According to the Aras Corporation (Aras) web site, the company had a very large win at the end of 2016. They closed a 50,000 seat deal at General Motors to support enterprise change management, vehicle bill of materials (EBOM & MBOM), variants and options, and other lifecycle processes. The implementation is underway now.
CIMdata believes that Aras was selected because of its technical capabilities, business model, and the architecture’s ability to support complex configuration management, which was an important use case. CIMdata has written extensively about Aras’s architecture and open business model and sees them as distinguishing factors. The enterprise open source business model allows companies to download and use Aras Innovator at no cost. Aras provides solution upgrades through the support subscription no matter how much customization has been done by the user—a unique capability especially appreciated by PLM veterans.
The win at GM follows previous large wins at Huntington Ingalls Industries, a major ship builder; Microsoft, managing product data including CAD for the hardware division responsible for Surface computers, Xbox, HoloLens, and accessories; Airbus where the software is the foundation of an innovative digital transformation program known as the Greenhouse; and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. within their Aerospace Systems, Shipyard & Machinery Works, and Aerospace Technology divisions.
According to Mr. Peter Schroer, CEO of Aras, Aras’ “Business of Engineering” message resonates with prospects and customers. In many cases they use the Aras platform to allow their legacy PDM and PLM solutions to be left in place, with Aras Innovator used to address unmet requirements and to link technology islands into an integrated solution.
In another significant development, IBM and Aras recently announced that IBM will resell and implement Aras Innovator as part of their Continuous Engineering offerings that are part the IBM Watson IoT business. Aras began this IBM relationship more than a year ago with the development of an Aras Innovator and IBM Rational reference architecture in partnership with Airbus, and progressed to IBM being a full Aras partner, selling subscriptions and implementation services. CIMdata sees this strategic partnership as a win for both Aras and IBM. As smart, connected products become more prevalent, companies need to eliminate legacy software and hardware silos, and customers want to get as much of their PLM-enabling suite from as few sources as possible.
CIMdata looks forward to following Aras’ journey throughout 2017 and into the future.