Datakit has been asked by Open Cascade to...

Since the turn of the year Open Cascade has been a subsidiary of EURIWARE, an IT consulting and services group, itself a wholly-owned subsidiary of energy giant AREVA. Open Cascade is a services company specialised in the fields of scientific and technical computing and more specifically the integration of simulation tools. Uniquely it develops specialised technologies, including a 3D modelling platform and custom software, in a collaborative Open Source environment.

These technologies have been widely adopted in applications, notably in the fields of CAD/CAM and CAE.

Open Cascade also provides a full range of implementation support services and develops specific applications such as pre/post-processors, and CAD-to-analysis links that are capable of dealing with complex physical problems. Open Cascade also positions itself as a “numerical simulation” integrator.

In the course of the last few months, a growing need has emerged for interoperability between these specific applications and users’ existing CAD systems. For this type of data exchange situation, Open Cascade has historically delivered an Open Source solution based on the STEP and IGES formats, but also on Parasolid XT, SAT and DXF. Michel Rochon, Deputy Manager of Open Cascade explains: “it is clear that our customers are moving towards a need to read CAD data in native formats without having to invest in the original software licences”.

This is why, in 2005, Open Cascade set out to find a partner specialised in data exchange, choosing Datakit for its ability to immediately supply the Catia V5 / Open Cascade component and also for its potential to offer UG or Pro-E interfaces as soon as customers specifically asked for them.

As Michel Rochon explains, “Datakit’s product offering spans a full range of applications: 2D, 3D, FD&T, features, and specific areas of numerical simulation. What’s more, in addition to Datakit’s experience and know-how, we very quickly established a strong sense of trust that made the decision to work together much easier.”

The first impression was confirmed by a series of more demanding tests, in the light of which the two companies agreed that it would be a good idea for one of Open Cascade’s data exchange specialists to join Datakit’s R&D team. Michel Rochon explains: “the moved helped us to weld our partnership and offer our customers a solid anchoring within a pool of skilled resources.”

For Datakit, the new hire consolidates the link with the teams at Open Cascade and their customers and reinforces the company’s development capacity.

The creation of a Catia V5 interface to Open Cascade on Datakit’s web site is the first practical result of the partnership and a demonstration of the effective synergy between the two companies.