Dassault Systèmes (DS) today announced an agreement to acquire 100% ownership of ABAQUS Inc., a leader in nonlinear finite element analysis software, in an all-cash transaction approximating $413 million, subject to the satisfaction of certain customary conditions and approval by the regulatory and merger control authorities, especially in the USA and in Germany. The transaction has received the unanimous support of ABAQUS's owners and management team and is expected to be completed by the end of the third quarter of 2005. DS expects the planned acquisition to be immediately accretive to net income, excluding acquisition costs and the impact of...

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At CIMdata, we constantly monitor the evolution of PLM concepts, approaches, and solutions and look for new industry trends from the perspective of both users and solution providers. Eurostep has been on our radar screen for many years as a well known contributor to the development of global product data standards such as STEP ISO 10303. They have a well-earned reputation for bringing these ideas into actual production using commercial software as well as custom-made solutions.

As part of current research efforts focused on solutions addressing the in-service and after-sales domains of the product lifecycle,...

Agile announced today, 3 February 2005, the acquisition of Cimmetry Systems. CIMdata believes that this acquisition will have a positive impact on both Agile and Cimmetry as well as on the overall visualization tool market. By this acquisition, Agile has clearly demonstrated their view of the importance of visual collaboration as a key component of a full PLM solution. They have committed to both incorporating Cimmetry’s technologies and knowledge base into Agile’s suite of offerings, and to maintaining Cimmetry as an independent business operation. Cimmetry will continue to build and develop its supplier and partner relationships with a wide-ranging set...

UGS’ announcement of a definitive agreement to acquire Tecnomatix comes as no surprise. These two companies announced a strategic working relationship in the third quarter of 2002 and have been diligently working to further integrate both their technologies and customer sales and support activities. Most recently, UGS’ announcement of their Open Manufacturing Backbone (OMB) and its tight integration with the Tecnomatix suite of offerings reinforced these activities publicly. In a teleconference call today to discuss the acquisition, many of the comments from UGS and Tecnomatix personnel focused on the acceleration this acquisition will have upon further integration of the Tecnomatix...

Boeing, IBM, and Dassault Systèmes (DS) have announced that Boeing has selected DS' full V5 PLM product suite to be used as the development platform for the 7E7 dreamliner program. This will include use of CATIA, ENOVIA, SMARTEAM, and DELMIA products and services.

Boeing stated that they intend to use the DS products across their extended supply chain and will request that suppliers also utilize DS V5 products in order to standardize use of specifications, engineering rules, operational parameters, and simulation results. This is intended to enable Boeing to create a Global Collaboration Environment (GCE) for the 7E7 development program and...

ANN ARBOR, Michigan, June 7, 2004— Today, MatrixOne announced that they have reached a definitive agreement to acquire Synchronicity, a leader in product information management for the EDA industry. This is a significant event for both parties and good news for the overall PLM industry. It is consistent with MatrixOne's focus over the last couple of years to differentiate themselves in the PLM industry by providing solid PLM support for companies that have significant electronics-design content in their products.

While MatrixOne has sustained solid PLM support to companies in a variety of industries, their increasing focus on electronics design content has...

ANN ARBOR, Michigan, March 15th , 2004 — EDS today announced that it has reached an agreement to sell 100% of its UGS PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) Solutions business unit for $2.05B. The acquiring entity is comprised of a three-company team: Bain Capital, Silver Lake Partners, and Warburg Pincus Private Equity Group. The sale is expected to be completed within the next 90 days.

This sale completes a process initiated by EDS last October, and that has been followed closely by the industry since that time. According to EDS, sale of the UGS PLM Solutions business unit, one of the premier...

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Over the last several years, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) has emerged as the common term used to describe the creation, management, and use of product and plant related information and processes (i.e., an enterprise's intellectual assets or complete product or plant definition) throughout the entire lifecycle and across the extended enterprise. Historically, Product Data Management (PDM) and now PLM solutions were practical primarily for large, distributed enterprises that had the extensive resources required to deploy and maintain them. Today's PLM solutions are designed not only for large companies, but also for mid-sized enterprises...

EMC's acquisition of Documentum should strengthen both its software and hardware sales and market position. EMC's strategy aims at becoming a provider of Information Lifecycle Management technology. Their acquisition of Documentum fits this strategy and will improve EMC's position as a major player in the content and information lifecycle management space. Content and information lifecycle management continue to grow in importance to companies in all industries and as the size and type of content to be managed grows, is a driver for storage related hardware and software sales. The integration of EMC storage management solutions with the new acquired Legato...

ANN ARBOR, Michigan, October 16, 2003 — EDS today announced it is considering an Initial Public Offering (IPO) or private offering of a minority stake in its PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) Solutions subsidiary as a strategic alternative for the business. EDS expects to complete any actions that arise from its review of strategic alternatives for PLM Solutions in the first half of 2004. The new company would retain its strong ties with EDS and be able to leverage that relationship to deliver comprehensive solutions to its clients; however they will have less access to EDS' financial resources.

According to CIMdata, this...