7:30 AM Introductions and Breakfast Each COFES attendee from the user community is assigned a leading industry consultant who will act as their host for the event. The host's primary responsibility is to make sure that you get the most value possible out of the event and introduce you to key industry players. Plan to meet your host/“introducer” for breakfast.   Attire for COFES is weekend casual (no suits); shirts with collars; sandals or sneakers. Shorts are okay.   8:30 AM Kickoff: Opening Session and Call to Order Your hosts, Cyon Research, will set the stage for the day's activities.  We'll set the stage for our exploration of seven developments that will have an impact on your company's future survival and success.     9:00 AM Keynote: Bruce Sterling   Sterling’s latest non-fiction book, Shaping Things discusses the coming move from the age of products and gizmos to the age of spimes -- a Sterling neologism which refers to the convergence of remote identification (RFID tags), GPS, CAD, rapid prototyping, data mining, and recycling technologies. Envisioning what is often referred to the future “Internet of Things,” Sterling predicts that the qualifiers of “virtual” and “digital” to distinguish computer-based objects from physical items will eventually fade away, as products begin to be engineered directly into our information networks. Bruce Sterling Bruce Sterling, author, journalist, editor, and critic, was born in 1954. Best known for his eight science fiction novels, he also writes short stories, book reviews, design criticism, opinion columns, and introductions for books ranging from Ernst Juenger to Jules Verne. His nonfiction works include THE HACKER CRACKDOWN: LAW AND DISORDER ON THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER (1992) and TOMORROW NOW: ENVISIONING THE NEXT FIFTY YEARS (2003). He is a contributing editor of WIRED magazine. He also writes a weblog, and runs a website and Internet mailing list on the topic of environmental activism and postindustrial design. In 2005, he was the "Visionary in Residence" at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. He has appeared in ABC's Nightline, BBC's The Late Show, CBC's Morningside, on MTV and TechTV, and in Time, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Fortune, Nature, I.D., Metropolis, Technology Review, Der Spiegel, La Repubblica, and many other venues. For a sampling of Bruce's thoughts, listen to his recent talk on "The Internet of Things" 10:15 AM Technology Suite Briefings  Our Technology Suite vendors will present briefings on their advanced technology and research. Topics to be announced on site.   Adobe Systems  Apple Arena Solutions Ashlar-Vellum Autodesk Dassault Systemes   Dell IBM PTC Rapidform Seemage UGS 10:55 PM Break   11:00 AM Analyst Briefings We've invited some of the brightest and most talented analysts and thinkers to give brief presentations on issues they view as critical, with the remainder of each 40-minute session a working discussion. These discussions are strictly limited to no more than 24 people at a time. Bruce Sterling   An interactive discussion of the topics raised in Bruce's keynote.   Dave Burdick Collaborative Visions Delivering 3D Experience to the iPOD Generation The emergence of 3D Metaverses (SecondLife), Massive Multi-user Online Gaming (Worlds of Warcraft) and the growing mass appeal of Digital Content Creation (Autodesk, Google) is ushering in a new wave of 3D usage that extends well beyond traditional engineering applications. The younger iPOD generation regularly engages with rich variety of 3D web experiences which inevitably will raise the bar for all traditional application vendors to provide similar immersive 3D capabilities in their products. We’ll discuss the challenges and opportunities of this new paradigm. Bruce Jenkins SPAR Point Research Connecting Virtual Models with the Real World Nominal CAD systems, still the base of most BIM and PLM implementations, are seldom adequate for managing and responding to real-world conditions encountered in construction, manufacturing and asset lifecycle management. We’ll discuss how rapidly advancing 3D measurement, positioning and dimensional control technologies – 3D laser scanning, white light interferometry, flash LADAR, GPS/RTK, RFID, smart video, more – are being integrated with CAD, BIM and PLM to improve design quality, construction schedules, manufacturing costs, project safety and operations efficiency.   Deke Smith Cyon Research BIM update Another year has passed in the BIM world, what has happened to make us think we are any closer to our goals? What has happened to the International Alliance for Interoperability? What is buildingSMART? What can we expect for the next year? How do we educate the future generation of designers, construction contractors and facility managers to be able to think outside their stovepipes? Mike Tanner Adexta Web 2.0 and the future of engineering automation Is Web 2.0 a set of new technologies, or is it just another bit of techno-babble hyped-up by vendors and analysts to differentiate a commoditizing software business? How will “Web 2.0” technologies change the way that engineering automation software evolves over the next decade? David Prawel LongView Advisors 3D formats and interoperability for global engineering A keystone of engineering in a global market is efficient exchange of ideas and product information among business partners. Collaborative product development processes depend on a set of enablers. 3D is one of these enablers. A new generation of “light-weight” 3D file formats is poised to extend the value of 3D into supply chain and downstream applications. But is 3D for everyone? People, process, and technology roadblocks slow usability and adoption rates. Is 3D ubiquity possible? What impacts 3D uptake? Where will 3D penetrate successfully and where will 2D remain dominant? And poor interoperability continues to be a plague. Can formats like JT, DWF, and Acrobat 3D change that? Will STEP Second Edition, due this year, have an impact?   Jim Brown Aberdeen Benchmarking Lean Product Development Lean concepts are well established in many manufacturers today. Some companies are now applying lean approaches to improve the efficiency and throughput of product development. Is lean helping in product development? Or is lean product development just more hype? We'll have an interactive discussion to learn from each other, and introduce a benchmark study that Aberdeen Group is conducting to uncover the facts behind lean product development.    11:50 AM Analyst Briefings Analyst briefings, round 2, with different analysts, different topics. Steve Wolfe Cyon Research Integrating CAD, engineering, and manufacturing bills of material Some product data management (PDM) systems organize CAD models and drawings. Others manage engineering bills of material that include items from multiple CAD systems or that aren’t described in a CAD system at all. Enterprise resource-planning (ERP) systems control bills of material used by manufacturing departments and suppliers. In many companies, information from the CAD PDM system must be re-keyed into the engineering BoM or the ERP system, which wastes time and causes errors. Recently PLM companies have proposed combining the CAD and engineering PDM systems into one, thereby eliminating the need to enter data twice. These solutions give rise to more problems because what’s in the CAD system doesn’t necessarily correspond to what will be manufactured. Current models for CAD, EBoM, and ERP integration are too simplistic. We’ll brainstorm about conceptual processes that might handle reality. Jon Peddie Jon Peddie Research Vista -- the need for graphics Vista is here, all seven versions of it, and at the top is Vista Ultimate; it is the most demanding on system resources, especially the graphics section. Only about 20% of the installed base of computers can run it. We’ll discuss the needs of Vista and the reality of an upgrade decision. On the table for discussion: graphics acceleration, memory, OpenGL, DirectX, application support, 64-bit, audio compatibility, security and DRM. Allan Behrens Cambashi The next generation of sales models The move from 'push' sales model to 'consent, participation, and community' is a dichotomy for many. Sales led by direct and reseller channels may not be able to compete efficiently with the new generation of new media sales models. Is there a middle ground? Can companies do both, and what, if any, are the most effective mechanisms to meet the escalating challenge? Ken Versprille CPDA Transforming Art to Digital Modeling Can technology improve the transition from pure artistic hand sketching to 3D digital solids modeling for new product development? Today, the evolution of art that captures style and aesthetics into the digital world of CAD modeling remains an error-prone, difficult task. Are answers emerging in the exploding game industry segment or in the entertainment sector? Ed Miller CIMdata PLM & Automation--we're back to CIM again! A recent industry acquisition announcement has caused a significant amount of discussion about the relationship of PLM solutions with Automation technologies. In many ways, a tight linkage between PLM and Automation is just another step in the rational evolution of PLM and continues the direction of fulfilling the promises of Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) from 25-30 years ago. This movement should be positive for industrial companies and good for the suppliers as well. But it isn't going to be easy! Dick Morley Cyon Research Just beyond the horizon Dick Morley will host a dialogue on some of the following issues in his interactive discussion.  - Clustered systems -- and how they take a page from information theory and biology.  - Sensors – why the number of sensors is more important that the accuracy of the sensor.  - Computers – how iPods and gaming will “embed users into simulations”  - Engineering – the future of “automated design” as viewed from the MIT white board  - Wireless everywhere – including within the computer   Dave Jordani Jordani Consulting Group BIM: For Facilites Asset Management Researches suggest that the BIM’s greatest benefits will accrue to building owners and managers responsible for the operation and maintenance of facilities. The benefits of BIM in design and construction are clear, but the reuse of BIM for downstream operations and maintenance activities has been lagging. Why? What are the opportunities and challenges that facility managers encounter as they try to turn leverage BIM for facilities and asset management?    12:40 PM Lunch 2:15 PM Technology Suite Briefings  Round 2 of briefings from COFES Technology Suite vendors. Topics to be announced.   3:00 PM Analyst Briefings Analyst briefings, round 3, with different analysts, different topics. Jerry Laiserin LaiserinLetter Information Integration in AECO: The Final Frontier Each subset of the AECO community -- architects/engineers, constructors and owner/operators -- operates with its own software tools on its own data sets, information flows and life cycles. As these design, construction and operation workflows each become better integrated internally, the information hand-offs from one to the other grow ever more critical and problematic. Strategies such as interoperability or the "PLM for buildings" metaphor do not effectively address the realities of these hand-offs. Wishful thinking alone cannot make an A/E design model trustworthy to a contractor; nor make them automatically suitable for facility management (as has been recently implied). Will the industry allow design, construction, and operation to drift onto vendor-driven, higher-level islands of automation? Or, can we start a new conversation now about a truly integrated information lifecycle for buildings? Jay Vleeschhouwer Merrill Lynch   Wall Street Perspective on the CAD/PLM industry Jay Vleeschhouwer of Merrill Lynch will share his views on the outlook for the industry, what investors care about, and commentary on recent financial and merger news. Joel Orr Cyon Research Where's the excitement? Our industry is aging, and our willingness to innovate reflects it. Even the leading engineering software companies are conservative. Perhaps this is part of an almost-inevitable lifecycle in a technology market. Geoff Moore wrote about it ("Crossing the Chasm" and elsewhere). And there are strong forces to keep going the safe way, the incremental way. But when we stop having fun, we are turning away from life, and toward death. Is this how we want to live? I think not.   Marc Halpern Gartner Synchronizing bills-of-material across the enterprise Successful PLM depends on the ability to synchronize Bills-of-Material (BOMs). As the central challenge, each BOM represents the same content with different levels of detail and abstraction, organized with different structures, and yes, even different data. Yet, content within each BOM have equivalent meeting. The discussion will center on opportunities and strategies to address this challenge. Thomas Pennino TP Associates Global Engineering Product Development Global companies have unique challenges in product development and manufacturing. Multiple global design and manufacturing centers must collaborate and integrate product introduction and life cycle management. Silicon foundries are almost entirely offshore in the Far East and there is an increasing trend to offshore silicon design, i.e. product management in the US, design in Romania and manufacture in China. We will also explore costly failures, Airbus 380, of a non-integrated global design environment. We will discuss the best practice processes and tools, such as a global product simulation environment, necessary to efficiently accomplish global design. Peter Marks Design Insight New models for systems integration Customers aren't happy with today's models of systems integration; where an army of high priced consultants descend on their organization, take years to finish their work, and all-too-commonly leave them no more competitive than before. Indeed, the result is often outright failure. This is the view many customers have had of SAP, IBM, Oracle, and the PLM and CRM leaders. We'll explore new models of systems integration, which are already beginning to displace the old. Ray Kurland TechniCom Knowledge Management for Product Design Management continually searches for ways to capture design knowledge, either from leading designers, or from successful designs. The benefits of capturing and being able to reuse such knowledge directly lead to huge productivity and quality improvements. This forms much of the basis for Lean Design. Current practices for capturing such design include both paper based methods as well as computer based methods. Many computer based methods such as rule based modeling, pseudo-programmatic methods for process capture, history based modeling, and various type of engineering notebooks have been tried over the years, but few have been generally adopted. This session will explore why this is the case and what alternatives might work in the future.    3:45 PM Break   4:00 PM First Congress: The Future of Engineering Software This working congress is an open forum for examining the issues surrounding technologies expected to have an impact on design and engineering before 2012. The purpose of these discussions is to form a consensus on the issues faced, consider approaches, and promote further dialog. A separate congress will be held for each of our two primary constituencies: the AEC and mechanical/manufacturing market segments.   Mechanical and Manufacturing Congress   AEC Congress     Moderated by Brad Holtz Cyon Research   Moderated by Joel Orr Cyon Research   5:15 PM Free 5:45 PM Buses leave The Scottsdale Plaza Resort for Evening Under the Stars Buses will be leaving from the main entrance of The Scottsdale Plaza Resort*   *Guests of COFES Attendees must be registered and have paid a supplemental registration fee in order to attend this event  6:30 PM Evening Under the Stars at Desert Foothills We're headed up into the desert to a new location this year. Once again, with truly wide-open spaces and a sweeping view of the sky. A great western cookout under the stars and a moon-free sky. And for those who want a closer look at the magnificent Arizona sky, we have a couple of major-league telescopes. A COFES highlight!   *Guests of COFES Attendees must be registered and have paid a supplemental registration fee in order to attend this event    9:30 PM Buses leave the Evening Event for The Scottsdale Plaza Resort We will return to the resort between 10:00 and 11:00 pm.

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