NX for Mac Arrives

In April, Autodesk began conducting a survey to gauge people's interest in AutoCAD for Mac, prompting a flurry of discussions in blogsphere ("Autodesk Chews on AutoCAD for Mac," April 2, 2009).

AutoCAD for Mac is presumably still under consideration or in development. On the other hand, Autodesk' rival SolidWorks has made it clear it has no plan to enter the race for Mac-CAD at the present time ("SolidWorks CEO Discusses the Mac Platform," April 16, 2009).

Last week, with the delivery of NX for Mac, Siemens PLM Software became the first to cross the finishing line (that is, the first among the four big names -- Autodesk, Dassault, PTC, and Siemens -- that dominate the CAD space). The new version is, according to the announcement, NX "with native support for Mac OS X on 64-bit Intel-based Macs." This version uses Apple's Safari browser as thin client to support integration with Teamcenter, Siemens' product lifecycle management (PLM) software.

Writing about the release from Siemens' blog, Jerry Sarfati, the company's marketing manager for NX, revealed the new version includes "Design Freedom powered by Synchronous Technology, True-Shade, the Reuse Library, and Active Mockup. It’s also fully compatible with NX for other platforms (Windows and LINUX)."

Siemens' plan to develop a Mac-compatible version of NX dated back to 2006. At the time, still known as UGS, the company declared it was working on "native support for Mac OS X version 10.4 (Tiger) to the list of supported environments." But in 2008, an online post from the PLM World Conference warned, "NX for Mac OS X -- Next Release in Question." But Siemens evidently overcame whatever hurdles that might have put the development schedule in jeopardy.

Whereas Siemens' midrange CAD product Solid Edge competes with Dassault's SolidWorks and Autodesk's Inventor, Siemens' highend package NX competes with Dassault's CATIA. Recently, at the Open Forum session of CATIA Operators Exchange 2009, Jacques Leveille-Nizerolle, head of Dassault's CATIA brand, addressed the Mac platform.

“There needs to be a business case [for CATIA for Mac]." said Leveille-Nizerolle. "We are examining a variety of options, but there are currently no firm plans for OSX.”

Like Dassault, PTC, another competitor to Siemens, is content to remain on the sideline. "PTC has no plan now to support Pro/ENGINEER on Mac. There is not enough demand to justify the expense," noted Robin Saitz, PTC's senior VP of solutions marketing and communication.

With its introduction of Synchronous Technology in August 2008, Siemens took the lead in incorporating extensive direct-modeling features into its classic parametric- or history-based modeling programs. Now, with the delivery of NX on Mac, the company takes a gamble on Mac OS.

NX for Mac is priced approximately $5,ooo to $15,000, depending on the number of modules and configurations selected.

For more, read "CAD on Mac: Yea or Nay?" April 30, 2009.

[Note: This posted was subsequently revised to include a quote from PTC and pricing information for NX for Mac.]

Below are a few video clips provided by Siemens to highlight NX for Mac: