Stratasys, a maker of 3D printers, has embarked on an ambitious plan to become more of a software company by launching a design application built using open source standards
Stratasys says GrabCAD Print is built on a proven, cloud-based SaaS platform and a “new business intelligence environment”, which will make designing and making 3D printing “easier, more intuitive and readily accessible”.
Stratasys is known as 3D printing and additive manufacturing solutions company – it’s a hardware company. But the new software strategy is designed to make 3D printing significantly easier, more intuitive and highly accessible – which, in turn, will expand the company’s market into the software sector.
Stratasys’ application is powered by a new, open architecture “design-to-3D print” workflow application, GrabCAD Print – residing on the popular GrabCAD SaaS platform and supported by a community of more than 3 million designers, engineers and students.
Josh Claman, chief business officer, Stratasys, says: “When we acquired GrabCAD two years ago, our vision was to provide a digital manufacturing backbone to support adoption of 3D printing technologies.
“Underscoring the critical nature of software as an essential ingredient for complete and smooth 3D printing workflow, GrabCAD Print is our first new application built on the GrabCAD platform – empowering customers with a single, open, cloud-based environment for job preparation, scheduling and monitoring.
“Accelerating integration of additive manufacturing on the shop floor, GrabCAD Print also generates real-time business intelligence which can be prepared in actionable reports for Stratasys 3D Printers on the user’s GrabCAD Print network.”
