Layers of clouds for Dassault Systemes Part 2: Thunderheads
February 19th, 2010
At SolidWorks World 2010, there was the announcement of a new brand called SolidWorks PLM. This new brand is presumably the first step in a new focus at SolidWorks Corp to offer cloud computing services for PDM/PLM file management. (Basically, cloud computing services is software or other services that are run on remote servers that are often offsite.) At some future date, the SolidWorks application itself is slated to be run via cloud services. As stated before, there are considerable advantages to this approach. For example, the customer doesn’t need to invest heavily in computer hardware to run resource intensive software.
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.
Categories: CAD Mngmt, Editorial, News, PDM, PLM, Product Review, Resource Review, SWW10, SolidWorks World | Tags: cloud, cloud computing, SolidWorks PLM
I’m not sure I agree with your definition of cloud computing (it doesn’t really take into account private, hybrid, or community clouds), but I agree with the issues that you raise. I think data ownership, privacy, and security are key roadblocks to adopting a public cloud for sensitive intellectual property like 3D CAD data. However, I think private, hybrid, and community clouds all offer ways of addressing various combinations of the issues you raise above. I think community clouds even offer something niftier than just on-demand CAD; they offer scalable virtual enterprises. I put a few thoughts together on PLM and the various types of clouds here: http://www.razorleaf.com/2010/04/cloud-y-with-a-chance-of-plm/. Thanks for laying out all of the issues in such a clear manner.
Most countries in the third world never respects intellectual property rights. piracy is so rampant in asian countries.:-”
intellectual property is not really respected in most countries in asia where piracy is so rampant..,,