IBM and Dassault Systemes Create new Strategic Alliance to Address PDM II Market

IBM* and Dassault Systemes announced today a new strategic alliance to deliver new integrated solutions along with business transformation, consulting and implementation services in response to an emerging market opportunity called Product Development Management II (PDM II).

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina, USA, and PARIS, France, (02/25/1998)--Responding to the PDM II opportunity means helping businesses manage and give appropriate and timely access to huge quantities of data generated during a product's entire development process. This data includes information about the product itself and about processes involved with designing, developing and manufacturing it. IBM and Dassault Systèmes believe the PDM II market opportunity is substantial.

The IBM and Dassault Systèmes integrated PDM II solutions encompass what are now two separate domains or applications areas - Product Data Management (PDM) and Virtual Product Development Management (VPDM). The IBM and Dassault Systèmes PDM II solutions will let customers go far beyond today's data management and concurrent engineering practices to model, simulate and manage product information throughout the entire product life cycle.

The new alliance includes:

• Dassault Systemes launches a new company, ENOVIA Corp, to develop the PDM II solutions. The wholly-owned subsidiary will be based in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.
• IBM creates two new worldwide organizations: IBM PDM II solutions to market and sell the new ENOVIA products and IBM enterprise engineering services to provide business transformation, consulting and implementation services for customers.
• Dassault Systemes acquires IBM Product Data Management solution - ProductManager* including source code, intellectual property, skills and trademarks in a transaction valued at $ 45 million. The transaction is expected to be non-dilutive to 1998 Dassault Systèmes earnings per share. Final approval is subject to governmental regulatory requirements and other normal closing conditions.

In a separate but related announcement, Joel R. Lemke is being named as Chief Executive Officer of ENOVIA Corp., reporting to Bernard Charlès, President of Dassault Systèmes. Mr Lemke was general manager for solutions in IBM's Global Manufacturing Industries unit.

Two World-Class Product Line

The IBM and Dassault Systèmes PDM II solutions fall into two, integrated world class product lines. Both provide a Computer-Aided Design (CAD) - independent, open and collaborative environment that allows customers to graphically define, manage and share product and process information, during the product's life cycle and across an extended enterprise, including suppliers and partners.

• ENOVIAVPM (Virtual Product Model) addresses Virtual Product Development Management requirements. This solution is being tested by early adopters in pilot projects, with planned general availability in mid-1998. It facilitates innovation to create better products by helping define, configure and optimize product definitions and manufacturing processes. It manages relationships among different parts of a product and the processes that are used to make and assemble those parts. It also forwards any changes to appropriate teams, including those responsible for design, development and manufacturing.
• ENOVIAPM (ProductManager) addresses Product Data Management requirements. It helps manage product data and documents better. It manages the process for distribution and release of data, while providing wide access to this information at multiple geographical sites throughout the product life cycle. It also distributes and enforces corporate processes.

These two PDM II solutions pull together product development processes in a similar way that Enterprise Resource Planning solutions pull together production processes. However, they do more by enabling the interaction of both processes across the extended enterprise and throughout the entire life of the product.

The customer benefit of the PDM II solutions is even greater when combined with the new IBM and Dassault Systèmes low cost, high speed Java-based web browser-CATweb Navigator product and its 4D graphical window feature. Customers can navigate through the virtual product model and access the right level of information required for any activity.

Dassault Systèmes Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Charles Edelstenne, said the new agreement: " strengthens the long-term partnership between IBM and Dassault Systèmes, across the new PDM II market. With these new product lines, we continue to demonstrate our long-term commitment to bring innovative product solutions to our customers and to enhance shareholder value."

Bernard Charles, president of Dassault Systemes said, "This announcement accelerates Dassault Systèmes ability to execute its vision of the digital enterprise. The IBM and Dassault Systèmes alliance provides a comprehensive answer to our customers requirements from business transformation to implementation. By creating a true integrated portfolio of products we can address both the product development centric and enterprise wide product data management challenges faced by our customers."

He added "Our R&D investments will include an expansion of ProductManager's capabilities within the new integrated PDM II solutions. Customers already using ProductManager are ideally positioned to take early advantage of the new product lines and will have their investments well protected."

Greg Lock, general manager, IBM Global Manufacturing Industries, said, "The new ENOVIA solutions will significantly help customers achieve more innovation and higher quality. They address the need for collaborative idea sharing in the early design stages, while also providing for integrated control of product information once it is released to manufacturing. Dassault Systèmes R&D investment combined with IBM sales, services and consulting capability mean we are uniquely positioned to provide solutions for our customers on a global scale."