AutoDesk Ships Object-Oriented Programming Environment; Developers Poised to Deliver Hundreds of New Applications for AutoCAD Release 13.

after an extensive five month beta program, Autodesk Inc., began shipping, at no charge, the AutoCAD Runtime Extension (ARX) Software Developers Kit (SDK) to over 3,500 registered Autodesk developers worldwide.

Within a few months Autodesk expects developers in its virtual corporation to deliver hundreds of object-oriented applications designed specifically for AutoCAD Release 13. ARX is Autodesk's object-oriented development environment that lets developers deliver high performance, object-based design and drafting applications. These capabilities have been present in AutoCAD Release 13 since its introduction in November 1994.

The ARX SDK lets Autodesk third-party developers, for the first time, create fast and easy-to-use object-oriented applications by providing them with tighter integration with AutoCAD's core technology. In addition to AutoCAD, other Autodesk applications that are based on ARX are The Mechanical Desktop, ADE 2.0, and AutoCAD MAP.

Developers Tout ARX Capabilities

Software developers have quickly embraced ARX, recognizing the benefits it brings to their application development. "ARX lets us make applications that integrate more seamlessly with AutoCAD and are faster and easier to use," said Jim Awe, senior software developer for Softdesk, based in Henniker, New Hampshire, a developer of architecture, engineering and construction software applications. "Using ARX, developers can truly extend AutoCAD with application-specific behavior, instead of simply customizing the basic feature set."

Speed is also an important factor for Dave Lorenzo, vice president of software development for Ketiv, of Portland, Oregon, makers of architectural design software. He said, "Initial studies on our most computational intensive programs have shown a four to five times speed increase when utilizing the ARX programming environments."

Getting closer to AutoCAD's core technology was a key factor for Chris Hawkins, software developer for Ansys, in Houston, Pennsylvania, makers of finite element analysis software. He said, "ARX is great for developers. It really opens up AutoCAD R13 and allows us unprecedented access to all sorts of data and functionality that we could not get to before. Now we can define new objects, as well as how these objects behave, inside AutoCAD and AutoCAD will manage the objects."

For Steve Segarra, director of software development for ARCHIBUS, Inc., a facilities management software vendor in Boston, Massachusetts, it was ARX's object-oriented capabilities that let ARCHIBUS take advantage of AutoCAD R13's features to make objects, inside the AutoCAD environment. He said, "The ARX "technology foundation" provides AutoCAD Release 13 with an advanced CAD engine, which is the basis for creating modern application software encompassing the entire design workflow process."

Robert Carr, vice president of engineering for Autodesk, said, "Judging by the acceptance of third party developers and their eagerness to embrace the ARX technology, I expect hundreds of new object-oriented applications to be developed over the next year for AutoCAD R13. This will give our customers a tremendous competitive advantage."

ARX Enables Interoperability

ARX technology provides the basis for all design software applications to share intelligent data. As part of Autodesk's overall interoperability strategy, ARX is the platform for Autodesk's implementation of selected Industry Foundation Classes as defined by the Industry Alliance of Interoperability.

Autodesk is the world's leading supplier of PC and UNIX-based design software and PC multimedia tools. The company's 2D and 3D products and data management tools are used in many industries for architectural design, mechanical design, film-making, videography and geographic information systems. The fourth largest PC software company in the world, Autodesk has three million customers in 126 countries. Autodesk products are sold through Autodesk Systems Centers, Dealers and Distributors worldwide.

For more information on Autodesk, please call 415-507-5000, type GO ADESK on CompuServe, or visit the World Wide Web site at http://www: autodesk.com.

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CONTACT: Autodesk, Inc., San Rafael 

Marty Tacktill, 415/507-6484

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