It's a solid future for online collaboration

摘要

Solid modelling has changed significantly since its introduction in the mid-1980s. IBM product lifestyle management application engineer Andy Reilly says that today the challenge is to create robustness in the relationship between geometry and design features, and respond to change speedily. And according to Kate Mills of EDS, web-based collaboration will no longer be a matter of simply transferring design files over the internet from a large manufacturer to a toolmaker or parts manufacturer. Different CAD systems can offer interactive, real-time design review and mark-up via the internet or an intranet using a neutral data model like EDS's JT format, eXT or XML. Real-time net-based collaborative design sessions will become increasingly commonplace using standard e-conferencing management and collaboration tools. At the same time, the packages are being made more stylist-friendly, or intuitive. Admittedly, the most advanced collaboration systems, such as UGS or Pro-Engineer, still only talk 'peer to peer' and demand significant bandwidth. But online collaboration offers exciting potential not only for designers and engineers, but will also bring purchasing, production and marketing departments, as well as suppliers and customers, early into the development picture.