AEC: BUILDING BEYOND AUTOCAD
We have been meeting the needs of professionals in the AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction) industries since 1982—for as long as we have been making AutoCAD software. In fact, as you probably know, we created much of AutoCAD software’s functionality with the AEC community in mind. When members of this group began telling us they needed more specialized, fully integrated design solutions, we knew we had to take AutoCAD to the next level of AEC functionality.
So in March 1997 we merged with the people and products of Softdesk, a leading Autodesk developer partner since 1987. Finding a better technological fit in AEC would be difficult: most of the acquired product line runs on top of AutoCAD and uses object-based technologies developed with our ObjectARX programming environment.
The merger reinvigorated and enlarged our AEC Market Group, which has begun delivering architectural design, civil engineering, surveying, imaging, and building services product families. Exactly what our customers need.

ENHANCING COLLABORATION
AEC design professionals are using our object technologies for greater efficiencies and to enhance collaboration. Objects encapsulate design information in modules that can be quickly rearranged and reused. These intelligent objects "know" what they are and how to behave; they can also contain attribute data, which customers can query. Equally important for the interdisciplinary AEC field, individual objects can be defined and published as information-sharing standards.
We are also harnessing another transformative technology, the Internet, for its powerful support of collaborative design.
Ford Motor Company, for example, adopted a solution based on AutoCAD Release 14 for design, layout, and analysis in its 185 plants in 30 countries. Using our software’s built-in Internet publishing tools—which convert DWG files to our drawing Web format (DWF) for posting—Ford employees, Autodesk, and our worldwide partners are sharing information, ideas, and project drawings via the Ford project Web site. It’s working beautifully.
There is more ahead. In FY99 we plan to deliver two new object-based products—AutoCAD Architectural Desktop^™ and AutoCAD Land Development^™—that integrate AutoCAD Release 14 software with architectural, and civil engineering and surveying, capabilities. We expect these products to become platforms for a full range of other AEC-specific, vertical-market applications.
The AEC Market Group continues to share its object technologies with, and make use of component technologies from, other Market Groups. And you will see us aggressively moving our multiplying suite of AEC products into international markets.
Our traditional strength in AEC is fueling a revolution.