Autodesk launches subscription programme for Europe
1 min read
CAD/CAM giant Autodesk last week announced that its subscription service, which has been running in the US and Canada since August 2001, is now available throughout most of Europe. Users pay an annual fee and get all major product upgrades and all of the Autodesk Extensions as they are released – all included in much the same manner as a maintenance charge. Brian Tinham reports
CAD/CAM giant Autodesk last week announced that its subscription service, which has been running in the US and Canada since August 2001, is now available throughout most of Europe. Users pay an annual fee and get all major product upgrades and all of the Autodesk Extensions as they are released – all included in much the same manner as a maintenance charge.
“Autodesk is raising the bar and redefining customers’ expectations of their software provider,” says Jeff Drust, vice president of E-Business at Autodesk. “The Subscription Programme is a direct response to our customers’ need for a simple and streamlined way to keep their software up-to-date. We have extended the value of the software to allow our customers to work better, faster and smarter.”
Subscribers acquire new product releases and download extensions, as they become available and when they are ready to implement them, so breaking down the individual purchase, implementation and training required in full product upgrades.
Extensions build over time to form a substantial part of the next upgrade, but are only available via the subscription programme. All software licenses covered and delivered under the programme are perpetual licenses.
Products included are: AutoCAD, AutoCAD Mechanical, Autodesk Architectural Desktop, Autodesk VIZ, Autodesk Inventor Series, Autodesk Civil Design, Autodesk Survey, Autodesk Land Desktop, Autodesk MAP, Autodesk MapGuide and Autodesk Raster Design. The only proviso: customers must have the latest release of these products before they can take out a subscription.
The programme is accessed and managed through the Autodesk Point A customer web site (http://pointa.autodesk.com/), a personal access point to a multitude of Autodesk services and information on the Internet. The site, available in the US since 2000, recently expanded with the launch of local language sites (in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean and Simplified and Traditional Chinese).
Point A offers product tips and tutorials, online training and support and local industry links, and content is localised and organised by industry. Registered members can also subscribe to receive a monthly newsletter containing online articles of interest to the design community.
