By Randall S. Newton
Editor-in-Chief
In June IMSI Software reorganized as Broadcaster, Inc and spun off its CAD assets to a new firm, IMSI/Design LLC. Sales of TurboCAD, the leading retail CAD product and popular alternative to AutoCAD LT, have continued on as before. But the company has been quiet since the transition.
This week AECnews learned that IMSI/Design is joining the IntelliCAD Technology Consortium (ITC) and that Robert Meyer, an executive vice president of IMSI/Design and a significant stockholder, will be nominated for a position on the ITC board at the ITC annual meeting next month. IntelliCAD is an AutoCAD clone with an interesting history; ITC maintains it for a variety of commercial members who either resell the product as-is, translate it for a local market, or combine it with specialized applications. The most prominent members to date include ProgeSOFT of Italy, BricsCad NV of Belgium, and CADopia, Autodsys, and SolidWorks of the United States. Several Asian firms are also ITC members.
TurboCAD has been a successful retail CAD product for 20 years, outlasting many other titles. To become a commercial member of the ITC, IMSI/Design will have to put up $25,000 to join and pay an annual membership fee of $20,000. When asked why IMSI/Design is putting up $45,000 to access a second CAD code base, Meyer would only say that “the company is taking a look at all its options.” IMSI/Design is also a member of the Open Design Alliance, which reverse-engineers AutoCAD DWG for its membership. The ODA does not offer CAD, only the software libraries to be compatible with the DWG file format.
Over the years, IMSI Software built an impressive retail sales operation, which IMSI/Design inherited. The strong sales organization was a big reason why TurboCAD succeeded and survived while other retail CAD software products fell by the wayside. There currently are no AutoCAD-clone products in the retail channel. It could be that IMSI sees an opportunity to expand its current dominance in retail by offering an AutoCAD clone. Or it could be planning some kind of head-on competition with Autodesk, a strategy which has created a CAD gladiator's graveyard over the years.
Arnold van der Weide, ITC president, was delighted at the news regarding IMSI/Design. “The fact that IMSI/Design is joining the ITC underlines the growing importance of the IntelliCAD Technology Consortium,” he told AECnews. “I am looking forward to the IntelliCAD World Meeting October 11-13, during which the board of the ITC is elected.”
The ITC meeting will be in beautiful Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, a two-hour drive up the Okanogan Valley from the AECnews home office. I will be attending, to see what might be up with IMSI/Design if for no other reason.