Valencia, California, February 24, 1997 - Solid Concepts and MICROCADAM, Inc. (Los Angeles, CA) today announce a strategic alliance. The two firms, located within 30 miles of each other, agreed to work closely together to insure that solid models from MICROCADAM, Inc.'s Helix Modeling™ can be used effectively and efficiently with the SolidView® product from Solid Concepts. The two firms also agreed to engage in cooperative marketing activities starting with Solid Concepts' participation in MICROCADAM Inc.'s upcoming Value Added Reseller conference in San Diego, CA.
According to Jack Horgan, Senior VP of MICROCADAM, Inc., "We are very pleased with this agreement. We believe that this will offer our customers greatly needed capabilities at very reasonable cost. For every designer and engineer working with our Helix Modeling products there are five or more people with a need to view the design. These people require a very easy to use and inexpensive solution. SolidView will enable our end users and related parties to view the parts and assemblies designed with Helix and further to be able to perform measurements and dynamically generate complex section views in a very cost effective manner. The data can be transmitted across the World Wide Web which is of increasing interest to our customer and prospect base. These capabilities support the true idea of collaborative engineering . The performance of SolidView even with complex assemblies is very impressive."
"We are very excited about the opportunity to work more closely with MICROCADAM and their VAR network," said Joe Allison, President of Solid Concepts. "The Helix Modeling System is a state of the art surface and solid modeling package that addresses the real-world needs of designers and engineers. Used in conjunction with SolidView, MICROCADAM customers can easily communicate complex designs and assemblies over the Internet, their company Intranet or any other communication media."
SolidView provides real-time rendering, including shading, smooth shading, faces of solid and wire-frame display of modeling data output from Helix Modeling in STL (stereolithography) and optionally IGES formats. SolidView is not simply a viewer. The package allows operators to apply 3D dimensions to edges, faces, arcs, vertices, and completed objects, to dynamically display complex cross sections, to print images, and to cut and paste with other applications. Models may be "published" with an embedded viewer to enable others to view the models without purchasing the SolidView software. This no-cost player is particularly attractive when dealing with a customer's extended family of suppliers and sub-contractors. This capability enables these companies to more quickly and more accurately generate quotes and communicate engineering changes than by relying on traditional engineering drawings to communicate designs.
MICROCADAM, Inc. is a leading vendor of desktop mechanical CAD/CAM systems. MICROCADAM, Inc. offers a full range of cost effective, production proven CAD/CAM products under the name Helix Design System™ available on PC and workstation hardware and software environments. MICROCADAM, Inc.'s Helix Modeling combines the power of both parametric and variational design capabilities. With the help of an extensive suite of geometric editing tools designers and engineers can create and modify models of parts and assemblies, investigate design alternatives, apply engineering change orders, and produce the needed documentation and engineering drawings.
MICROCADAM is a wholly owned subsidiary of CADAM Systems Company, Inc. (CSC), of Tokyo, Japan. CSC, founded in 1984, is a joint venture between IBM and Kawasaki Heavy Industries. CSC is the leading supplier of desktop mechanical CAD/CAM systems in Japan and among the top CAD suppliers in terms of worldwide revenue. MICROCADAM, Inc. headquartered in Los Angeles, California, has offices in the United Kingdom, France and Singapore as well as a joint venture, TCM TransCAT MICROCADAM, in Germany. MICROCADAM, Inc. distributes its product through a global network of Value Added Resellers.
Solid Concepts Inc. is a recognized leader in rapid prototyping and manufacturing. Founded in 1991, the Company has enjoyed tremendous growth, fueled by a commitment to service and constant technical innovation. In addition to providing rapid prototyping and manufacturing services, Solid Concepts develops and markets SolidView®, which has become the industry standard for 3D communication of CAD designs on low cost personal computers. Solid Concepts Inc. is a privately held corporation headquarted in Valencia, California.