CAD Rooms, the engineering collaboration platform that powers Wikifactory, today launched a cloud-based Product Data Management (PDM) solution that is said to eliminate the technical silos plaguing engineering teams. CAD ROOMS addresses the acute collaboration challenges that traditional PDM and PLM solutions cannot solve.
Under CEO Christina Rebel’s leadership, the platform has doubled-down on the needs of its 150,000 users across 190 countries, razor-focusing on real customer needs. CAD Rooms represents a new collaboration-first age for design and engineering, providing teams the tools to work as ‘agile’ as their software development counterparts.
“Our mission of helping engineers collaborate and innovate has intensified, thanks to customers actively shaping our roadmap and it’s invigorating. Hardware is hard, but by putting engineers at the center of our product we are nailing ways to simplify, delight and elevate workflows in meaningful ways,” said Rebel.
The moment for modern engineering tools
In industries like space, automotive, medical devices, and electric vehicles, teams are no longer just mechanical engineers. Electrical engineers use sophisticated tools like Altium for PCB collaboration that are more advanced than mechanical engineers access. But these systems don’t speak to each other. Even sophisticated projects revert to email chains and version control chaos when teams collaborate across disciplines.
Modern cloud infrastructure and frameworks now make interoperable and scalable tools essential rather than aspirational. Advances in cloud infrastructure, front-end frameworks, and CAD kernels enable distributed, scalable, and secure PDM solutions.
“We had the advantage of rebuilding when we understood both what the technology could do and what customers needed,” explained Rebel. “Engineers were telling us they waste entire days each week organising component numbers across different CAD formats – that’s the kind of practical problem that pays for solutions.”
Breaking down the walled gardens
Engineering teams face a fundamental choice between expensive legacy CAD systems that create silos or inadequate workarounds that create chaos. Traditional CAD software costs up to €50,000 per engineer annually while locking teams into single-vendor ecosystems that prevent collaboration when engineers use different tools, forcing companies to hire for the platform instead of talent. Those who opt out fall back to email chains, spreadsheets, and Google Drive – creating version control nightmares without conflict resolution.
“Engineers hate these legacy tools,” said Rebel. “They’re set from the top down, overly bureaucratic, and weren’t built for remote or hybrid teams. But the cost of mistakes in hardware is unforgiving, so teams end up wasting time and energy just finding files and figuring out what needs to be done.”
CAD Rooms eliminates this false choice as the connector that bridges these gaps. Supporting over 30 file formats including SolidWorks, AutoCAD, CATIA, Rhino, and open standards like STEP and STL, it creates a single source of truth where mechanical engineers using SolidWorks, electrical engineers using Altium, project managers working in spreadsheets, and team communication in Slack can collaborate seamlessly around the same product data. CAD ROOMS connects diagrams, bill of materials, CAD models, purchase lists, task trackers, and communication channels, delivering information where and when relevant.
The platform will further expand with integrations with tools engineers already use – Slack, Microsoft Teams, Jira, and ClickUp – ensuring discussions and tasks stay aligned with design files. Advanced file locking prevents conflicting modifications while maintaining the precision hardware development demands, giving teams Git-like version control designed for engineering workflows.
Customer-centric product development
Understanding that engineering solutions require nuanced approaches rather than oversimplified tools, CAD ROOMS maintains direct engagement with engineers in forums and on the front lines, ensuring every feature solves real-world problems without sacrificing complexity that sophisticated workflows demand.
This focused approach, enhanced by AI capabilities where it matters most, allows CAD ROOMS to offer enterprise-grade solutions accessible to all team sizes. Smaller, innovative teams can now afford professional-grade collaboration tools previously out of reach.
While launching as a PDM solution, CAD Rooms is architected as a central digital platform that will expand into full Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) capabilities. This foundation enables engineering teams to manage not just current collaboration needs, but evolve their digital infrastructure as requirements grow more sophisticated.
Market impact and availability
CAD Rooms launches with immediate availability through flexible pricing plans designed for teams of all sizes, from small teams to enterprise organisations. The platform offers a free 14 Day trial of both their Team and Business plans, with upgrades offering expanded storage, advanced collaboration features, and priority support. Special pricing is available for early-stage startups.
The company is in discussions with major engineering organisations while supporting space startups developing technologies for space, electric vehicles and robotics, demonstrating versatility across engineering disciplines.
For more information, please visit: Cloud PDM & PLM Software with CAD Collaboration | CAD Rooms
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