Post datakit

Usicad is the sole importer of Alibre software in France. Loyal to the CAD vendor’s strategy, it applies a principle that is often used by CAD suppliers, namely that it brings 3D CAD to the biggest possible user population.
With its attractive solid modelling capabilities and persuasive price tag, Alibre is the strongest growing CAD software. However, Alibre is not just about smart marketing: it really fills a gap in the existing CAD offering for departments needing a simple solution for drafting, illustration, communicating or product presentation. The Alibre software is designed principally for process engineering and manufacturing departments that occasionally need to produce 2D representations with specific views of parts. These communities appreciate tools that are easy to implement and use. It also addresses the needs of companies that have their own production activity and are looking for simple solutions for publishing their parts catalogues and making dynamic, interactive presentations to showcase their projects. Alain Artige, Usicad CEO, explains: “All the communicating functions in Alibre are very important for small and medium-sized companies who choose it for its ease of use, but it is also very popular with bigger companies that use Alibre in addition to other existing design solutions.

The delivery of Datakit’s first two native interfaces dedicated to transfers from SolidWorks and Catia V5 to Alibre will enrich the product’s interoperability. Alibre is shipped standard with a STEP converter. It is also possible to read an IGES file and generate a solid model that can then be manipulated to delete a fillet or roll back to intermediary phases in the part creation process.
Datakit’s data exchange solutions for native CAD data avoid these complications and eliminate the usual problem of having to keep intermediary files up to date. They also enable sub-contractors to communicate directly with their clients, while process engineering departments can use software that does not require specialist CAD skills, yet ensures that the data that goes back and forth between them and the design office remains 100% compatible.

Alain Artige explains why he finds the offering so exciting: “Datakit has very solid experience in the development of solutions for exchanging data with design software like SolidWorks, Catia V5 and Rhinoceros … with which we will never compete but that we can work with. It is also the first company to come up with a price policy that is truly adapted to the Alibre products. Our customers need a way to import a high quality B-rep file from the native Catia V5 or SolidWorks files they receive. The solution that we offer with Datakit is affordable and works perfectly. We expect it to be very popular with our users”.

Francis Cadin, CEO of Datakit sums up: “it is important for us to do business on the market of new design solutions that come in very well designed packages. Their aggressive pricing may upset some people but they do expand 3D adoption and consequently get new people to use our interfaces. We have witnessed the strong growth of products like SolidWorks, SolidEdge or Rhinoceros, all of which had a revolutionary impact when they were released. Alibre is one of a whole new generation of software products and we’re pleased to be the first developers to have taken a serious interest.”