October Converge Newsletter

Newsletter / October 13, 2026

The Converge Brief — October 2026
CONVERGEIssue No. 5 · October 2026

The Converge Brief

CAD·Cloud·AI for Manufacturing
00

From the Team

Last month we asked whether your business is AI-ready. This month we're answering the question that always comes next: where does your data actually live?

AI only pays off when it sits on top of governed, reachable data — and for engineering teams, that data lives in the vault. So our October centerpiece is a crossover webinar on exactly that: how hosted, governed data on EpiGrid becomes the Organize phase of a real AI strategy, with a live demo on an EpiGrid environment. You don't need to be an EpiGrid customer to get value out of it.

The EpiGrid offer — 50% off PDM Pro Hosting Implementation fees OR 6-Months Free PDM Standard hosting with Implementation — carries through October, and there's a new SOLIDWORKS promotion landing next month. Dig in — and as always, hit reply if any of it sparks a conversation.

— Chad Garrish, Converge

01

This Month's Promotion

EpiGrid H2 Offer — 50% off PDM Pro Server Hosting Implementation fees
The only certified SOLIDWORKS hosting · offer runs through Oct 31
SOLIDWORKS PDM Standard Hosted
6-months Free with PDM Standard

Completely hosted, completely managed PDM Standard or Professional. Take 50% off the implementation of a server for a PDM Pro vault. OR, 6-months free Cloud-hosting and implementation for PDM Standard. Clean, governed data that's also a head start on AI readiness.

October pricing · Ends Oct 31, 2026
Coming soon · EpiGrid
Privately Hosted AI and LLM Infrastructure

Concerned about data privacy and security with public frontier models like ChatGPT and Claude? Host your choice of LLM in our private hosted environment — 100% data security and all the horsepower of your chosen model.

Read: Private AI Infrastructure? Here's what that would look like →
02

Webinars & Events

Upcoming · October 21, 10:30 AM EST

Converge October Webinar – AI + EpiGrid: Your Data, Ready for AI

AI value depends on governed, hosted engineering data. We'll walk the Organize → Distill → Integrate framework, then run a live demo of the Organize phase on an EpiGrid hosted environment — and show how that foundation leads to AI ROI. Open to everyone, EpiGrid customer or not. Live Q&A.

Presenters: [Confirm presenter], Converge
Register for the Webinar
Last month · Looking back

September 16 — 3DEXPERIENCE in the Real World: Honest Lessons from the Field

A candid, practitioner-led look at how Converge actually uses the 3DEXPERIENCE platform day to day — real workflows, data management in practice, collaboration, and the honest lessons learned along the way.

Watch the replay
03

On the Blog

Recently on the blog — September

W1

Is Your Business AI-Ready? An AI Readiness Assessment for IT Leaders

AI Readiness Assessment · Data Governance · Knowledge Systems
W3

Every Month We Run a Live SOLIDWORKS Webinar

Webinars · SOLIDWORKS · PDM · EpiGrid
W4

Why Governed Data Is the Only Path to Real AI ROI

AI ROI · Data Governance · Knowledge Management
AI Leadership

Solve the AI jigsaw — start with the edges.

Your data in the cloud is step one. AI ROI is step two. New models and platforms arrive faster than teams can absorb them, so we treat AI like a jigsaw puzzle: begin with the edges. Governed, hosted data — exactly what EpiGrid was built to keep — is the edge piece most businesses are missing. Control your systems, your data, and your processes, and the center falls into place. We build systems, not gimmicks.

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Organize

A single, governed view of the information that matters — systems, CAD/PDM data, and the people who own them.

02
Distill

Turn raw documents, models, and history into a searchable, context-aware knowledge engine.

03
Integrate

Connect that knowledge into the tools engineers already use — automating handoffs and unlocking measurable time savings.

"Not sure where your business stands? Start with an AI Readiness Assessment — we'll map the puzzle and show you where governed, hosted data gets you to ROI fastest."

Book a Free 30-Minute AI Workshop
05

Welcome Aboard

Welcome, Sorian Aerospace

We're excited to welcome Sorian Aerospace to the Converge family. Sorian is a new American aircraft company that designs, builds, and flies autonomous supersonic aircraft in-house — from the Sandman unmanned supersonic trainer to the Unforgiven fighter-class advanced trainer. [Confirm: what Converge is delivering for Sorian, e.g. SOLIDWORKS / PDM / EpiGrid — one-line win.]

06

Quote of the Month

“
Cloud hosting for CAD used to be a convenience conversation. Now it's the first line of your AI readiness checklist.
— Oun Chau · EpiGrid
07

Employee Spotlight

Tanner Knight

Tanner Knight

Director of Marketing · Converge

Tanner is the voice behind a lot of what you read from Converge — this newsletter included. With more than a decade across technical sales, CAD workflow optimization, and marketing strategy for SOLIDWORKS, PDM, and cloud-hosted CAD, his specialty is turning complex engineering workflows into content engineers and executives actually want to read. He's also Converge's brand ambassador for EpiGrid. Off the clock, he's a multi-instrumentalist with a monetized YouTube channel and a Spotify artist profile.

"We've been having the 'organize your engineering data' conversation for years. AI just gave it a deadline."