64-bit Computing Goes Mainstream
It’s easy to see, standing in the electronics section of BestBuy or Sam’s Club, that 64-bit computing has finally arrived. When lowly consumers can readily and inexpensively purchase the “next generation” technology, companies can rest assured that the time has come to upgrade, swap out, retire, or do whatever is done with last decade’s computers. At last, CAD applications starving for memory will finally be fed and applications needing more speed will surely zip right along.
How ready are we? From a CAD perspective, every major vendor supports 64-bit computing, and most do so on multiple OS (operating system) versions. For instance, SolidWorks 2010 supports Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Vista and Windows 7 (yes even Windows 7) 64-bit, CATIA V5R19 supports Windows XP Professional and Vista 64-bit, Autodesk Inventor 2010 supports XP Professional and Vista 64-bit, and Pro/Engineer Wildfire 5.0 supports XP Professional, Vista and Windows 7 64-bit.
On the PLM side of this equation, ENOVIA SmarTeam V5R19 Foundation supports Windows Server 2003 64-bit while the Editor client supports XP Professional and Vista 64-bit. 
Enterprise PDM supports Windows Server 2003 and 2008 64-bit and the client supports what SolidWorks 2010 will support. Aras, an open source PLM software product, supports Windows Server 2003 and 2008 64-bit and because it is web based solution, the client supports any client that can operate Internet Explorer.
There is plenty of evidence pointing companies and users (even consumers) to the 64-bit promise land. In fact, it may be time to start thinking about when software vendors will no longer support 32-bit platforms at all.
Tags: 32-bit, 64-bit, Aras Innovator, CATIA V5R19, computer hardware, ENOVIA SmarTeam, Enterprise PDM, Inventor 2010, Pro/Engineer Wildfire 5.0, SolidWorks 2010, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, Windows XP
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