Product lifecycle management software developer UGS PLM Solutions, in conjunction with its major automotive customers, has created JT Open, a community to evangelize the use of a specialized data format meant to standardize collaboration among manufacturers and their partners and suppliers.
While PLM software has long been promoted as a means for managing product data from inception to manufacturing and distribution, it has been hindered by the difficulty of sharing information across heterogeneous systems and downloading complex images in unsynchronized formats.
The Jupiter Technology format could extend manufacturing data to the many product managers who could use CAD data in a PLM context but dont use native CAD software, said officials at UGS, a unit of Electronic Data Systems Corp., of Plano, Texas. JT makes it possible to view and share product data and dynamic images worldwide in real time and throughout the phases of a products life cycle, according to JT Open, which was formed this month.
Initial members of JT Open include PLM software developer Parametric Technology Corp., of Needham, Mass. Software developers Actify Inc. and Alias Systems, a division of Silicon Graphics Inc., are also part of the initial JT Open development. San Francisco-based Actifys technology enables end users to visualize, measure, annotate and share CAD files without using a CAD system. Toronto-based Alias creates three-dimensional graphics software.