The MCAD Timeline

1965 Patrick Hanratty co-designs first CADD/CAM system while at GM Research Labs
1971 Patrick Hanratty founds MCS and introduces ADAM for mini computers
1972 From ADAM came Unigraphics, CV CADDS, Calma, and Gerber
1974 Intergraph (then M&S Computing) introduces Interactive Graphics Design System (IGDS) from which MicroStation derived.
1981 Dassault Systèmes releases CATIA surface modeler
1982 Autodesk is founded by John Walker and AutoCAD-80 is released for the CPM operating system
1983 Autodesk releases AutoCAD 1.4 for MSDOS based systems
1984 Bentley Systems introduces MicroStation
1985 CADKEY introduces PC based 3D CAD
1987 Autodesk ships 100,000th copy of AutoCAD
1988 EDS launches commercialization of the Parasolid Kernel
Jun-88 PTC commences shipment of Pro/ENGINEER
Oct-88 Autodesk introduces "Full 3D" capabilites in Release 10
Jan-89 John Walker steps down as CEO of Autodesk
Jun-90 Spatial introduces ACIS as a commercial product
Oct-90 Autodesk introduces AME
Apr-92 Autodesk acquires Micro Engineering Solutions, Inc. (leads to AutoSurf)
Jun-92 Carol Bartz named Chairman, President and CEO fo Autodesk
Jun-93 Autodesk acquires Ithaca Software, Woodbourne (leads to AutoCAD Designer)
Jan-94 Autodesk incorporates ships Release 13 with ACIS
Jun-94 Autodesk ships 1,000,000th copy of AutoCAD
Nov-94 AutoCAD Designer ships
Jan-95 Autodesk releases AutoCAD Designer
Nov-95 SolidWorks releases SolidWorks95 using Parasolid
Jan-96 Product Model Data Exchange is standardized by 'STEP'
May-96 Autodesk releases Mechanical Desktop 1.0 using ACIS
Jun-96 Autodesk ships 1,500,000th copy of AutoCAD
Jun-96 Intergraph releases SolidEdge using ACIS kernel
Jun-97 Dassault acquires SolidWorks
Jun-97 PTC ships 100,000th copy of Pro/ENGINEER
Sep-97 Patrick Hanratty's company, MCS, uses Parasolid in Anvil Express
Oct-97 Bentley annouces a switch to using Parasolid kernel in Microstation
Oct-97 Bentley annouces Microstation/J, a Java based CAD system
Oct-97 EDS signs letter of intent to buy control of SolidEdge from Intergraph and go with Parasolid
Dec-97 Computervision introduces DesignWave, a Parasolid based product
Dec-97 PTC buys Computervision
Jan-98 Autodesk ships Mechanical Desktop 2.0 using ACIS 3.0


Last Updated on 1/25/98
By Michelle Pillers