Craziest. Beta. Ever!
Not that I'm complaining, but I am thoroughly confused. You may be as well, so hopefully this will help clarify a few things.
Beta Waves (Not Alpha or Gamma)
First of all, Autodesk CAM 360 Beta was set up to be a limited roll-out to a few groups at a time. If you were like me, you signed up for beta but never got an invite to actually participate. When news came out that CAM 360 left Beta (with rumors of being production ready), the slight feeling of being jilted weighs heavy on the heart. But the good news is that the Beta test was so successful based on the groups that did get in, that Autodesk decided to move passed the beta phase.
Great News, Added Confusion
With progress happening so quickly, Autodesk has decided to allow ALL beta users in. No more waves of people. To handle the influx of users, CAM 360 is moving from the beta environment to the production environment. (For those who have implemented enterprise level systems, you know you always have three environments: development, test, and production. Going to production means moving the application to the production-level hardware because that's the one with the horsepower to handle the full user load.) So when you hear that CAM 360 has gone to production, that doesn't necessarily mean that testing is over. And this is where the confusion rests. CAM 360 is currently in the Tech Preview phase of deployment, but it resides on the production environment. Why does that matter?
Delta Testing?
If that makes you feel better, go ahead and call the Tech Preview another phase of software testing. But, there are more important benefits when you consider what the production environment means. Mainly, Fusion 360 and Sim 360 are also on the production environment. That means your Autodesk 360 data from Fusion and Sim can be used alongside CAM 360.
To get you started with the Tech Preview, Autodesk is hosting a series of webinars. Check them out and I hope to see you in "beta."