2005 was a banner year for Autodesk! Why should you care? There are always things that Autodesk does that we do not understand or think are flat out wrong. They often act like the 900 pound gorillas, but there are many things that they continue to do right.<\/p>\n
Here are some hightlights culled from their press releases over the last year that I think will impact all of us into the future.<\/p>\n
2005-01-04 – Autodesk Announces Availability of AutoCAD Revit Series 7; Provides Competitive Advantage and Ultimate Flexibility <\/a> 2005-02-16 – UGS and Autodesk Form Strategic Alliance to Extend Collaboration Across the Supply Chain for Nearly 10 Million Users <\/a> <\/span>– UGS is a leading global provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services with nearly 4 million licensed seats and 42,000 clients worldwide. <\/span>Look for some cool DWF stuff to come out of this alliance. 2005-02-22 – Autodesk Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire COMPASS Systems <\/a>– Look for Data Management tools to expand. 2005-03-08 – Post-Production House Nice Shoes Steps Up Advertising Workflow with Discreet\u2019s Systems<\/a> – Keeping the gamers happy 2005-03-15 – Autodesk Releases Major Updates to Entire Product Portfolio <\/a>– The 2006 product line is the strongest overall platform to date. 2005-03-23 – California Resident to be Sentenced for Software Piracy<\/a> – Autodesk remains vigilant in fighting pirates! 2005-03-24 – Autodesk Re-brands Discreet \u2013 Its Industry Leading Film, Television, Post-Production and Gaming Business as Autodesk Media and Entertainment<\/a> – A rebranding and refocus. <\/span>Bringing discreet into the fold. <\/span>Some of the discreet users are not excited \u2013 but I am. <\/span> 2005-04-27 – Autodesk Revit Building 8 Achieves Stage One IFC Certification<\/a> – Now Autodesk can boast of an IFC compliant tool 2005-05-18 – Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Standardizes Freedom Tower Project on Autodesk Revit Platform<\/a> – You may be sick of hearing about SOM, but this project is putting Revit in the minds of many firms that think it is not for big jobs. 2005-06-07 Autodesk Launches Integrated Structural Modeling Application for Engineering Productivity, Design Quality and Collaboration<\/a> – Revit Structure \u2013 slowly growing with successes among key structural engineering firms. <\/span>This is the second product based on the Revit Platform. <\/span>More to come\u2026 2005-06-15 Autodesk Introduces Software for Developers to Create High-Quality, Cost-Effective Applications<\/a> – RealDWG 2006 \u2013 develop real DWG files – enables third-party application providers to develop and market products that read and write leading design data formats AutoCAD DWG and DXF. 2005-11-28 Autodesk University Opens to Record Setting Numbers<\/a> – Still dedicated to the users 2005-11-29 Autodesk Inventor Seats Surge Past 500,000 Mark<\/a> \u2013 Making a dent in ProE and others? Record Revenue\u2026 <\/span>Making money the old fashioned way? For the fourth quarter of 2004, Autodesk reported net revenues of $356 million, a 21 percent increase<\/strong> over $295 million reported in the fourth quarter of the prior year. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n For the first quarter of 2005, Autodesk reported net revenues of $355 million, a 19 percent increase<\/strong> over $298 million reported in the first quarter of the prior year. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n For the second quarter, Autodesk reported record net revenues of $373 million, a 33 percent increase<\/strong> over $280 million reported in the second quarter of the prior year. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n For the third quarter, Autodesk reported record net revenues of $378 million, a 26 percent increase<\/strong> over $300 million reported in the third quarter of the prior year. Acquisitions – Autodesk was in a buying mood \u2013 for the whole year 2005-02-22 Autodesk Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire COMPASS Systems <\/a> 2005-04-18 Autodesk Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Software Developer Colorfront <\/a> 2005-04-18 Autodesk Partners with Maximum Throughput to Resell Sledgehammer NAS, SD!O, and HD!O<\/a> 2005-05-03 Autodesk Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire c-plan<\/a> 2005-08-02 Autodesk and mental images Expand License And Development Agreement<\/a> 2005-08-22 Autodesk to Acquire Leading Developer of Mechanical Motion Analysis Solutions<\/a> 2005-09-27 Autodesk Partners with RAM International for Structural Engineering Solution <\/a> 2005-10-04 Autodesk Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Alias<\/a>