SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — June 29, 2011 — Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) announced Autodesk Vault 2012 software now works with Microsoft SharePoint 2010 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 to facilitate access to design information across the enterprise. Autodesk’s data management software works with the Microsoft collaboration platform to simplify business intelligence, content management, search and sharing functions for intranet and Internet sites ― all while building a crucial connection between design teams and an extended business enterprise.

“Autodesk Vault works with SharePoint 2010 to help enterprises be more productive and profitable by facilitating sharing of and access to information throughout the lifecycle of any project,” said Çağlayan Arkan, General Manager, Worldwide Manufacturing & Resources Sector at Microsoft Corp. “Vault provides the world’s designers, architects, engineers, builders and manufacturers with a complete view of their information, while enabling access across the entire organization.”

On any design project, hundreds of people may be using dozens of specialized applications to create thousands of models and drawings. In addition to this design data, a significant amount of “nondesign” information surrounds most projects: contracts, bid documents, photographs, emails and more. Vault working with Microsoft provides an extended enterprise — including nondesign professionals — with the ability to share and manage engineering and design data through familiar Microsoft SharePoint 2010 workflows. The solution takes advantage of features and functionality provided in SharePoint 2010 and Autodesk Vault 2012, giving SharePoint 2010 users direct access to engineering and design data within Vault, including easy search and navigation, and the ability to view and print design data.

Global companies such as Joy Mining, are eager to reap the benefits of the Vault/SharePoint integration.

“As a strategic partner of both Autodesk and Microsoft, we at Joy are very excited about this collaborative development as it will enable us to further leverage our investments in SharePoint and Vault by allowing us to make our CAD models available to a wider audience,” said Chris Flynn, global director of engineering systems at Joy Mining Machinery. “We expect to dramatically improve the efficiency of our processes for outsourcing collaboration as well as our core engineering communication. Furthermore, the cost of implementing the application is minimized since both the IT organization and the end user are already familiar with SharePoint. We look forward to working with Autodesk and Microsoft in the near future on realizing this potential.”

Additional benefits include:

• SharePoint 2010 users now have direct access to Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Digital Prototyping data within Vault and can incorporate it into existing enterprise data, tools and processes.
• Autodesk Vault 2012 users now have the ability to take advantage of the latest social computing enhancements provided in Microsoft SharePoint 2010 through video conferencing, capturing discussions, voting mechanisms, mining expertise and business intelligence.
• Federated searching enables users to do a single search to quickly aggregate results from both SharePoint and Vault applications, helping users increase productivity without changing the way they work.
• Seamlessly allows technology from SharePoint 2010 and Autodesk Vault 2012 that runs on Microsoft Windows-based servers, utilizes Microsoft Web Services and SQL Server technology.

The collaboration between Microsoft and Autodesk extends beyond SharePoint 2010 to Microsoft Office 2010, including Microsoft Outlook 2010, Microsoft Word 2010, Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 and Microsoft Excel 2010, enabling users to be more productive with their everyday tools. Colleagues, customers and partners can share content and information in a familiar environment, whether reading a DOC file or printing a DWG drawing. The solution is easy to deploy, enabling customers to get up and running immediately.

“More than ever, clear communication and easy access to accurate data are the keys to success for any business,” said Steven Bodnar, vice president of data management at Autodesk. “Competitive enterprises need to collaborate beyond their boundaries in order to strengthen their relationships and cooperation with their customers, partners and vendors. This is especially true for design and manufacturing organizations working with globally distributed teams.

Availability

Autodesk Vault Collaboration AEC, Autodesk Vault Collaboration and Autodesk Vault Professional 2012 for SharePoint 2010 is now available. For more information, visit www.autodesk.com/vault.

About Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc., is a leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software. Customers across the manufacturing, architecture, building, construction, and media and entertainment industries — including the last 16 Academy Award winners for Best Visual Effects — use Autodesk software to design, visualize and simulate their ideas. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk continues to develop the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art software for global markets. For additional information about Autodesk, visit www.autodesk.com .