Time is flying. My monthly top 5 posts are coming too fast. Which made me think about so many changes that happen in our life these days. The root cause is so-called “re-imagination” that coming from web, new devices, connectivity, new trends in user experience and… beauty. I captured “re-imagination” word from the presentation of Mary Meeker’s of Kleiner Perkins About The State Of The Web. Here is a single slide from the presentation.
It is a bit long, but I’d recommend you to have a look on re-imagination slides that present how our consumer life changed under the influence of technologies for the last 5-7 years. It is not only about computers and websites, the disruption will be much bigger and much broader. The latest example is Nest – wifi enabled, auto-learning, auto-sensing, energy efficient, remote-controlled thermostat. If you haven’t had a chance to read announcements, since today you can buy it Nest in Apple Store. So, expect more news in the future. For the meantime, let’s move to PLM Think Tank top 5 posts:
First look of 3DS SolidWors e-Drawing for iPad
This is something I expected to see in 2011. However, when it comes it drives interest of tens of thousands SolidWorks users. Later is better than never. I think, many of SolidWorks users will appreciate e-Drawing iPad app. The price is $1.99. The Apple iTunes policy is complicated when it comes to corporate purchasing. Does e-Drawing iPad app worth $1.99? My answer is yes. Will engineers buy e-Drawing iPad for $1.99? A good question. I’d be very interested to see the number of uploads within few weeks and months.
Will PLM vendors dig into Big Data?
These two words are fascinating. The combination makes it even more powerful – “Big” + “Data”. The value of big data is undoubted. To adopt “big data”, PLM vendor needs to go to “unknown” place characterized by a different technological stack. It is not clear how they will do so. The time is running. The ability to dig into big data problem will become an imperative very soon.
PLM Implementations and Open APIs
To build a good API is a very complicated task. To make Open API is even harder. I can see a potential in exposing both semantics of data and related system functions in a way allowing me to use it and accomplish processes automatically. I think, web and REST give us a bit promise. The responsibility of vendors is to develop an appropriate level of granularity to make it usable.
PLM Business Models, Open Source and Copyleft Decline
I’m getting back to the conversation about Open Source PLM observing Aras PLM and other candidates. The focus on community building is a key. I’m following the development of open-source software, communities, free software and future potential steps of vendors with high level of interest. In my view, vendors are more interested in how to innovate in business models rather than follow strict rules of GPL licenses.
It is an interesting time to be in the PLM market these days. As I wrote in my recent blog –SolidWorks community and opportunity for PLM, there is a significant opportunity to deliver PLM solution to the white space market these days. Gartner’s PLM market dynamics slide is highlighting the same opportunity. It is clearly a perfect storm. Large PLM companies have a lot of money to play the future PLM game. They have a lot to win as well as to lose, in case something will go wrong. Who will take the best “stormy seat” in this game? An interesting question to ask.
Best, Oleg
