CAD Forum

Hey, Edgers!
I was wondering if anyone has seen any pricing for the SE value-based licensing (aka tokens)? I know this was announced but I haven't seen any pricing on the Siemens online store for the 25 or 50-pack annual subscriptions.
This is an interesting business model that Siemens is doing. You can find tokens for NX CAD, NX CAM, Simcenter (simulation) and SE. I did note that the new PMI module is not being offered in the SE Premium license. I am assuming that you need to buy the value-based licensing subscription so you can access the new module.
Ryan

The value-based licensing is another way to access those complementary add-on apps that are often only occasionally needed and thus do not make sense licensing under a full-time subscription term. Take Generative Design for example... a person may need to use it 4 times a year. Instead of a subscription that entitles them to operate it 24-7-365 for that year, they can get tokens and run several other add-on apps in addition to Generative Design for the same price as the original full-time subscription term.

Basically, a certain number of tokens are consumed each time the add-on app is used, and each add-on app consumes a different number of tokens depending on what it is. Think of this like ride tickets for an amusement park... you buy 50 tickets, and some rides take 1 per ride while others take3,4, or 5 per ride. When all your tickets are consumed, no more rides.

I believe the PMI module can be licensed perpetually as well as full-term subscription; it is just not included with the Premium license as not everything added is automatically included in it. It and some other modules can also be utilized with the value-based licensing in addition to perpetual or full-term subscription.

NX user here. I think it's a great idea... there are times that I would really like to use things like WAVE control and the User-Defined Features module, but I wouldn't get enough added overall utility to justify buying them.

Unfortunately, the NX lowest-end bundles such as I have, are not compatible with the token system :-(

Jim Elias wrote: ↑Wed Aug 09, 2023 10:36 am NX user here. I think it's a great idea... there are times that I would really like to use things like WAVE control and the User-Defined Features module, but I wouldn't get enough added overall utility to justify buying them.

UDFs not being part of the core NX package is a travesty.....library features is a basic thing.

I can definitely see the advantages of this model. If you only need to use simulation a few weeks of the year, why pay for it year round?

jcapriotti wrote: ↑Wed Aug 09, 2023 12:44 pm UDFs not being part of the core NX package is a travesty.....library features is a basic thing.

There's a lot of "basic" stuff which isn't part of the bare-bones package. On the other hand, if the lowest tier was the Mach 1, it would be priced out-of-reach for many independents (including myself)

I guess that's literally the price of stability.

Jim Elias wrote: ↑Wed Aug 09, 2023 3:55 pm There's a lot of "basic" stuff which isn't part of the bare-bones package. On the other hand, if the lowest tier was the Mach 1, it would be priced out-of-reach for many independents (including myself)

I guess that's literally the price of stability.

Which package do you use? Or do you buy it piecemeal?

jcapriotti wrote: ↑Wed Aug 09, 2023 6:04 pm Which package do you use? Or do you buy it piecemeal?

I have a perpetual "NX Mach Designer" (NX10101) bundle. As I remarked elsewhere, in terms of capabilities, it's not far removed from SW Professional (which I also have). For the work I do (opto-mechanical design), it's inherently more capable than SW. Designers in other rackets might say the SW package serves them better... though anybody saying that they don't have any interest in the Siemens SE/NX synchronous tools, likely has never tried them.

My NX VAR (good people) says that you can't get perpetual licenses any longer, and if I wanted to "buy" additional modules, those would be on subscription. But that might be a regional thing.

Jim Elias wrote: ↑Thu Aug 10, 2023 1:12 am My NX VAR (good people) says that you can't get perpetual licenses any longer, and if I wanted to "buy" additional modules, those would be on subscription. But that might be a regional thing.

Jim, your VAR is either misinformed or is trying to mislead you. You can still get perpetual licenses; it is just that Siemens is mandating that the VAR's put forth subscription quotes unless the customer explicitly asks for perpetual.

KennyG wrote: ↑Fri Aug 11, 2023 11:14 am Jim, your VAR is either misinformed or is trying to mislead you. You can still get perpetual licenses; it is just that Siemens is mandating that the VAR's put forth subscription quotes unless the customer explicitly asks for perpetual.

Thanks, I'll ask if the topic comes up again. My VAR told me that Siemens is now raising maintenance pretty steeply for those who choose to stay perpetual rather than switching to subscription, and gave me a breakdown, but I decided to remain perpetual anyway.

SPerman wrote: ↑Wed Aug 09, 2023 1:48 pm I can definitely see the advantages of this model. If you only need to use simulation a few weeks of the year, why pay for it year round?

Well, I think you might hit a snag here. I can't speak for how Solid Edge handles the simulation issue. But for NX there's a caveat you might not know about. Simulation is not included in a CAD token bundle. In order to use any of the types of tokens you still require a base seat. So you still need a base seat of simulation to use simulation tokens. You need a floating license of NX CAD for CAD tokens and you need a base seat of CAM for CAM tokens. The token pools are not shared across disciples.

KennyG wrote: ↑Tue Aug 08, 2023 5:15 pm I believe the PMI module can be licensed perpetually as well as full-term subscription; it is just not included with the Premium license as not everything added is automatically included in it.

Kenny,
Can this be verified? I was looking at SE website and PMI didn't come with Foundation, Classic or Premium. I took that to mean that I could only access PMI from tokens. I'd like to say that the 25-token pack costs $xxx dollars but Siemens has not added any pricing on the website or the online store for Solid Edge. Also, there are two different matrices on the Solid Edge pages. Each shows PMI differently. Shaking my head at that one.

It would be really nice if Siemens did what Autodesk did with their tokens and had a "token estimator tool" on their buy page.

Ryan-3DS wrote: ↑Tue Aug 29, 2023 4:30 pm Kenny,
Can this be verified? I was looking at SE website and PMI didn't come with Foundation, Classic or Premium. I took that to mean that I could only access PMI from tokens. I'd like to say that the 25-token pack costs $xxx dollars but Siemens has not added any pricing on the website or the online store for Solid Edge. Also, there are two different matrices on the Solid Edge pages. Each shows PMI differently. Shaking my head at that one.

It would be really nice if Siemens did what Autodesk did with their tokens and had a "token estimator tool" on their buy page.

Here's what I found on the SE website.
It is my understanding the Siemens, like the rest of the industry, is pushing for subscription sales. So the footnote is not surprising.

Hey, gang! Has anyone attempted to buy the value-based licensing option yet (aka tokens)? I'm just curious because this was part of the 2023 announcement and the Siemens Solid Edge "how to buy" page still has not options for buying VBLs- supposed to be a 25 and 50 token options.