PTC has been investing heavily in the routed systems arena over the last year and a half. This involved spending a significant amount of time listening to customers' needs and concerns as well as their aspirations and requirements for process improvements. After an in-depth assessment of all of our routed systems offerings, we decided to create a whole new suite of software, starting with diagrams and progressing to connectivity management.

The first product to be released is Pro/ENGINEER® Routed Systems Designer, offering P&ID and wiring diagram capabilities. Release 2 of this product, which will also allow users to create electrical schematic and block diagrams, will be available with the next version of Windchill in middle of this year.

Q. Is Pro/ENGINEER Routed Systems Designer just an enhanced version of Pro/DIAGRAM?

A. No, this is a completely new product. With PTC's recent acquisitions, we have at least five well-tried diagramming prod-ucts intended for a variety of industries and process flows:

• Pro/DIAGRAM® , the most well-known solution, serves many customers well for wiring diagrams. It's also unique in its con-nectivity to Pro/CABLING® .
• Electrical Design Entry® (EDE) is essen-tially a very simple but customizable product with a nice ability to make hierarchical diagrams.
• CADDS® Diagramming is used within the shipbuilding and aerospace industries to collect information for 3D routing.
• MEDUSA® P&ID is a diagramming package for the process industry.
• MEDEA® is a unique product for industrial electrical design, with an integral relational database.

From our comprehensive assessment, we decided that although each product has its merits, none is capable of the breadth of solutions required in today's marketplace.

Q. What customer challenges does this product address?

A. Often the starting point for a design, diagrams are key to communicating and coordinating among different engineering disciplines. Although Pro/DIAGRAM produced 2D wiring diagrams that linked into 3D cable routing via Pro/CABLING, there was no solution possible for other disciplines, e.g., piping, hydraulics, pneumatics etc. The resulting process was often redundant, costly, and error-prone. Without a common interface, methodology, and a unified software engine, users could not accurately exchange data across different disciplines.

Q. So XML represents a new era of data exchange?

A. Because its communication layer is based on the open standard format XML, Routed Systems Designer allows multiple designers to work concurrently--rather than sequentially--while ensuring the interconnection data are consistent with the corresponding 3D routing information. For example, in the satellite manufacturing industry, structural engineers can work on their designs at the same time that system engineers design the electrical and instrument payloads. As engineers add details to the functions and connections, they can pass on information from the 2D schematics to the 3D installation while ensuring conformity between the two.

Q. How does Routed Systems Designer integrate with Pro/ENGINEER?

A. Although it is a standalone package, Routed Systems Designer is fully inte-grated with Pro/ENGINEER and brings with it a new core 2D engine. This integration, via XML, means customers can reuse their diagram data to drive 3D cabling and piping routing using the Pro/ENGINEER Piping Design and Cabling Design Options.

Q. What were your design criteria for Pro/ENGINEER Routed Systems Designer?

A. From what users were telling us, we considered the following criteria most important:

A multidisciplinary product. Existing products seem to be aimed at one market only, even though our customers come from a variety of disciplines.

Diagram-specific architecture. Most systems are currently implemented within existing 2D or 3D CAD systems, which often forces a compromise between diagramming and existing 2D requirements.

Ease of use. Although many diagram makers are only part-time CAD users, existing products often require regular usage and a relatively high level of expertise.

Flexibility. Since there are as many types of diagrams as PTC has customers, the ability to customize and configure the product without programming is vital.

Open Data Exchange. The need to exchange structured information with other applications--whether PTC's or those of other companies--dictates an XML-based approach.

Q. What platforms does it support?

A. Pro/ENGINEER Routed Systems Designer is available for Windows NT and Sun Solaris. Support for HPUX, Windows 2000 and other platforms will follow. This new routed systems product may be used in conjunction with, or independent of, PTC's Windchill solution.

Q. What incentives or time-limited offers is PTC offering?

A. Current users of Pro/CABLING, Pro/DIAGRAM, and any other PTC routed systems product are eligible for a 40% discount on Pro/ENGINEER Routed Systems Designer. PTC will also allow users to import data via IGES and DXF or save files in the .csv format, thus preserving legacy symbol libraries and component data.

If you have any questions about Pro/ENGINEER Routed Systems Designer or other tools in this suite, please contact your normal sales channel or e-mail rsd@ptc.com.