It's nice to see the CADCAM press finally start to attempt to discuss what the real problem with performance in history based modelers is. Old, legacy code software components don't support multi-core processing and they are plauged with problems. An example would be the Siemens D-Cubed 2D and 3D constraint managers which don't make use of a mulit-core processor:
http://www.3dcadtips.com/solving-cad-concurrency-problem/
Not only don't Siemens D-Cubed 2D and 3D constraint managers use mulitple cores but they also fail at very simple tasks:
I don't believe for one second that changing from one old, legacy code CAD product (SolidWorks) to another old, legacy code CAD product (Solid Edge ST), which has had cosmetic rehab and a Band-Aid (Synchronous Technology) applied to it, is the answer. I think the answer is what Dassault saying they are going to do with creating an entirely new SolidWorks using better and more modern software components that can make full use of multi-core processors.
The CGM kernel certainly appears to be such a component.
http://www.spatial.com/blog/leveraging-multi-core-hardware
Here is another link that explains the multi-core processor problem and how it's badly limiting CAD:
http://www.cloud-invent.com/Vision.aspx
Jon Banquer
San Diego, CA
http://cadcamtechnologyleaders.blogspot.com/p/fully-integrated-cadcam.html
SolidworksGeneral