I had a chance to came back to 3DEXPERIENCE World (formerly SOLIDWORKS World) for the first time since 2012 and more than the name has changed.  The crowd was a bit smaller, a bit tamer, and a little greyer but the energy is enormous, particularly around what AI might do for the design community. 

At SWW 2012 the next generation of cloud SW was announced, and the user base was baffled. The cloud product known as Xdesign looked very different, and the most important difference is that it runs on Dassault’s CGM kernel rather than Siemens’ Parasolid kernel like desktop SW. A kernel is the mathematical solver behind the geometric calculations used in CAD, and the impact on the user base is that geometry that is moved from one solver to the other is recalculated differently the parametrics that define the parts will lose much of the design intent and the parts will come over as something commonly called a “dumb solid”. 

Sure, it sounds great for Dassault’s bottom line to launch their next generation product on their own kernel to avoid paying for Parasolid, but this felt like a betrayal to the SW community.  However, looking at it another way, would Ford launch the next version of the Mustang using a Chevy V8? Furthermore, what if that V8 came from China and the supply could be disrupted at any time? Users have been saying “I want my Mustang with a Chevy engine”, but that is where this analogy falls flat.  We are not talking about cars, or files, or anything discreet anymore.  We are talking about universes, and there can’t be two of those. 

For the last 13 years users have been content keeping their desktop CAD systems with functional upgrades over the years, but suddenly there is the promise of using AI Companions to do everything from creating your drawings, to eliminating duplicate parts, reducing costs, and even confirming that parts adhere to requirements.  However, to do that, users will have to plug into the 3DEXPERIENCE, because that is how AI works.  If you want to use the internet, you have to get online. Getting on the platform will give users more than access to AI. It opens new ways of collaborating without sharing files, provides instant access to powerful tools like visualization and simulation, and can enable digital supplier collaboration and even co development opportunities.

Liberating your CAD from beyond the corporate firewall can be a scary prospect for many companies. A product company’s value is dependent on the security of their IP, and clearly security needs to be robust.  Users are worried that the platform is so secure that they can’t get their data out to send it to suppliers or integrate it with their ERP systems and that is a concern that can not be ignored. 

SOLIDWORKS Connected for 2025 suddenly makes a whole lot of sense.  It allows users to continue to use the technology they rely on to develop their products while preserving design intent and simultaneously enables them to take advantage of AI and the rest of the goodies on the platform. 

While going Connected will make sense for some, going full cloud might make more sense for other companies, particularly those that don’t have an existing IP ecosystem in place already.  Startups have an opportunity to develop design processes that are cloud native, saving them the headaches of desktop issues like expensive hardware, limiting operating systems, IT overhead for configuring and installing software, lost files, or maintaining multiple old versions of the software so they can continue to work with customers and suppliers on different versions. Best yet, imagine never having to upgrade your CAD again. C

learly the shift will not happen quickly, as upgrading a version on desktop based CAD requires effort, planning and testing but ultimately users will want access to AI. In order to take advantage of this step change in computing power people will have to connect their CAD ecosystem to the platform they have resisted, and it does appear likely that the next generation of companies and users will be cloud native.