Inspiration for this post:
Kisters this week released the latest version of their 3D CAD viewer 3DViewStation v11.3. Being just a point release, the number of feature and functionality enhancements certainly caught my attention, but not being that familiar with the tool, I looked deeper.
3DViewStation supports an impressive array of both native and neutral file formats, and offer full import/export functionality for each of them, making it very well suited for multi-CAD and/or collaborative environments. It also features the full range of file markup, report generation, and presentation tools you'd expect from a quality viewer. But of everything in the press release, the thing that really caught my attention was that it also includes a software component that contains the complete functionality of the full desktop version.
Delivering a desktop application is one thing. But also delivering the same tools that can be embedded in other apps, now that's something else entirely. Now I was intrigued...
Kisters is the name that's not very well-known in North America, but they're far more popular in Europe both as a software developer and PLM system integrator. They started as an engineering agency that evolved into an engineering IT organization that today touts an impressive customer list. Among them...
- Audi - Drives an internal data management solution.
- DSC - Powers their SAP PLM implementation solution for NX.
- Deuters - Delivered customer-facing engine configuration solution.
When talking with a vendor about one of their software products, at some point every writer asks them how they try to differentiate their product from the competition. This was the first time I was ever told that they didn't. It's not that they don't care about their customers. They just don't look at it from the perspective of a traditional software vendor. As an IT company, they focus on their integration opportunities and satisfying those customers. By solving those problems, they are actually more in touch with the customers for their commercial software. 3DViewStation is simply the sum total of their solutions to every integration problem they've encountered, wrapped up into a single installable tool sporting a clean, modern user interface.
To me 3DViewStation looks like something that should be on CAD manager's radar screen. Whether your looking for a standalone 3D CAD viewer, or if you want to create a... uh... what's the word I'm looking for? Ah, yes... to create a granular solution to your PLM integration challenge.
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