Transoft Solutions Newsletter

Transoft Solutions News
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Industry News
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Technology News

January, 2010

GuidSIGN 5.1 Launched

Platform, Companion Software, and Operating System, Compatibility Highlight Improvements

Transoft Solutions, developers of industry leading software for the engineering and architectural communities worldwide, announces the launch of the latest version of the powerfully efficient sign design software, GuidSIGN version 5.1. Compatibility, usability, new fonts, and improved features are key highlights in this newest version of the successful sign design software.

GuidSIGN, a CAD-based WYDIWYG (what you design is what you get) software, gives users the ability to create cutter-ready highway and roadway signs, designed to national, state / provincial, regional, or custom standards in minutes. As a comprehensive, easy-to-use design tool GuidSIGN automates the design process with intelligent object dimensioning and innovative sign template creation tools.

Free Training Sessions an Overwhelming Success

Transoft Solutions, developers of the industry leading software for the engineering and architectural communities worldwide, reports that the recent series of free web-based training sessions, conducted January 4th – 8th, 2010, were a great success. The vast interest in the Transoft Solutions’ software specific training sessions required additional sessions in order to accommodate the registration requests.

Featured Designer(s)

To start 2010 off, we are looking inside Transoft Solutions at two in-house designers, Steven Chan, EIT and Billy Chan EIT (no relation). These guys are doing some great work and under Senior Engineer, Daniel Shihundu, P.Eng., MIHT. They’re abilities and their work has helped create some of the recent innovations here at Transoft Solutions.

“Jobs Bill” Highway Investments Critical To The Economy

“The Jobs Bill is a significant improvement over last year’s stimulus and we strongly support it,” said Greg Cohen, President and CEO of the American Highway Users Alliance. “It is important to consider that highway and bridge investments made up only 3% of the total cost of the old stimulus. In the new, smaller Jobs Bill passed by the House, the $27.5 billion in highways and bridge investments make up 18% of the total cost. In other words, Congress is providing new focus in this bill and choosing programs that ‘work’ – both in the short and long term.”

Sec. LaHood Responds to AP Article

You see, the highway and road construction industry totals about 258,000 jobs out of an overall national work force of 132 million jobs. If you're keeping score at home, that means only two-tenths of one percent of the American employment is in highway and road work.

ARTBA Responds to AP Article

The Associated Press (AP) gets an “Incomplete” grade overall on its January 11 article, “Road Projects Don’t Help Unemployment,” and an “F” on presentation for potentially, if unknowingly, misleading policy makers and the general public. That obviously occurred as the “Wall Street Journal’ referenced the AP “conclusion” in a January 12 opinion piece.

URS to Rebrand by Incorporating Two Additional Divisions

URS Corporation will rebrand and integrate its EG&G and Washington divisions under the URS Corporation brand. From now on, URS will present a single brand to clients and the marketplace.

AASHTO Reacts to AP Analysis on Economic Recovery Spending

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) strongly disagrees. In Texas, for example, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding is providing nearly one-fourth of the $1 billion needed for the critical, 8.4 mile, Dallas-Fort Worth Connector project.

Oberstar, DeFazio: AP Analysis is Off Base

The Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit take exception with an Associated Press analysis on the effects of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on unemployment.

ASCE Pres.: You Can't Believe Everything You Read

I’ve been surprised at how readily people have accepted as fact the conclusions offered in a recent Associated Press news article that claims that the transportation funding in the 2009 American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) failed to have an impact on unemployment. The authors seemed to have relied on information that many have pointed out is, at best, incomplete.

Dodd and DeLauro Vow to Get Infrastructure Bank Done This Year

Supporters from every corner of the transportation universe joined Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA), Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) at a press event aimed at jumpstarting a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB), which the two Connecticut lawmakers vowed to steer to passage this year.

Autodesk and Dassault Systèmes Settle Lawsuit

Autodesk, Inc. and Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. (“SolidWorks”) agreed to settle a lawsuit pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

In the lawsuit, Autodesk’s allegations included that SolidWorks inappropriately used Autodesk’s trademarks AutoCAD® and DWG™. SolidWorks asserted counterclaims against Autodesk.

Autodesk buys former Transoft Solutions Partner

Autodesk, Inc. announced that it has completed the acquisition of Dynamite VSP and Dynamite SIM visualization software products and related assets. The products were purchased from 3AM Solutions, a UK-based privately owned technology company that develops visualization software for civil infrastructure. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.