The A/E/C Systems show and conference in Anaheim, California (June 3-6) appeared to suffer, as do many current exhibitions, from recessionitis. Floor space was small, some notable vendors were absent, and the attendance can only be described as 'light'. Nonetheless, a number of the big names including Autodesk and Bentley did attend. Although leads were scarce, there was apparently an upside to the lack of visitors this year; there was 'more opportunity for vendors to talk to the press!' to quote a major vendor's Marketing VP.

From the companies that exhibited, I must admit to being surprised at the large number promoting internet based project and data management capabilities. Speaking to Chris Bradshaw, Vice President, AutoDesk Building Collaboration Services, I find it difficult to see how a number of smaller vendors will continue to differentiate in this space as AutoDesk's offerings develop.

Although there were presentations on many new versions of CAD software from the likes of Autodesk, Bentley and Graphisoft, what caught my eye was the Infrasoft Arenium product. This product also happened to win the Cadence Show Stopper award for it's second successive year. Based on a collaboration process not dissimilar to that used by ImpactXoft in the mechanical world, Arenium offers synchronous and asynchronous collaboration, with acceptable performance over standard phone connections. I'd like to think that customers can instantly see the short term benefits of this kind of technology but realistically you can lead them to the water, but you can't make them drink!

Allan Behrens
email: allan.behrens@cambashi.com

Other Cambashi articles that may be of interest:
Who will pay for the building information model?
Is PLM applicable to AEC?

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