Granite is foundation for interoperability and associativity

Granite One-a licensable version of PTC's Pro/ENGINEER(R) modeling kernel-shares Pro/E's built-in ability to update designs associatively. Vendors of authoring applications-other CAD programs and downstream applications-can incorporate Granite into their systems to draw upon that associativity, and make it possible for users to share designs and update models automatically.

Granite can store associative data. Along with several translators, including ACIS, STEP, IGES, and VDA-FS, it has the Pro/E graphics library. CAD programs with Granite don't need to use the kernel for solid modeling, although they can. For example, the current version of Pro/Desktop(R) still uses Parasolid for modeling. PTC will switch to Granite modeling in the next version, but currently employs a precursor to Granite within Pro/Desktop(R) to enable associative file sharing with Pro/E.

Vendors of solid modelers based on Parasolid, ACIS, or proprietary kernels can embed Granite to get a representation of the model with Granite-established topology names-and provide the associativity that doesn't exist with data stored in the other kernels.

PTC will charge no license fee, just maintenance and software royalties. A Granite license requires that a licensee write a gPlug application-a lightweight plug-in that lets the receiving application store a chunk of Granite information in its files. End users don't have to write any code.

Additional Details...PTC, 140 Kendrick St., Needham, MA 02494; Tel: (781) 370-5000; Fax: (781) 370-6000; www.ptc.com , or Enter 508.