CD storage option for CAD users

Promising to solve many of the storage and retrieval challenges faced by AutoCAD users, Information Management Research (IMR, Englewood, CO,

http://www.imrgold.com) is now shipping CAD2CD ($995). The software provides a viable means of archiving CAD drawings to CD media. The latest module in the 2CD suite to work with IMR's Alchemy storage and retrieval software, CAD2CD was developed to address specific CAD storage issues.

Specifically, the software offers content-based access to data within a CAD drawing. File contents are indexed while they are written to a CD. A searchable full-text index of all drawings and related PC files is created, and the drawings and files can be retrieved based on their content. The software shows all 'hits' where they appear on the image.

Intended primarily as an archival option for CAD drawings, images stored on CD can be preserved for years to meet legal or client requirements. When files are retrieved from a CD burned via CAD2CD, the images can be viewed without requiring AutoCAD. CAD2CD puts a CAD viewer on every CD.

Other modules in the 2CD line include File2CD, COLD2CD and Scan2CD, which was introduced at AIIM in 1996. Future releases will include a PDF file indexing module that is near completion, a Web-based storage and retrieval module and, in the longer term, an E-mail module. Alchemy is priced at $2,995 and is required to run any of the 2CD modules.