[Fwd] IBM and Dassault Address PDM II Market

From: Yakov Horenstein (yakov@planet.it)
Date: Thu Feb 26 1998 - 07:54:52 EET


   (DASSAULT-SYSTEMES/IBM)(DASTY)(IBM) IBM and Dassault Systemes Create New
                  Strategic Alliance to Address PDM II Market
                           (Business Wire; 02/24/98)

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. and PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--February 25, 1998--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).

    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 Systemes believe the PDM II market
opportunity is substantial.

    The IBM and Dassault Systemes 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
Systemes 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(b) 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(a) 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 Systemes
  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 Charles,
president of Dassault Systemes. Mr. Lemke was general manager for solutions in
IBM's Global Manufacturing Industries unit.

    Two World-Class Product Lines

    The IBM and Dassault Systemes 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.

    ENOVIA.VPM(b) (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.

    ENOVIA.PM(b) (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 Systemes low cost, high speed Java-based web
browser-CATweb Navigator(b) 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 Systemes chairman and chief executive officer, Charles
Edelstenne,
said the new agreement "strengthens the long-term partnership between IBM and
Dassault Systemes, 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 Systemes ability to execute its vision of the digital
enterprise. The IBM and Dassault Systemes 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 Systemes 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."

    More information about this announcement can be found at the following web
site: www.ibm.com/mfg/ More information about the ENOVIA Corp. can be found at
a new web site: www.enovia.com. -0- (a) indicates a trademark or registered
trademark of International

    Business Machines Corporation (b) indicates a trademark or registered
trademark of Dassault Systemes

    SA. -0-
    ProductManager is an enterprise-wide, scaleable PDM system, which runs
as a
client-server application on a wide range of computing environments across
large servers, UNIX workstations, PCs, networks and archiving systems.
ProductManager enables manufacturers to streamline the design and
manufacturing
process and reduce both design costs and cycle times. It acts as a data vault,
providing a single source of product information and offers users fast and
easy
access to the most current data wherever the data resides. ProductManager uses
object-oriented technology to deliver prepackaged, yet flexible functions that
are easily adapted to a company's business processes. It also offers an
intuitive graphical user interface plus extensive tailoring capabilities for
users and a powerful customization toolkit for extending the product.

    Dassault Systemes is a worldwide recognized leader [ . . . ]

    CONTACT: IBM PRESS CONTACTS:
             Gary Baker
             Technology Solutions Inc. for IBM
             +1 212 320 2214
             gbaker@tsipr.com
                  OR
             Mike Shore
             IBM Corporation
             +1 203 486 7834
             shore@us.ibm.com
                  OR
             DS PRESS CONTACTS:
             Martine Vesco
             Dassault Systemes
             +33 1 40 99 42 18
             martine_vesco@ds-fr.com
                  OR
             Sheri Chow
             Dassault Systemes of America
             + 1 818 559 5522
             sheri_chow@ds-us.com
                  OR
             DS INVESTOR CONTACTS:
             Morgen-Walke Associates
             Lynn Morgen/Michele Katz/Libby Marshall

             PRESS:Brian Maddox/Estelle Bieber
             +1 212 850 5600
                  OR
             Morgen-Walke Europe SA
             Madeleine Resener/Caroline Bruel
             + 33 1 47 03 68 10

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