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Product category: PLM and collaboration software
News Release from: Autodesk
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial Team on 13 July 2001

Buzzsaw.com acquired by initial investor

Autodesk has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Buzzsaw.com, which provides leading online collaboration applications to improve efficiencies and reduce costs for the building industry

Autodesk has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Buzzsaw.com, a privately held company that provides leading online collaboration applications to improve efficiencies and reduce costs for the building industry The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of fiscal year 2002

As an initial strategic investor, Autodesk held a 40 percent interest in Buzzsaw.com and will purchase the remaining 60 percent of the company for $15 million in cash plus the assumption of liabilities.

The acquisition will not result in any change to the revenue and earnings per share guidance previously given for Autodesk's fiscal year 2002.

For the second quarter, Autodesk also reports no change to revenue guidance, but adds a one-time benefit of approximately $.04 to earnings per share guidance as a result of the acquisition.

The acquisition of Buzzsaw.com is part of Autodesk's strategy to extend its business to complementary new markets.

Buzzsaw.com serves customers across the building design, construction, and management process: building owners and developers, facilities managers, commercial contractors, and reprographers - the consumers of design data created with Autodesk software.

With Buzzsaw.com, the building industry can leverage digital information from design to print to construction, enabling new efficiencies and cost savings throughout a building's lifecycle.

"The Buzzsaw.com spin-off in 1999 was an exploration of the market potential for process automation in the multi-billon dollar construction industry," said Carol Bartz, Autodesk chairman and CEO.

"Bringing Buzzsaw.com back to Autodesk now is a perfect opportunity for us to add a proven concept to our portfolio of services that target the management and use of design information.

We'll be able to both reach a new set of customers previously unaddressed by Autodesk and enhance the services we provide to our existing customers worldwide." How Buzzsaw.com and Autodesk Work Together Buzzsaw.com was spun-off from Autodesk in October 1999.

Autodesk has remained its largest single shareholder and key strategic partner since then.

With this acquisition, Buzzsaw.com is positioned to deliver on its original and current mission: to provide efficiencies and cost savings throughout the entire building design and construction process.

Buzzsaw.com has successfully tapped into an important part of what the $3.9 trillion global building industry needs: a secure online workspace that facilitates and improves communication across enterprises within a highly fragmented industry.

In just 20 months of operation, Buzzsaw.com has more than 125,000 construction professionals using its services to collaborate on some 35,000 projects.

Buzzsaw.com has attracted some of the largest and most influential architects, owners, developers, contractors, and reprographers throughout the United States including CenterAmerica Property Trust, LP; Dow Corning Corporation; Ellerbe Becket; Gensler; Imaging Technologies; Toys "R" Us,; U.S.

Reprographics; Skidmore Owings and Merrill LLP (SOM); Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum, (HOK); and The Walt Disney Company.

As part of their ongoing strategic relationship, the two companies have worked together to create a combination of technologies and services that connect people, tools, and resources to save time and reduce building costs.

The integration of Buzzsaw.com's ProjectPoint online project collaboration application and its Plans and Specs online print management application with Autodesk's AutoCAD and Architectural Desktop design software gives Autodesk customers a direct connection to Buzzsaw.com's project management applications from their design applications.

Buzzsaw.com's collaboration technology has helped Autodesk create My Files, a personal, secure online service, accessible via Autodesk's Point A portal, enabling designers to store and share files with colleagues and clients.

The two companies have also co-developed web-enabled tools, such as Autodesk Volo View, to let members of extended design teams easily view, plot, mark up and collaborate with design data.

Together, this technology and these products create a comprehensive building-design data set that can tie together all participants in the building design, construction, and management process.

"Buzzsaw.com and Autodesk recognise that building professionals need a design and project management platform that can help not only with creation of building design documents, but also with communication and management of the downstream building process -- bidding, construction, and property management," said Mike Hnastchenko, director of technology at Ellerbe Becket. Request free introductory details about products from Autodesk ...

"At Ellerbe Becket, we use Buzzsaw.com's project management application for managing and sharing data for more than 75 projects throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia.".

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