CoCreate Strengthens Integrated Solution for Innovative Product Development; New Releases of SolidDesigner, WorkManager and Additional Modules Further Enhance the CoCreate Solution to Support the Company's Shared Space Design Process.

FORT COLLINS, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 19, 1997--CoCreate Software Inc., a subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard Company, today announced further enhancements to the CoCreate Solution. New releases of its SolidDesigner and WorkManager products further strengthen the co-creative product-development environment introduced in June. The environment also incorporates several new modules, all closely integrated within the overall solution.

"Many companies have promised a co-creative product-development environment, but we have delivered the first fully functional solution -- the CoCreate Solution," said Tilman F. Schad, president of CoCreate. "The latest releases of SolidDesigner and WorkManager further reinforce our claim that the CoCreate Solution is the ideal environment for co-creation."

ENABLING CO-CREATION

The capabilities of dynamic modeling, the key enabler in implementing the design changes essential to co-creation, have been enhanced. New techniques for cutting and pasting design features have been incorporated, and new capabilities for blend/chamfer creation and modification have been introduced.

SolidDesigner, CoCreate's 3-D mechanical computer-aided design (MCAD) product, now includes the former add-on SolidDesigner Freeform module as an integrated component of the base product, allowing many sculptured surfaces to be generated. At the same time, a new SolidDesigner Surfacing module has been introduced, allowing more complex parts and sculptured surfaces to be generated. This allows the ergonomic and styling aspects of a design to be fully reflected in SolidDesigner models.

In addition, two new modules bring the expertise of downstream processes to the designer's fingertips. SolidDesigner Design Advisor/Stress allows linear static analysis to be carried out at any stage in the product-development cycle, allowing designers to make informed decisions about product design without resorting to specialized computer-aided engineering (CAE) applications. CoCreate/Moldflow Part Adviser is another new module, which provides immediate feedback on manufacturability for plastic designs. Developed by Moldflow, CoCreate/Moldflow Part Adviser can be activated from within the SolidDesigner user interface.

MANAGING THE DESIGN PROCESS

The WorkManager product-data-management (PDM) and workflow-management solution are the key enablers for managing the co-creative design process. One of the major enhancements incorporated within this release of WorkManager is the use of Web technologies to offer extended access to product information across the entire enterprise.

Utilizing a modern, three-tier architecture, the WorkManager Web Access Interface provides rapid, scalable Web access. The interface incorporates all the functionality required to query, view and retrieve part-related information stored in the WorkManager database.

ENHANCED PRODUCTIVITY

Several other enhancements improve and strengthen the CoCreate Solution. For example, a new SolidDesigner Annotation module allows the user to generate comprehensive, standards-compliant 2-D documentation from within SolidDesigner.

Also, a new SolidDesigner PCB Interface provides bidirectional data exchange between leading printed circuit board (PCB) design systems and SolidDesigner, using the Intermediate Data Format (IDF) 3.0 standard. Furthermore, SolidDesigner's capabilities for exchanging data with other solid-modeling systems, such as Pro/ENGINEER, have been improved and extended.

New features of WorkManager include full support for Microsoft(R) Windows NT(R) and a unique and flexible licensing scheme. There also is a new WorkManager Software Developers' toolkit (SDK) that supports development of integrations, advanced user interfaces and add-on applications in C/C++ in addition to WorkManager's powerful macro language. WorkManager's Software Developers' toolkit contains all of the software libraries and learning tools needed to promote rapid development of robust solutions. The learning tools are the first to be integrated with WorkManager's Knowledge Broker, an interactive Web-based learning center. The WorkManager Workflow module now supports multiple workflow servers, providing improved scalability and performance for large-scale workflow transaction handling. There also are improved capabilities for integration with external applications such as e-mail and project-management software.

CORNERSTONES OF THE COCREATE SOLUTION

"No other product can match SolidDesigner's ability to allow any team member to carry out design changes, regardless of a part's history," said Schad. "At the same time, WorkManager provides a fully scalable solution that fulfills all customer requirements for managing the co-creative product-development process. SolidDesigner and WorkManager are the cornerstones of the CoCreate Solution, and they are now better than ever."

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 SolidDesigner for product modeling design; ME10 for 2-D design, drafting and documentation; DDS-C for electro-mechanical design; and WorkManager for product-data and workflow management. 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 100,000 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 .

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Note to Editors: Microsoft is a U.S. registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. Windows NT is a U.S. registered trademark of Microsoft Corp.

CONTACT: CoCreate

Gary McCormack, 970/206-8067

[e-mail]

or

CoCreate, Europe

Sally Auch, [phone]

[e-mail]