During the 1970s, an entrepreneur named Jim Dager owned a subcontract steel detailing firm. Jim understood that computer automation would help him serve his customers better and increase his profits at the same time.

His first venture into computer detailing was a CAD product named Bruning Easy CAD, which ran on HP Basic workstations. Frustrated at almost every turn, Jim decided that learning to program the software himself was the best way to get the details he wanted.

Realizing that other detailers would share the same frustrations, Jim started Design Data in 1981. SDS was the first automated steel detailing product in the industry, and it was extremely well received. Within six years, the staff size was doubled, and Design Data became the software company to go to for a complete solution. Design Data has continued to grow, always squarely focused on the future of the steel industry.

In 1991, the SDS products were ported to the HP-UX (UNIX) operating system with much faster equipment. This solidified the frame-input approach to detailing a steel structure. Three years later, the detailing module was transformed from a beams-and-columns program to a 3D solids modeling system.

Design Data’s revolutionary approach set the standard for all detailing systems to this day and expanded what was possible with SDS/2 and software for steel. In 1998, the move to Windows for all the SDS/2 products was completed to open up a worldwide market.

Today, SDS/2 has evolved into a powerful 3D information management system that provides much more than details or reports. It is the information center of the job cycle, the backbone of a steel fabrication and engineering company — the software solution favored in North America with a rapidly expanding worldwide customer base.