All,



I gather many of you have seen the latest V15 announcement, which includes a
ton of exciting stuff, most of which is a direct result of your longstanding
requests - assembly features, adjustable assemblies, per occurrence display
control, user defined detail views, draft angle built into features and
much, much more. All in all, it should be a very useful release. I encourage
each of you to read in more detail about it (I believe Ken G provided a
link) and consider how and when you can take advantage of it in your
environment.



One area of particular interest in this release is the new "Sharepoint 2"
functionality. If you are an Insight user (or want to be one), please read
on to understand the benefits and requirements.



First of all, I'd like to apologize for not being as forthcoming about the
changes as we normally would have liked. Because of non-disclosure
agreements with Microsoft, we have been unable to make any public statements
on this matter. Their recent announcement regarding the latest Office
release (and Sharepoint 2) released us of these particular obligations.



The short story is that Microsoft has achieved enormous success with
Sharepoint and therefore gone back to the basics and re-hosted the
technology atop the most robust database architecture in their arsenal - SQL
Server. At the same time, rather than Sharepoint being an "application", it
has become core to their Office strategy, being shown in slides as a
foundational underpinning of Windows and Office, no longer a side
application. Additionally, they have moved all the key document management
functions out of Sharepoint Portal Server and further down into the
Operating System. With Windows 2003 Server, all the required functions come
with the OS, in a layer called Windows Sharepoint Services. This is all very
good news for Insight and Insight users, but it does mean change.



First, why is this good news? Here are few of the key benefits:



..Provides enhanced performance and improved scalability

..Significantly improved browser access to data

-Individual users can customize their view of data

-Attributes can be edited with "Data Sheet" view in browser

..Improvements to administrative tools for backups, virus scanning, server
usage, etc.



..      Much improved control over user roles
..      More than 1200 links per document (assembly) now allowed
.. Enables New Customizable Workflow Capability

.. Provides Event Triggers which can be used for custom actions



Version 15 takes advantage of Sharepoint 2 and therefore accrues all these
benefits. Unfortunately, this also means that we must leave Sharepoint 1
behind and make the transition forward, as Version 14 is the last release to
support Sharepoint 1. We recognize that transitions such as these can be
difficult and apologize in advance for the inconvenience. We will certainly
help however we can.



So what specifically does this transition mean?



Version 15 requires the following components to run Insight:



  a.. Windows 2003 Server
  b.. SQL Server 2000 with appropriate # of CALs


Note, that this differs from Sharepoint 1. Sharepoint Portal Services is no
longer required for most single site Insight installations. However, SQL
Server is a new component that must be purchased if your company does not
already own the appropriate CALs.



As far as data migration, Solid Edge will be providing a tool for migrating
from one architecture to the other. With the Version 15 release in a few
weeks, we'd expect it to be after the first of the year before most
customers wish to transition. We'd like very much to work with customers one
on one over a staged time period, giving some personal attention to as many
as possible to help make the transition smooth. So please let us know via
GTAC if you are one of the folks wants to be among the "first wave" and we'
ll schedule some time with you shortly after the first of the year.



Again, I apologize for having to be somewhat tight lipped on plans until
now. And of course, if I could avoid a transition for both you and me, I'd
like nothing better. But that's not the case - Microsoft has changed their
software for the better, and we need to go along for the ride, achieving a
more productive Insight as a result. We will partner with you to make this
go as smoothly as possible. Let us know how we can help.



Thanks and best regards,

Dan Staples

Director, Solid Edge Business Unit