AEC Round Table w. Jay Bhatt and Jim Lynch

LAS VEGAS, NV (Autodesk University), Dec 4, 2008 - Autodesk invited several AEC industry journalists and held a round table discussion. Representing Autodesk were Sr. VP Jay Bhatt and VP Jim Lynch. Following are highlights. 

LEGEND: In bold are questions from journalists. In "quotes" are statements from Autodesk. [In brackets] are editor comments intended to clarify. Questions and answers are paraphrased.

Upcoming suites/bundles?
"We are more focused on solutions rather than the kitchen sink approach [throwing a lot of different software in a box].  For example, we realize some of our leading customers are using Inventor [so that might be part of an upcoming bundle.]"

"We don't want to be the only software in the market."

"Ease of use is priority #1"

What about data interoperability? Many Autodesk products cannot read each others' native formats?
"This is something that will happen over time."

Autodesk is still selling Architecture but only Revit is on display [at AU].  Can we get any kind of number of seats for each?
"There are 350,000 seats of Revit including educational seats. Legal users, that is."

File size is a big issue in Revit. What are you doing about that?
"Some of our customers have had some challenges. We are working to provide guidance to our customers on how best to segment/approach their large projects as well as supporting things like 64 bit and making performance improvements in the project. With 64 bit Revit, huge data types, huge file sizes can be handled much easier today."

But 500 toilets in Revit is 500 separate copies of the same toilet! There is something wrong with the database structure.

["Not correct," says Autodesk. See later post The Toilets Overflow, Ed.]

Hasn't AutoCAD already solved that problem using instances, XREFs?
[no real answer given]

"Contractors are making their own models to determine constructability. We have thought about a BIM model that might parse differently for the architect than for the contractor."

"All these factions are warring: contractors, architects, owners. AGC mandates differently than AIA"

Will there be Revit for the Mac?
"It would be a major undertaking...we are evaluating."

Even Buzzsaw, an online application, won't work on Mac. Next time, can you make sure a web tool is not just for IE?
"Point taken."

Nobody wants to deal with the IFC. Why are they there?
"IFC was initiated by Autodesk." "But it took on a life of its own."

Are you looking in model servers?
"There's a bunch out there. I don't have anything to report on that."

The process I saw this morning was daunting. Freewheel is dumb to the point of being brilliant.
"We have plans for ShowRoom. That should  be the environment we have for all of our products."

Has Project Chicago moved on?
[Project Chicago was a large screen interface of sustainability intent in design, demoed at Greenbuild show]
"It was concept software. But we were 'assaulted' by people who wanted to buy it."

"96% of people don't even realize buildings are an [environmental] problem." "[It is ironic that] someone can complain about the SUVs on the street from inside a building, when the building has more of an impact on the environment."

"Awareness issue has to do with the public but the implementation of it has to do with the AEC industry. We do have tools now for this."

What about customer certification?
"We used to do Revit certification. Not sure about that at the moment."

Revit can't do free form building.
"That is historically true. Stay tuned for the next release of Revit."

When is the next Revit beta available?
"Let's get back to you on that."

Acquisitions? What are the general areas [that Autodesk is interested in]?
We're still aggressive on acquisitions. Areas will be extensions of the BIM idea. Simulation, analysis, visualization."

Comments

[Jimmy Bergmark - JTB World]

"Can we get any kind of number of seats for each?" was not answered.
I think AutoCAD Architecture has 600,000+ as installed base. But Revit gets more new users per year with 60,000+ compared to 40,000+ for ACA.
Correct me if you have more up to date figures.

[Roopinder Tara]

Please see later post "The Toilets Overflow" where Autodesk has sought to clarify some of the responses recorded here