CoCreate Announces Linux Version of Its 2-D Professional Drafting Package, ME10.

FORT COLLINS, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 28, 1999--

CoCreate Software Inc., a subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard Company, today announced that designers have a new choice for 2-D CAD work: CoCreate's ME10 software running on the Red Hat Linux operating system.

The combination provides the best of Linux -- high reliability, low cost of ownership, and stability -- with ME10's well-established ease of use, 2-D/3-D integration, and a growth path to allow collaborative engineering.

"CoCreate believes ME10 is the first professional, fully featured 2-D design package offered for Linux users," said Wolfgang Stanik, manager of CoCreate's 2-D business unit. "ME10 on the Linux platform offers users the same excellent performance that ME10 has become known for, at a much lower total operating cost."

ME10 software is also available in UNIX(R) system and Windows(R)-compliant versions, and is used by tens of thousands of users worldwide in a wide variety of languages. Starting with the release of ME10, Revision 10, all enhancements and new functionality will be available on all supported environments (HP-UX(1), Windows and Linux).

"Linux is well-perceived in the marketplace as a valuable alternative to Windows," said Stanik. "It allows customers to keep cost of ownership and maintenance low, while implementing their established 2-D design processes in a stable, reliable environment. Now, with ME10, they can take advantage of full CAD functionality."

ME10 is designed as part of an environment in which workflow and product data can be easily managed over the entire life cycle of a product. It integrates fully with solid modeling, product data management and shared engineering solutions available from CoCreate.

ME10's parts concept simplifies the design and modification of assemblies through a hierarchical parts structure. With shared parts, several instances of a part may occur on the same drawing. A parts structure editor helps maintain control even in the most complex assembly structures, and a parts library ensures efficient standard parts processing. The Hidden Line Module provides easy-to-understand representation of assemblies.

With ME10, engineering teams that work together on large assemblies can quickly find the correct parts, thanks to a product feature that gives users the ability to view parts before loading them. The File Browser feature shows the history of previously loaded parts and provides easy, double-click access to all parts.

ME10's revision checker helps workgroups synchronize engineering work. It automatically highlights design changes and notes differences between revisions. For design modification, ME10 offers powerful commands that allow engineers to copy, rotate, mirror, scale and stretch elements.

Advisor Technologies in ME10 provide built-in intelligence to improve productivity. Design Advisor aids in the creation of geometry and generates design rules automatically to capture the design intent. Dimension Advisor enables automatic dimensioning and use of pre-configured or user-defined dimension styles.

ME10's data MI-format is a hybrid format that allows multiple formats, such as bitmaps, word documents and spreadsheets, to be stored with the drawing. The Pixel module allows users to add 3-D views or pictures to a drawing. URL Internet links to elements and parts enable efficient usage of Internet technology in the 2-D design/documentation process by referencing to the latest specifications or standard parts. ME10 includes powerful translators for VRML, DWF, IGES 2D and Mi for easy data exchange.

Availability and Distribution

ME10, Revision 10, is expected to be available worldwide in October. CoCreate distribution partners for ME10 on Linux include ACADIS in Europe, and Otsuka, Obic and NSW in Japan.

About CoCreate

CoCreate Inc. is a software subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard Company. It develops mechanical computer-aided-design and product-data-management software that supports the concept of shared-space design. The software includes WorkManager for product-data and workflow management; OneSpace for distributed, collaborative product development; SolidDesigner for product modeling design; and ME10 for 2-D design, drafting and documentation. CoCreate solutions are known for high quality, ease of use, customization and support of industry standards. They are available in 10 languages and are installed on more than 120,000 systems in design, engineering and manufacturing organizations worldwide.

Information about CoCreate Software Inc. and its products can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.cocreate.com.

(1) HP-UX Release 10.20 and later and HP-UX Release 11.00 and later (in 32- bit configurations) on all HP 9000 computers are Open Group UNIX 95 branded products.

UNIX is a registered trademark of the Open Group. Windows is a U.S. registered trademark of Microsoft Corp.