Dassault Systèmes and Microsoft partner to Help High Tech Companies expand Product Lifecycle Management Communities

Out-of-the-Box ENOVIA PLM & Microsoft SQL Server Solution Offers Lower Total Cost of Ownership

LOWELL, Mass, June 10, 2009 — Dassault Systèmes (DS) (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), a world leader in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, today announced that it has expanded its successful partnership with Microsoft to offer high tech companies a more effective way to collaborate throughout the product development process.   By pairing Dassault Systèmes ENOVIA V6 PLM solutions with Microsoft’s SQL Server 2008 technology, users will have the power to increase organizational efficiency and collaboration.  The combination of ENOVIA V6, which is based on a service-oriented architecture (SOA), and Microsoft’s SQL Server 2008 enables customers to rapidly deploy out-of-the-box applications helping to improve time to market and profitability by reducing development time and costs.

To stay ahead of global competition, manufacturers must create a collaborative environment that brings together all of the key functions including engineering, manufacturing, marketing and sales teams.  By integrating ENOVIA V6 with Microsoft SQL Server and the suite of Microsoft Office tools, users will have desktop access to real-time information and project details as needed, enabling employees to work more productively.  In addition, Microsoft’s Unified Communications technologies combined with the ENOVIA 3DLive application, provide collaboration tools that enhance the user’s ability to work seamlessly in 3D, regardless of their geographical location or function.

“Most organizations today need to collaborate cross-functionally, bringing together marketing, product planning, customers and outside suppliers to develop high-quality, winning product designs and doing so in a manner that helps products get out to market faster,” said Rob Shinno, global director, Hi-Tech Strategy & Solutions ENOVIA R&D Dassault Systèmes,.  “By working together, Dassault Systèmes and Microsoft are able to offer an affordable alternative to more expensive, complex data base solutions—giving companies both large and small the power to easily collaborate using the familiar Microsoft tools that are ubiquitous in business.”

The strategic relationship between Dassault Systèmes and Microsoft enables users to enjoy a number of benefits, including:

• Ease of use through integration with the common Microsoft tools and programs that are universal in the business community, including Excel for extracting, charting and presenting data; Microsoft Word for documentation of design updates; and Microsoft Unified Communications for video conferencing and IM Chat.
• Synchronized development between packaging, product, operations and R&D to reduce critical errors and the associated costs of poor collaboration.
• The ability to leverage industry-specific PLM best practices and capabilities off the shelf, to speed deployment and cut time to ROI.
• A solution that can grow alongside any business, as the technologies integrate easily with existing or legacy software and can be used by employees with no programming skills.

“We continue to develop our long-standing relationship with Dassault Systèmes, as we share the common goal of reaching more users in an organization,” said Don Richardson, director of global PLM strategy at Microsoft.  “By offering customers applications that are easy to implement and use, we will ultimately improve productivity while also lowering total cost of ownership. This partnership will enable customers to stay ahead of the competition with unparalleled integration and seamless collaboration across the enterprise.”