Monday June 19, 8:31 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
PTC Ships Windchill Release 5.0
Latest Release Allows Organizations to Share Critical Business Information with Partners and Customers Over the Internet With High Levels of Security
WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 19, 2000-- PTC (NASDAQ: PMTC - news), a leading provider of collaborative product commerce (CPC) solutions, today announced the immediate availability of Windchill Release 5.0, delivering numerous customer-driven enhancements and new capabilities that enable customers to achieve higher levels of Internet-based product development. Windchill Release 5.0 allows manufacturing companies to share strategic business information over the Internet with key partners, suppliers and customers in a more secure environment. With this release, companies can deploy Web-based B2B collaborative product commerce solutions externally with even greater confidence.
``Today, we're making more secure Internet-based product development a reality,'' said James Baum, general manager and executive vice president, Windchill, PTC. ``Many companies are reluctant to place their important information on externally accessed sites for fear that this information might fall into competitors' hands. Meanwhile, partners who could add value are constrained because they need direct access to the same information. With Windchill Release 5.0, our customers can share critical product development information over the Web with greater assurance, realizing the strategic benefits that they envision from a Web-based collaborative product commerce environment.''
Hutchinson Technology, Inc. (HTI), htch.com, a leading manufacturer of suspension assemblies for rigid computer disk drives, is expanding their relationship with PTC. By May 2000, HTI had already implemented 500 seats of Windchill, and expects that number to climb to up to 1200 seats by December 2000. HTI looks to Windchill to help transform its development and manufacturing process from a traditional, document-based sequential design approach to an innovative, model-centric collaborative approach. HTI is looking forward to Windchill Release 5.0.
``The enhanced functionality of the search engine, change management and document relationships in Windchill Release 5.0 will enable Hutchinson Technology to proceed with implementation of electronic change management and bill of manufacturing operations,'' said David Radloff, chief information officer at Hutchinson Technology. ``As we continue our drive to work efficiently and effectively to meet the rapid development cycle requirements of the disk drive industry, we look to our partnership with PTC and the Windchill solution to enhance our collaboration and time to market capabilities. ''
``With Windchill Release 5.0, PTC is again positioning itself at the head of the pack in the CPC market,'' said Jack E. Maynard, research director, Enterprise Business Applications, Aberdeen Group. ``As a market leader in both the CPC and PDM space, PTC is delivering substantial business value to manufacturers by exploiting the potential of the Internet to dynamically connect trading partners for real-time product collaboration. Windchill is truly driving the manufacturing enterprise to new heights of rapid and cost sensitive product development that will kick open the doors to custom manufacturing on a previously unrealized scale
Product Enhancements Drive Collaboration --
As companies rapidly shift their B2B focus from short-term, cost-cutting activities to sustained, revenue-generating initiatives, the sharing of sensitive business information across the extended enterprise has become paramount. Windchill Release 5.0 provides market-leading and customer-driven enhancements that promote more secure sharing and collaboration of critical business information among organizations, business systems, customers, suppliers and partners. Significant enhancements are in the following areas (see www.ptc.com for more details):
Windchill Release 5.0 continues to deliver secure collaboration based on Internet standards, demonstrating PTC's commitment to swiftly deliver Internet-based solutions. Highlights include:
New support for Oracle 8i Release 2 and Java 2
New support for the RetrievalWare© search engine from Excalibur Technologies Corporation
New Subscription capability, increasing productivity without sacrificing quality
New Password protected electronic signatures, providing an extra measure of security
New integrated corporate and personal calendaring thus streamlining processes
Native support for wireless markup language (WML) making critical product-related information more accessible to individuals using wireless devices.
This release extends the manufacturer's ability to accommodate product information ``designed anywhere,'' strengthening our customers' ability to develop and manage a complete product representation independent of engineering authoring systems, driving higher quality, new levels of innovation, and faster time to market. Highlights include
New integration to Mentor Graphics in addition to new Workgroup Managers for CATIA©, Unigraphics©, and CADAM©
Enhanced Workgroup Manager for Pro/ENGINEER©, CADDS©, AutoCAD© and Helix(TM)
Increased productivity through content replication
Rich design interrogation capabilities through the new ProductView Realizer option
New visualization support for Cadence and Mentor Graphics formats within ProductView
Windchill Release 5.0 broadens its reach into the global extended enterprise by further tightening the relationships between product development and other organizations in the value chain, improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the extended enterprise. Highlights include:
New integration with BaanERP in addition to existing solutions for Oracle© MFG. and SAP
New replacement part feature addresses local supply issues
New as maintained product structure feature is key to servicing products effectively
Leading Companies Already in Production with Windchill --
Windchill customers include industry leading companies like Airbus, Boeing, EMC, Lamborghini, Lockheed Martin, Lucent Technologies, Marconi, Siemens and the United States Army. This rapid adoption by world-class manufacturers demonstrates the need for collaborative product commerce.
Among the many Windchill customers are Glunz & Jensen, glunz-jensencom, a leading provider of professional film development equipment and one of the earliest adopters of the technology. Glunz & Jensen has standardized on Windchill and is now looking ahead to an upcoming implementation of PTC's newest version, Windchill Release 5.0. ``We were looking to optimize our product development lifecycle to create a more innovative, efficient, and secure environment for the creation and maintenance of product information,'' said Jens Thorup, Director of R&D, Glunz & Jensen. ``PTC provided us with the right solution, enabling us to gain a strong competitive advantage in the marketplace while reducing product cost and time to market. We are looking forward to leveraging the expanded Internet-based product development capabilities and Web standards support delivered in Windchill Release 5.0.''
Xeikon, xeikon.com, a leading developer of digital color printing systems, has had PTC's Windchill CPC software in production since January 2000. During the rollout of an extranet application, Xeikon turned to PTC for a solution to better leverage its existing SAP and Oracle platforms. ``With core competencies in the engineering and product design fields, PTC is better able to provide Web-based CPC and PDM software solutions to the product design and manufacturing industry,'' said Luc Verbeke of Xeikon NV. ``We needed to tie our CPC package into our ERP (SAP) environment more efficiently so we could maximize the value gained from the combined solution. PTC provided an integrated, open solution to free up valuable resources and improve information consistency by eliminating the need to rekey vast amounts of information into different systems each time there was a design change.''
Partners Add Value to the Windchill Solution --
PTC's Enterprise Consulting Partner (ECP) program builds relationships with integrators and consultants to help promote and sell their services in conjunction with Windchill software to produce winning customer solutions. PTC ECPs are some of the world's leading consultants, engineering specialists, change management experts, software developers, and enterprise-platform implementers. In April, PTC announced its partnership with Origin Technologies in Business, and is continuing its program to partner with additional ECPs.
PTC is announcing a significant partnership with a recognized leader in the electronic design automation (EDA) market, Cadence Design Systems. Integration with this industry-leading EDA solution provider will offer improved management of critical design information and facilitate the exchange of information with suppliers and customers (see related announcement).
About PTC's Web-based Collaboration Solutions
Focused on all phases of a product's lifecycle -- from concept and definition to production, service, maintenance, and retirement -- Windchill advances collaborative product commerce (CPC) initiatives by allowing manufacturers to collaborate over the Internet with their customers, suppliers, and partners throughout the product development and delivery process. Windchill's unique Web-based approach springboards manufacturers into the Internet age, enabling them to capitalize on enterprise expertise, customer knowledge, and supplier innovation while accelerating the global introduction of innovative products to market with reduced risk and lower costs.
About PTC
PTC, founded in 1985 and headquartered in Waltham, Mass., USA (Parametric Technology Corporation), develops, markets, and supports collaborative product commerce (CPC) solutions that help manufacturing companies shape innovation and achieve sustainable competitive advantage in the Internet age. These B2B e-commerce solutions employ powerful Web-based collaboration and flexible engineering technologies to streamline product development and delivery processes. PTC's software solutions are complemented by the strength and experience of PTC Global Services, which provides training, consulting, support, and e-commerce services to customers worldwide. With PTC's CPC solutions, manufacturers can take advantage of the Internet to improve product quality, reduce costs, and shorten time-to-market cycles. In its fiscal year ended September 30, 1999, the company achieved more than $1 billion in revenue. PTC can be reached at 781-398-5000, or via the Web at ptc.com.
Except for the historical information contained herein, matters discussed in this news release may constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. These include PTC's ability to anticipate and adequately respond to evolving customer requirements, to successfully develop, integrate and support the technology necessary to deliver products and services that meet those requirements and to provide successful joint services with partners and systems integrators, together with such other risks and uncertainties as are detailed from time to time in reports filed by PTC with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including PTC's most recent reports on Form 10-K and 10-Q.
PTC, Windchill and all PTC product names and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Parametric Technology Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries. Names of products from other vendors mentioned in this document may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Contact:
Roberta Carlton
781-398-5479
rcarlton@ptc.com |
