Solid Moves

Announced at the annual user conference, Solid Edge University 2013 in Cincinnati, USA, Siemens PLM rolled out Solid Edge ST6, its mid-range 3D CAD parametric feature solid modeling software and dubbed it as its ‘greatest version ever'. The company said ST6 ushers in a six fold performance increase.

In a conference, Karsten Newbury, senior vice president, mainstream engineering, Siemens PLM, unveiled the product throwing light on a number of its features. Solid Edge ST6 was introduced to the 500 attendees at Solid Edge University 2013, the user conference organized at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington. The company claims to have incorporated 1,300 user requests in ST6, enhancing design, simulation, learning, and collaboration. Solid Edge is the midrange 3D mechanical design solution from Siemens PLM Software. Siemens PLM Software also develops products including the high-end NX mechanical design software and Teamcenter for product lifecycle management (PLM).

The software is notable for its synchronous technology, which offers fully integrated constraint-driven modeling and history-free (or ‘direct') modeling within the same interface. During the conference, the company also unveiiled Android and iPad mini support for the free Solid Edge mobile viewer app, a on demand program for those who wish to use a cloud-based version of Solid Edge on a monthly fee (coming in August), and Solid Edge SP for design management and collaboration in Microsoft SharePoint environments.

SOLID FOOT

Chuck Grindstaff, CEO and president of Siemens PLM Software, kicked off his keynote presentation at SEU 2013. "Solid Edge continues to be a strong member of the Siemens community with 20% growth YoY," said Grindstaff.

Karsten Newbury manifested an infectious enthusiasm for his flagship product and shed light on growing efforts to build community around Solid Edge. Later in the coversation, Newbury emphasized on the technical improvements and connecting the Solid Edge with other tools to improve collaboration and mobile use. "We've incorporated a lot of features based on the user feedback and tried to make ST6, the best application," he said.

WHAT'S NEW IN SOLID EDGE ST6

The Solid Edge ST6 offers an array of features and benefits:

• New surfacing functions that help create stylized designs approximately four times faster
• New sheet metal capabilities that help create stamped parts nearly five times faster
• New simulation tools that automatically optimize designs up to six times faster
• Synchronous technology enhancements that help designers import and reuse files up to six times faster, which enables improved collaboration with partners
• Support for easier importing of SolidWorks files

During the conference, we had a chance to look at the demos and products developed using Solid Edge ST5, from Robots, cars, and bikes to toys and crockery.