STEP Tools News for Tuesday February 13 (day late)

[Martin Hardwick]

This newsletter is a brief update of what is going on in STEP and at 
STEP Tools, Inc. If you want to know more, try the STEP Tools web site 
at http://www.steptools.com


------------------------------------------------- 
STEP-NC Article in Industry Week

A two page article on STEP-NC is in the March 5 issue of Industry Week
(IW) magazine. This magazine is targeted at managers, not technical
people, and has an impressive circulation (see below). You can get to
the article at the following URL.

   http://www.industryweek.com/CurrentArticles/asp/articles.asp?ArticleID=996

The article should be a useful reference for managers and others who
do not have the time to read a full technical article such as the one
published in last May's Modern Machine shop magazine.

   http://www.mmsonline.com/articles/070001.html

Here are the numbers used on the Industry Week site to explain why it
is the leading publication for industrial organization managers

Magazine                Base    Circulation    % Sr. Mgmt   
Fortune*                200,000      156,215    42%
BusinessWeek*           250,000      111,678    40%
IW                      250,000      245,000    98%
Managing Automation     100,000      87,787     45%     
Manufacturing Systems   100,000      95,805     69%


---------------------------------------------------------------
Latests Result from CAD and PDM vendors

The presentations made at the STEP Implementors Forum meeting in
Funchal, Portugal have been posted onto the STEP Tools web site and
can be found at the following URL:

   http://www.steptools.com/impforum/meetings.html

The presentations contain important information on:

1. The results from the latest round AP-203 and AP-214 data
    exchange testing by the CAD vendors in the CAX/IF forum

2. The latest results on PDM data exchange by the PDM 
    vendors in the PDM/IF forum and on PDTnet.

3. Vendor results from using EXPRESS-X to map STEP
    data into business objects.

4. Results and experiences gained implementing a Parts
    Library using PLIB (ISO 13584).

5. The new Solid Model Construction History/Parametrics module
    allowing CAD data to be exchanged with "intelligence" about its
    construction history so that it can be edited in the receiving
    system.

6. The division of STEP into modules that can be reused across
    application domains.


The results show: STEP data exchange is becoming more accurate and
comprehensive; it is becoming easier to use STEP data in business
applications; other SC4 standards such as PLIB are becoming important;
and new capabilities such as the exchange of Parametrics will be
coming "on-line" in future years.


--------------------------- 
Translation Service 

This service is free because to show you our translators are reliable
and easy to use.


Summary: 
Period Covered: Sun Mar 4 03:25:03 2001 -- Sun Mar 11 03:25:03 2001 
Total usage: 54 
Successful usage: 51 (94%) 
Errors: 3 (5%)

Translator              total errors success rate
ACIS to STEP:           8       0       100% 
STEP to ACIS:           28      0       100% 
AP203 Checker:          2       0       100% 
CEB XML Writer:         2       0       100% 
OSEB XML Writer:        1       0       100% 
Parasolid to STEP:      2       0       100% 
STEP to Parasolid:      3       0       100% 
Visualization Service:  4       3       25%

======================================= 
All-Time stats
------------------------------------ 
Summary: 
Period Covered: Wed Dec 31 19:00:00 1969 -- Sun Mar 11 03:25:47 2001 
Total usage: 12319 
Successful usage: 11056 (89%) 
Errors: 1263 (10%)


--------------------------- 
Tools From STEP Tools, Inc.

The world's foremost firms use the STEP Tools product line to help 
them share engineering product information. Over one million people 
use product data applications built with ST-Developer, the company's 
flagship product.

Manufacturing Tools: 
* ST-Repository -- XML Tools and services for managing STEP-CAD,
  STEP-NC and STEP-Ship data.

Programming Tools: 
* ST-Developer -- programming tools for writing STEP applications, 
  translators and databases. 
* ST-ACIS Library -- programming functions to convert STEP data 
  to and from ACIS models and SAT files. 
* ST-Parasolid Library -- programming functions to convert STEP 
  data to and from Parasolid models.

Desktop Tools: 
* ST-ACIS Translator -- desktop tool for translating STEP data to 
  ACIS and vice versa. 
* ST-Parasolid Translator -- desktop tool for translating STEP data 
  to Parasolid and vice versa. 
* ST-Viewer -- desktop tool to view, analyze and check the accuracy 
  of STEP data. 

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