CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
8 January 2007
Product News
UGS and IBM to Provide Product Lifecycle Management to Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (SMBs) Worldwide
UGS Corp. announced a new agreement with IBM to support the collaborative product data management (cPDM) requirements of small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) on a global basis.
"This agreement is another important step in our strategy of delivering innovative, industry-focused business and technology solutions designed specifically for the SMB market," said Steve Solazzo, general manager, Mid-Market, IBM. "The combination of IBM Business Partners and UGS leadership products creates a very compelling value proposition for SMB customers looking for open, highly scalable data management solutions."
"UGS is committed to openness - both in technology and in partnerships," said John Graham, executive vice president of Global Sales and Services, UGS. "We are excited to make this move with IBM for SMBs. More companies trust UGS to manage their product knowledge than the next three competitors combined. We already create or manage more than 40 percent of the world's 3D data with our open cPDM technology. Working closely with IBM's Small, Medium Business, IBM Software Group and IBM's business partners will extend that leadership."
The two key pieces of the new agreement are:
IBM and UGS will jointly market to IBM business partners to sell and support Teamcenter® Express software and services to SMB customers in six countries: the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Japan and China.
Teamcenter Express - the cPDM component of the UGS Velocity SeriesT portfolio for the mid-market - can be coupled with a wide variety of computer-aided design (CAD) applications including UGS' Solid Edge® and NX® as well as CATIA®, Pro/Engineer® Wildfire®, AutoCAD®, InventorT and SolidWorks®. Teamcenter Express packages SMB-preconfigured, best practice technology for the machinery, automotive, aerospace and defense industries.
Teamcenter Express is the mid-market configuration of Teamcenter, UGS' flagship product data management software portfolio. With more than two million licenses in use worldwide, Teamcenter is a widely used PLM portfolio.
"This is a strategic move for UGS as it continues to deliver on its commitment to serve the high growth SMB market," said Ed Miller, president of CIMdata. "Teamcenter Express underscores UGS' drive to expand their development of their Velocity suite of SMB-focused products and to leverage the open, multi-CAD focus of its Teamcenter platform. For IBM and its business partners, this offering expands its portfolio of solutions for small to medium size businesses."
"We're excited about this new agreement with IBM that expands our working relationship," said Graham. "Along with an expanded Teamcenter Express, this partnership further demonstrates our commitment to expand our SMB multi-CAD coverage. IBM business partners now have choices in providing the best technology to meet their customer needs. Teamcenter Express provides an open cPDM product to manage multi-CAD data for IBM customers."
Open platforms are critical to Global Innovation Networks. UGS and IBM have proven their commitment to open collaboration in recent announcements. IBM recently announced a new, open Product Development Integration Framework to better link product design and development to core business processes The framework, combined with business partner PLM applications, allows clients to easily extend design and business collaboration throughout their value chain (see separate release). In addition, UGS reinforced its open business model with the publication of a comprehensive reference to the JTT format, the PLM industry's most widely used 3D data format for product visualization and collaboration. (see separate release)
An expanded Teamcenter Express for IBM customers will be available in the first quarter of 2007. For more information, visit http://www.ugs.com/partners/ibm .
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