Company aims to support anti-piracy by reducing CAD software purchase costs by more than 90%; Tecnoserve to sell industry standard CAD software to the Middle East burgeoning building and construction industry

Dubai - July 9th 2006: The high cost associated with buying legally licensed computer software is the driving force behind software piracy, and with the low cost of cracking and replicating software, the piracy market remains very lucrative despite of the adoption of international treaties on copyrights and anti-piracy laws. These high costs have also helped drive open source software applications as a viable alternative to expensive licensed software.

With the recent launch of BricsCad V7, engineers, architects and design companies in the Middle East will now be able to legally own an effective alternative to the more expensive AutoCAD. BricsCad uses the industry standard AutoCAD DWG as its native drawing format and can read and write AutoCAD DWG directly without any conversion.

Distributed by Tecnoserve, a regional software and technology solution provider, BricsCad V7 will sell for less than 10% of the price of AutoCAD.

Market surveys carried out by BricsCad showed that an increasing number of companies in the region are using pirated copies of AutoCAD mainly because of its high cost. This situation encouraged BricsCad to continually develop and upgrade its software package.

"We already have a number of users in the Middle East and their feedback has been very encouraging," said Erik De Keyser, founder and CEO of BricsCad. "We are very pleased to have companies like Dar Al-Handasah, Adnan Saffarini Engineering Consultant and National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC) as BricsCad users."

Commenting on the use of pirated software, De Keyser said: "Companies and even individuals face serious legal risks when employing illegal, pirated software. But with the high prices associated with buying or licensing software, especially in specialized industry segments such as building and construction, buying legal software becomes a major cost element."

Explaining the efficiency of BricsCad, De Keyser explained that like AutoCAD, the product's native file format is DWG and you can open and save AutoCAD files without any conversion or data loss. "Users can continue working on drawings that were started on in AutoCAD and freely exchange files with AutoCAD users," he explained.

"BricsCad is seen as an 'almost clone' of AutoCAD and users get the functionality they need. Not only that, the user interface is made in a way that a CAD operator trained on AutoCAD will fully master BricsCad after a few hours without any additional training," De Keyser adds.

According to the Business Software Alliance (BSA), the foremost organization dedicated to promoting a safe and legal digital world, software piracy levels in the Middle East have declined in 2005, with the UAE leading the way with the lowest piracy rate in the region.

"Government support to anti-piracy campaigns has been crucial in making this possible. Despite this substantial progress, the focus should consistently be rendered to overcome the many challenges and to bring regional piracy levels to the global average by all. Our company's product is sought to even reduce the rates of software piracy reported in the Middle East," he noted.

BricsCad NV is a Belgium company with long traditions in developing design software. The team of developers has more than 15 years of experience and a proven track record delivering top notch CAD technology. Today BricsCad has more than 35,000 customers throughout the world, and their best known product is BricsCad V7, a powerful and affordable alternative to AutoCAD.

Tecnoserve FZ-LLC is the Middle East distributor of BricsCad V7 and operator of the Middle East software portal www.cadresources.net. The company is a specialised solution provider to the building and construction industry, and is presently implementing a complete project management solution for Dubai Municipality. Tecnoserve has teamed up with a number of local and international software developers to provide applications needed by the region's striving construction industry. Detailed information about the BricsCad software and contact details can be found on the regional website, www.cadresources.net.

-Ends-

About BricsCad NV:
BricsCad has operational offices in Europe and the United States. The company is active in two domains, represented by BricsCad's two main products:

  • BricsCad Vondle - Internet based communication, collaboration and project management platform.

  • BricsCad V7 - the real alternative to AutoCAD.

BricsCad is active in 54 countries and has a worldwide network of dealers that contribute in sales and support. BricsCad Products are available in the main languages. BricsCad today has over 35,000 customers and has experienced an average yearly growth rate of 45% the last three years.

The force of BricsCad is its development and the ability to translate the wish list of its customers into fast and user friendly software. BricsCad updates and publishes knowledge bases and development reports almost weekly.
Together with its technology BricsCad delivers support service to every one, every day, anywhere. The kind of customers BricsCad has, are leaders in their field and require a zero tolerance support. We are proud to fulfill that task for them. BricsCad stimulates clients to communicate directly with the BricsCad support and development team.

About Tecnoserve FZ-LLC:
Tecnoserve FZ-LLC is the Middle East distributor of BricsCad V7. The company is a specialised solution provider to the building and construction industry, and is presently implementing a complete project management solution for Dubai Municipality. Tecnoserve has teamed up with a number of local and international software developers to provide applications needed by the region's striving construction industry. Detailed information about the BricsCad software and contact details can be found on the regional website, www.cadresources.net.

For more information about BricsCad V7, contact:
Per O. Gogstad
Mobile: +971506511801
E-mail: per@cadresources.net
Website: www.cadresources.net / www.bricscad.com

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© Press Release 2006