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Big names in software and services, including IBM, SAP AG, Electronic Data Systems Corp. and Parametric Technology Corp. are making partnerships to round out their respective PLM offerings.
IBM and SAP announced today at the National Manufacturing Week tradeshow in Chicago the joint delivery of Product Lifecycle Management services. The announcement is essentially a strengthening of the existing strategic alliance for integrated e-business solutions from IBM, of Armonk, N.Y., and SAP, of Walldorf, Germany.
As part of its collaboration with SAP, IBM Global Services Business Innovation Services PLM practice will provide consulting, integration and implementation services around mySAP PLM software. The software, which is part of the mySAP.com e-Business Platform, connects people involved in product development, manufacturing and services.
IBM Global Services, for its part, has set a charter to leverage relationships with leading PLM software companies to build integrated PLM offerings.
SAP and IBM also said they would jointly offer vertical-industry specific PLM solutions and methodologies. IBM already provides PLM consulting and integration services.
Separately, PLM software maker PTC on Monday outlined its plan to deliver interoperability with other enterprise applications in support of Product First, its recently announced business strategy to spur growth in the manufacturing sector.
That plan includes a strategic alliance with competing software maker EDS that amounts to a technology exchange intended to remove obstacles for interoperability between the two companies respective software products, according to PTC officials, in Needham, Mass.
Both EDS, of Plano, Texas, and PTC will work for interoperable computer aided design, data management and visualization software between their product lines.
In the past couple of months PTC announced alliances with Tibco Software Inc. and Siebel Systems Inc. Tibcos enterprise application integration software will serve as the integration platform link to PTCs software and business systems.
Siebel, for its part, will integrate its eBusiness Applications with PTC product development solutions so that Seibel users will be able to view digital product data within PTC software.
The basic tenets of Product First calls for interoperability among competing technologies, putting product development at the intersection of customer satisfaction, operational efficiency and the business goals of a company, according to PTC officials.
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