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Inforbix and first experiments with Pro-Engineer

We promised to keep customers and readers of this blog on the cutting edge of new stuff coming from Inforbix. We recently did - Inforbix Dashboards. Well, here’s something we’re working on and hope to make available soon: we recently started work on supporting Pro-E (sorry, I mean Creo Parametric; apologies to my friends at PTC marketing ). See below a couple of screenshots taken from our experimental server which contains Pro-E files.

The first screen shot shows Inforbix Search returning ProEngineer assemblies:

This screen shot shows the results of a ProEngineer search aggregated using Inforbix Tables:

As I mentioned, we’re using some experimental Pro-E data. However, to fully test and validate our ability to handle all types of Pre-E data files and types, we need to work with a few companies using Pro-E. We are looking for a few companies or individuals interested in trying Inforbix and Pro-E data. If you are interested, please let me know. You will have loads of fun playing with Inforbix and give us valuable feedback.

Best, Oleg

Inforbix: how to get mobile access to your CAD files in 30 minutes

Mobile access is quickly becoming an important means how people remain productive on the go. You don’t need to be tied to your desk to make decisions or review information. With mobile, you can have access to your information regardless of where you are. As I talk to people in manufacturing companies, I hear more and more use cases, e.g. a product engineer visiting a supplier, a PM on a customer visit, an engineer on the shop floor. With the growing adoption of mobile, I suspect the number of use cases in manufacturing will grow.

We just released our first mobile app, Inforbix Mobile, for the iPad a couple of weeks ago. Go here and here for some details. On this post, I want to show you how simple it is for you to can get mobile access to CAD data in your company. I recently posted how current customers can get mobile access using Inforbix mobile. Go here. Now I want to show how easy it is for non-customers to get started using Inforbix Mobile.

I’ll start by saying that because Inforbix is cloud service there is no need for any additional servers, equipment, or resources. What’s more, there’s no need to migrate or move any on premise files or data. Because of Inforbix technology, on-premise data is not touched or modified in any way. Your CAD files remain exactly where they are. Okay, so if you are new to Inforbix, here’s how you get access to your product data, including CAD files, on an iPad (and soon on Android):

STEP 1: Register for Inforbix here.

STEP 2: Install the Product Data Crawlers (PDC) on your desktop or any other workstation with access to where company or project CAD files are located.

Go here to see a youtube video we produced that takes you through the installation process. You choose (i.e. have complete control over) what on-premise files Inforbix will scan. Here are two pictures that show how you choose the files you want Inforbix to scan (aka index):

Selecting folders or directories you want Inforbix to scan/index:

After you’ve chosen the files to scan/index, here’s the event log that keeps track of what you’ve selected and is currently being used by Inforbix:

STEP 3: Install Inforbix Mobile from the iPad App store and login in. You have mobile access! Here’s a picture of what the screen looks like after you’ve done your first search for a CAD file:

Conclusion. Inforbix’s infrastructure allows you to get mobile access to your CAD data with almost no effort. Give Inforbix a try and register to get mobile access to your CAD files. It’s really as easy as the above three steps.

Best, Oleg

Image via digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net