CAD Acquisition Shocker: UGS Buys D-Cubed

Reprinted by permission of Ralph Grabowski, editor
WorldCAD Access, June 10, 2004

UGS announced it has decided to acquire D-Cubed of Cambridge, England. The shocker: D-Cubed's software is embedded in most mechanical CAD packages - in UGS's own products (Solid Edge and Unigraphics NX), as well as in competitors AutoCAD, Inventor, Mechanical Desktop, CATIA, SolidWorks, IronCAD, One Space Designer, Pro/DESKTOP and thinkdesign.

The CEO of UGS, however, promises peace towards his competitors: "The same PLM Open strategy and business model that have been so successful with our Parasolid software and JT Open initiative will continue to be employed with the D-Cubed family of products.”

(Parasolid is one of the two primary solids modeling kernels used by UGS and competitors, notably SolidWorks; the parent of SolidWorks, Dassault Systemes, owns the other major kernel, ACIS, used by other competitors. Some CAD packages use both kernels; others use proprietary kernels.)

The UGS lineup of software currently consists of:
Unigraphics NX
Solid Edge
Teamcenter
E-factory
Parasolid
PLM Vis
JT Open Toolkit
PLM XML SDK

Analysts had guessed that UGS would move fast, now that it was free of EDS. My question is, Where'd UGS get the money? They just spent US$2 billion freeing themselves of EDS.

If this acquisition is a sign of new aggressiveness from UGS, then the MCAD industry is headed for interesting times - something that makes this journalist's heart beat faster.

Update: Statement from Autodesk

"Autodesk has an agreement to license component technology from D-Cubed, as well as a consulting arrangement. We want to reassure our customers and partners that we believe this new development will not affect our current solutions or our future product offerings. We will continue to work with D-Cubed and look forward to building a successful relationship with UGS." - Tiffany Pence

Update: UGS Reponds

"The private equity firms that invested in UGS obviously were and are confident in future prospects for PLM. As an independent company, UGS can promote its brand more easily than it could as part of EDS. [Buying D-Cubed is] not cheap, necessarily, but affordable. The acquisition won't have a material impact on UGS liquidity or its ability to meet debt covenants. The transaction will be financed from cash on hand and/or revolving credit." - John Day

About the Author

Ralph Grabowski is an editor at upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd. (previously known as XYZ Publishing, Ltd.). Ralph is the author of 60 books and several hundred articles for dozens magazines and newsletters about CAD, graphics, and the Internet.

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