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Product lifecycle management software developer UGS Corp. is heading downstream. The company last week launched a new suite of software aimed at the midmarket, along with a new channel strategy to better reach those customers—an effort that requires a more regional, personalized approach than does enterprise sales.
The UGS Velocity Series suite of software provides enterprise-class PLM functionality to smaller manufacturers. PLM, in effect, enables companies to get products to market faster by automating a lot of the processes inherent in product development and product management.
UGS, of Plano, Texas, developed its Velocity Series suite to capitalize on its enterprise offerings through a set of preconfigured best practices, in a Windows environment, that are geared toward helping users grow from a two-dimensional to a three-dimensional design process, officials said.
Velocity combines digital product development capabilities with UGS Teamcenter software—albeit a streamlined version, dubbed Teamcenter Express—which enables collaborative product data management. Teamcenter Express is combined with two additional UGS applications: Solid Edge, for 3-D CAD, and Femap, for CAE (computer-aided engineering) analysis.
Teamcenter Express boils down to preconfigured product data management software thats built on a common database architecture for data sharing. Solid Edge provides modeling and assembly tools that let users deploy single parts to assemblies with thousands of components. Structured workflows are developed through industry best practices.
The Velocity Series suite also enables supply chain integration—beyond Tier 1 suppliers—for smaller suppliers.
At the same time, to better reach the midmarket, UGS is looking to expand its Global Channel Program partner capacity by about 50 percent by the end of next year.
Last year, the Global Channel Program generated about 20 percent of the companys total revenues, officials said. The plan for building on that capacity—beyond the introduction of the Velocity Series suite—is to enable its 300 partners to sell UGS Teamcenter Express with other PLM products from the company, an integrated selling approach UGS has not taken in the past. At the same time, UGS is providing Teamcenter Express partners with a nonexclusive agreement that allows them to join the UGS Global Channel Program and still sell CAD products for other vendors.