Dassault Systemes launches 3D Internet software

PARIS (Reuters) - French software company Dassault Systemes launched on Tuesday 3DVIA, a platform that will enable consumer and professional users to access three-dimensional services online.

Dassault, whose clients include blue-chip companies such as U.S. planemaker Boeing and Japanese carmaker Toyota, also said it was extending a partnership with Microsoft.

"3D must be used by all and for all," Chairman and Chief Executive Bernard Charles told Reuters on the sidelines of a technology conference the company is holding.

The 3D services, the first of which will be accessible on the 3dvia.com site in autumn, will allow users in online communities to create objects in 3D, upload and share them.

"We want to do the 3D Flickr," he told Reuters, referring to the popular online photo-sharing site owned by Yahoo Inc.

A first professional community called 3DVIA SupplierSource will connect designers and suppliers.

Services to professionals will be through subscription but services to consumers will be free and funded by advertising.

Charles said 3DVIA had significant potential but it was premature to quantify it. "We estimate that from 2008 this investment should practically not be dilutive anymore," he said.