The Future of CADAM

How much longer can you depend on CCD?

In the history of CAD the CADAM product has probably been the most copied product of all. It has been the most productive 2D and 2-1/2D tool, and those who have implemented this tool continue to use it for years, indeed decades. Many companies have relied on CADAM as their primary CAD engineering tool.

The life of CADAM is now reaching 40 years. No other CAD tool has remained viable for so long a period. The advantage, of course, with software, is that it can continue to be improved and renewed so that its viability, indeed vitality can increase with age given a quality foundation and continued design vision. CADAM, now called CATIA CADAM Drafting or CCD, has continued to renew and improve itself so that it continues to be the tool of choice for many companies.

Although the strategy and vision of Dassault Systemes is 3D, it is clear that many companies will continue to have 2D or 2-1/2D requirements for many years to come. At some time, 2D will cease to be a major requirement. When that happens, it will be appropriate to retire CCD. No one can accurately predict when that might be, but it is probably not within the next decade, and may not be for many years after that.

Today, CCD is still being sold to many of Dassault Systemes' most strategic customers. True, these customers use CCD primarily for their legacy products that have been designed using CADAM or CCD. "Legacy" is not a euphemism for "old" and certainly legacy products can be as important or more important than new products or products that have not been brought to market yet. CCD is therefore, still important, most often critical to the success of these strategic customers. As long as CCD is so important to our strategic customers, CCD will continue to be important to our company as well. We would not let our most strategic customers invest in new CCD seats and new CCD projects if we had already defined a time frame for retiring CCD.

Why is CCD offered as a solution? It is an issue of economics. When many drawings exist that are in the CADAM or CADAM-like format, and/or the engineering paradigm is consistent with CADAM, it may be more economically viable to use CADAM or CCD. CCD provides a robust and productive design solution, and many of these products will continue to require a 2-1/2D engineering tool for many years. Aircraft come to mind as products where modifications are constant and useful life is measured in decades.

From a pure business point of view for Dassault Systemes of America, CCD is good business. It continues to prosper and exceeds our company's margin objectives. The annual license charge (ALC) is sometimes listed by prospects as a deterrent to buying one of our products. However, ALC ensures that there will always be a sufficient revenue stream to provide the best support, maintenance, and continued enhancements that might not otherwise be feasible. Furthermore, the quality assurance focus by the development team ensures that CCD retains its reputation as being a rock-solid tool.

CCD is a sure thing. That is why, as other CADAM look-a-likes have continued to fail, CCD continues to prosper. It is produced by the same development team that developed and still supports, after nearly 40 years, the original CADAM product. CADAM data created any time during this almost 40 years is still usable, actually improved, by the current system. CCD continues to be sold exclusively by IBM and developed by Dassault Systemes. Both companies are the leaders in their respective fields.

We are often asked how long CCD will continue to be supported. We would like to answer with a definite guarantee, but such a guarantee is not as meaningful and as compelling as the reasons given in the foregoing. We trust that the above has been helpful, and we would welcome the opportunity to talk to anyone about CCD and any questions they might have.