasing significantly in the last couple of years. ``We are planning to hire people,'' he said but refused to divulge the number or details.

The India office has 69 people on its roll.