UGS is announcing a significant new release of Geolus Search, the 3D geometric shape search technology acquired in June 2006 from Software Design and Management (SD&M) of Germany.
The rich set of enhancements added to the new release during this brief period demonstrates UGS' technical expertise and market commitment.
Bruce Feldt, vice president of Open Tools at UGS, states: “When we first added Geolus Search to our product family earlier this year, we could see its potential to revolutionise reuse processes for the global manufacturing industry. Since then we have aggressively added enhancements that will help more companies save money by using shape search technology to help identify and reuse their existing designs and manufacturing processes.”
Dr Marco Poetke, principal consultant for PLM at SD&M, adds: “During the short time since acquiring the Geolus Search technology, the UGS development team has demonstrated an impressive ability to immediately understand this sophisticated shape search solution and assimilate it into their own processes and product offerings, while, at the same time, opening up the technology for use with third-party software applications. We look forward to continuing and extending our collaboration with UGS in integrating the Geolus technology into the process and system landscapes of our clients, thereby achieving maximum customer benefit and satisfaction.”
Geolus Search is a software application that, in addition to employing traditional text-based searching technology, also has the ability to quickly locate parts from large heterogeneous data sources on the basis of geometric similarity. Traditional search engines rely on comparison and search capabilities based on part numbers and descriptions alone. While this method can be very useful, its limitations do not allow companies to fully optimise their parts management due to issues such as inconsistent standards and classifications, limited part numbering conventions and native language dependence.
However, Geolus Search combines traditional search capabilities with innovative geometric search technology to accurately identify more duplicate parts and duplicate suspects. Its advanced geometry-based search capability promotes innovation through reuse and eliminates the time and expense associated with designing or purchasing duplicate parts.
Jim Brown, vice president of Global Product Innovation and Engineering Research at Aberdeen Group, comments: “According to our research, as many as 30 to 40 per cent of manufacturers' parts are duplicates or have acceptable substitutes. When you consider that the annual carrying cost for each new part can range from $4500 to $23000 [EUR3400-17,400] per item, the value of a part reuse strategy that includes advanced search tools to help significantly reduce part redundancy is clear.”
The technology in Geolus Search earned SD&M the 'Innovator of the Year, 2004' award from Cadcam magazine and the latest release includes major advances in openness and scalability, along with integration enhancements that enable interoperability with virtually all leading CAD and database applications. Enhancements include: additional 'geometry connectors' that allow searches to originate from virtually all leading enterprise CAD platforms including UGS' NX software, as well as Catia and Pro/E software; the addition of Microsoft SQL Server to the list of already supported database platforms (Oracle, MySQL, and DB2), allowing enterprise IT implementation flexibility; scalability and performance improvements that enable efficient searches to be made on larger databases, effectively doubling the capacity of previous versions while maintaining highly interactive end user performance; and improved openness with the introduction of Geolus Open, an application programming interface (API) for the Geolus Search engine that allows third parties to build value-added applications that can leverage geometric search
For more information, visit www.ugs.com
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