I was kinda bummed though.  I didn’t have the camera on my phone ready to take a photo, nor did I think about taking a photo until it was too late.  Well, even if I had been able to take the photo, it wouldn’t have been that good.  Several of us bloggers where sitting in the front row, too close to get Ray and the quote in the same frame.

Yesterday, I put out a call on Twitter to see if anyone had taken a photo of the quote.  Gabi Jack almost immediately tweeted that she might have one.  Within 15 minutes, she send over a picture of my name in lights next to Ray.  Thank you, Jack.

Ray stated the quote during the Monday General Session.  This can actually be seen on the video of the Monday General Session (@ minute 47:35) available at their website here.

At this website, there’s also a SolidWorks blog portal, photos from SolidWorks World 2010, Partner Pavilion information, a convention highlight video.  Have fun exploring:

SolidWorks World 2010 presentations

I did forget to add this information as a reminder during the SolidWorks World 2010 event this year.  These types of notices are something that are now being enforced per FTC 16 CRF Part 255.  This type of notice will now be integral to any blog postings where disclosure is necessary.  As my long time readers may know, I am a believer in disclosure and I attempt to be almost painfully forthright about these kinds of details.

However, there are major issues that still need to be addressed in order for the cloud computing approach to be viable for many SolidWorks customers.  These are not small issues either.  Other companies in other industries have not been able to address many of the associate problems.  However, there are examples of cloud computing companies that have thrived, such as Salesforce.com.  The difference is those other companies do not have 3D CAD applications.

Issue 1:  Customer’s information (Intellectual Property) is stored in the cloud.  However, it is owned by the customer.   How does SolidWork’s PLM cloud service not hold a customer’s data hostage if the customer does not maintain their monthly payments?  To extend this thought, if a loophole is created that allows customers to access their data without making payments, will this defeat the business model for the cloud service? 

Issue 2: The customer’s rights are not limited to just accessing their data.  If the SolidWorks 3D CAD tool itself is run as a cloud service, a customer will still need it in order to use their Intellectual Property.  If the customer is not able to maintain their monthly payments, how does SolidWorks Corp allow the customer to not only access their data, but also continiously use that data?

Issue 3: Security is a big concern for every company.  By definition, cloud services transmit all of a customer’s sensitive data over the internet.  How does the cloud service provide access to the correct users and prevent access to all others?  If the data is illegally intercepted, will the encryption be strong enough to prevent others from cracking it?  This is particularly important for high security customers that are under extremely strict access rules.

Issue 4: By definition, the software of a cloud service is controlled and operated by the company that offers the service.  The advantage is that updates can be made without requiring any action from the customer.  The problem?  The software can be updated without any action from the customer!  This can drastically affect customers under ISO certification and/or FDA regulation, where any change to a process (including revisions the software itself) needs to be validated and verified before they can be implemented.  The cloud service will be offered to hundreds, if not thousands of customers.  How is the cloud service going to reconcile the need to update the software frequently with the need of the customers to have their processes verified and validated prior to the implementation of any software updates?   This isn’t a concern for the SolidWorks 3D CAD tool itself, since it is an authoring tool.  The concern here is how this impacts the PDM/PLM aspects of the SolidWorks products.

Issue 5: This cloud computing business model can potentially create variable costs that can change each month.  The variation in costs is based on how often the cloud service is accessed and used.  This creates a massive disconnect between the end user (the engineer) and whoever signs the checks (such as the CFO).  Such viable costs may provide confusing usage visibility to a group of people that may not understand engineering processes well enough to assess that usage.  Will usage of the cloud service be limited by pencil pushers that may be making such decisions in a vacuum?  Fears about this sort of interloper interdiction may push Engineering Departments away from cloud computing services.

Perception is reality.  Even if these issues are addressed in some way, SolidWorks Corp may be fighting an uphill battle in trying to convince their customers to jump into cloud computing without a parachute.  What may seem like white and puffy clouds to SolidWorks, may look like a violent thunderhead to their customers.

However, this is not the end of the story.  Though this was not talked about in the General Session, Jeff Ray, CEO of DS SolidWorks Corp., stated they have the ability to run SolidWorks on a Mac in both “light weight” or “heavy weight” mode.  When asked if this meant remote (cloud) or local (installed), Ray hinted the distinction was a little more complex than that.  The General Session demonstrated the light weight operation of their future SolidWorks.  However, they already have the ability to run SolidWorks in a heavy weight mode (presumably with large portions of the application placed on the local computer and run natively on Mac OS, though maybe not “installed” in the traditional sense).

So, does SolidWorks have a Mac version coming?  Ray would not say.  It is possible?  More so than ever before, I think the answer is yes.