Reference articles on history, science, culture and more
Encyclopedia

Siemens NX

Computer-aided design software

NX, formerly known as "Unigraphics", is CAD/CAM/CAE software, which has been owned since 2007 by Siemens Digital Industries Software. In 2000, Unigraphics purchased SDRC I-DEAS and began an effort to integrate aspects of both software packages into a single product which became Unigraphics NX or NX.

It is used, among other tasks, for:

NX is a direct competitor to CATIA, SolidWorks, Creo, and Autodesk Inventor.

01History

1972: United Computing, Inc. releases UNIAPT, one of the world's first end-user CAM products.

1973: The company purchases the Automated Drafting and Machining (ADAM) software code from MCS in 1973. The code became a foundation for a product called UNI-GRAPHICS, later sold commercially as Unigraphics in 1975.

1976: McDonnell Douglas Corporation buys United Computing.

1983: UniSolids V1.0 is released, marking the industry's first true interactive Solid Modeling software offering.

1991: During a period of financial difficulties McDonnell Douglas Automation Company (McAuto) sells its commercial services organization, including the Unigraphics organization and product, to EDS which at that time is owned by GM. Unigraphics becomes GM's corporate CAD system.

1992: Over 21,000 seats of Unigraphics are being used worldwide.

1996: Unigraphics V11.0 is released with enhancements in Industrial Design and Modeling including Bridge Surface, Curvature Analysis for Curve and Surfaces, Face Blends, Variable Offset Surface, etc. In the area of Assembly Modeling the new capabilities include Component Filters, Faceted Representations, and Clearance Analysis between multiple Components. A fully integrated Spreadsheet linked to Feature-Based Modeling is also included..

2002: First release of the new "Next Generation" version of Unigraphics and I-DEAS, called NX, beginning the transition to bring the functionality and capabilities of both Unigraphics and I-DEAS together into a single consolidated product.

2007: Introduction of Synchronous Technology in NX 5.

2011: Release of NX8 on October 17-2011

2013: Release of NX9 (x64 only) on October 14-2013

02Release history

Name/Version Version History Value Release date End of Standard Maintenance License Service Version Supported Operating Systems (as of 6/20/2022)
Unigraphics R1 April 1978
Unigraphics R2 July 1978
Unigraphics R3 October 1978
Unigraphics R4 March 1979
Unigraphics D1 December 1979
Unigraphics D2 September 1980
Unigraphics D3.0 April 1982
Unigraphics D4.0 September 1982
Unigraphics II 1.0 August 1983
Unigraphics I D5.0 March 1984
Unigraphics II 2.0 March 1985
Unigraphics I D6.0 August 1985
Unigraphics II 3.0 November 1985
Unigraphics II 4.0 November 1986
Unigraphics II 5.0 October 1987
Unigraphics II 6.0 December 1988
Unigraphics II 7.0 December 1989 v7.0
Unigraphics 8.0 March 1991 v8.0
Unigraphics II 9.0 August 1992 v9.0
Unigraphics 10.3 June 1994 v10.0
Unigraphics 11.0 January 1996 v11.0
Unigraphics 12.0 January 1997 v12.0
Unigraphics 13.0 July 1997 v13.0
Unigraphics 14 6/22/1998 v14.0
Unigraphics 15.0 November 1998 v15.0
Unigraphics 16.0 September 1999 v16.0
Unigraphics 17.0 October 2000 v17.0
Unigraphics 18.0 July 2001 v18.0
Unigraphics NX July 2002 v19.0
NX 2 v20.0
NX 3 v21.0
NX 4 v22.0
NX 5 4/16/2007 v23.0
NX 6 5/20/2008 v24.0
NX 7 5/20/2010 v25.0
NX 7.5 v26.0
NX 8.0 10/17/2011 March 31, 2014 v27.0
8.0.1 June 30, 2014
8.0.2 March 31, 2015
8.0.3 March 31, 2015
NX 8.5 March 31, 2014 v28.0
8.5.1 December 31, 2014
8.5.2 March 31, 2015
8.5.3 December 31, 2015
NX 9.0 10/14/2013 September 27, 2014 v29.0
9.0.1 March 31, 2016
9.0.2 June 30, 2016
9.0.3 September 27, 2016
NX 10.0 12/14/2014 December 19, 2015 v30.0 Windows 7, Windows 8 & 8.1, Windows 10, RedHat Linux 6, RedHat Linux 7.0-7.5, RedHat Linux 7.6, SuSE Linux 11, SuSE Linux 12, SuSE Linux 12 SP1, Mac OS X 10.8, Mac OS X 10.9, Mac OS X 10.10
10.0.1 December 31, 2016
10.0.2 March 30, 2017
10.0.3 November 9, 2017
NX 11.0 09/08/2016 January 29, 2018 v31.0 Windows 7, Windows 8 & 8.1, Windows 10, RedHat Linux 7.0-7.5, RedHat Linux 7.6, SuSE Linux 12, SuSE Linux 12 SP1, Mac OS X 10.10, Mac OS X 10.11, Mac OS X 10.12
11.0.1 July 19, 2018
11.0.2 December 21, 2018
NX 12.0 10/27/2017 May 17, 2018 v32.0 Windows 10, RedHat Linux 7.0-7.5, RedHat Linux 7.6, SuSE Linux 12, SuSE Linux 12 SP1, Mac OS X 10.12
12.0.1 October 11, 2018
12.0.2 December 31, 2019
NX 1847 1/18/2019 (NX Continuous Release Started) January 1, 2020 v33.0 Windows 10, RedHat Linux 7.0-7.5, RedHat Linux 7.6, SuSE Linux 12, SuSE Linux 12 SP1
NX 1872 6/26/2019 June 28, 2020 v34.0 Windows 10, RedHat Linux 7.0-7.5, RedHat Linux 7.6, SuSE Linux 12, SuSE Linux 12 SP1
NX 1899 December 2019 December 13, 2020 v35.0 Windows 10, RedHat Linux 7.6, SuSE Linux 12 SP1
NX 1926 June 2020 June 30, 2021 v36.0 Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, RedHat Linux 7.6, SuSE Linux 15
NX 1953 December 2020 December 17, 2021 v37.0 Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, RedHat Linux 7.6, SuSE Linux 15
NX 1980 June 2021 June 30, 2022 v38.0 Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, RedHat Linux 7.6, SuSE Linux 15
NX 2007 December 2021 December 16, 2022 v39.0 Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, Windows 11, Windows Server 2022, RedHat Linux 7.6, SuSE Linux 15
NX 2206 June 2022 (Bi-Annual Naming Convention started) June 16, 2023 v40.0 Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, Windows 11, Windows Server 2022, RedHat Linux 7.6, SuSE Linux 15
NX 2212 December 2022 December 15, 2023 v41.0 Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, Windows 11, Windows Server 2022, RedHat Linux 7.6, SuSE Linux 15
NX 2306 June 2023 June 14, 2024 v2023.06 Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, Windows 11, Windows Server 2022, RedHat Linux 7.6, SuSE Linux 15
NX 2312 December 2023 December 13, 2024 Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, Windows 11, Windows Server 2022, RedHat Linux 8, SuSE Linux 15
NX 2406 June 2024 Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, Windows 11, Windows Server 2022, RedHat Linux 8, SuSE Linux 15
NX 2412 December 2024 Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, Windows 11, Windows Server 2022, RedHat Linux 8, SuSE Linux 15
NX 2506 June 2025 Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, Windows 11, Windows Server 2022, RedHat Linux 8, SuSE Linux 15
NX 2512 December 2025 Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, Windows 11, Windows Server 2022, RedHat Linux 8, SuSE Linux 15
Designcenter NX 2606 June 2026 Microsoft Windows 11 , RedHat Linux 9, SuSE Linux 15

03Key functions

04Supported operating systems and platforms

NX runs on Linux, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS (Up to NX12).

Starting with version 12, support for Windows versions prior to Windows 10 were removed.

Starting with version 1847, support for macOS was completely removed, and the GUI was removed from the Linux version.

05Architecture

NX uses Parasolid for its geometric modeling kernel and D-Cubed as associative engine for sketcher and assembly constraints as well as using JT (visualization format) for lightweight data and Multi-CAD.

Watch videos about Siemens NXExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Siemens NX, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.