BusinessWire
November 15, 2005 05:00 AM US Pacific Timezone

PTC Integrates Windchill(R) with IBM Rational ClearCase; Synchronizes Software Development with Electrical and Mechanical Product Development for Faster Time-to-Market and Higher Quality Products

NEEDHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 15, 2005--PTC (Nasdaq: PMTC), the Product Development Company(TM), today announced an integration of IBM Rational ClearCase with PTC Windchill. This will enable electronics companies to synchronize software development with the overall product development process, increasing efficiency and shortening product development cycles. IBM Rational ClearCase is IBM's industry-leading Software Configuration Management (SCM) solution.

Today, electronics products are developed through a multi-disciplinary environment of electrical, mechanical and software developers with increased use of embedded software. As a result of this complexity, companies struggle to manage these diverse disciplines against an overall product development project timeline. One of the most significant challenges for electronics product development is identifying product development issues before release to manufacturing. This is imperative to avoid expensive rework and delayed product launches. Other factors complicating this process include the greater use of software outsourcing and geographically distributed product development and their associated risks.

"In recent discussions with manufacturers, consultants, and software vendors, there is agreement that the software development process has much less control than other disciplines," said Michael Burkett in the March 2004 AMR Research Report, "Don't Let Increased Software Features Derail Your New Product Development and Launch Goals." "Controlling software development and synchronizing configuration releases with the overall system is becoming an important factor in reducing the risk of poor new product launches. The quantity of revision iterations in software is higher, faster, and managed with less control than other design domains, leading to configuration management issues with mating system components."

Similarly, the automotive industry is using increased electronic and software content, referred to as "mechatronics" in automobiles as a primary means of providing competitive differentiation. Unfortunately, both OEMs and suppliers are struggling with issue and change management for mechatronics and as a result have recently been cited for an increased number of automotive recalls.

"Integrating IBM Rational ClearCase with PTC Windchill solutions provides great value to our joint customers by allowing software development to be synchronized with the overall product development process," said Claudia Dent, vice president, business development, IBM Rational Software. "This enables electronics companies to govern the software component of a project as effectively as the hardware component, improving efficiency and helping to reduce costs."

The integration of IBM Rational ClearCase with Windchill enables:

-- Improved efficiency and higher quality through integration of the software configuration managed in IBM Rational ClearCase with the overall product configuration managed in Windchill PDMLink, allowing a single solution to manage the data developed by MCAD, ECAD and now software developers

-- Greater collaboration and innovation among globally distributed product development teams

-- Integrated software development teams, whether embedded or application-level software, with overall enterprise change management in Windchill PDMLink(TM)

-- Improved software outsourcing leveraging Windchill ProjectLink(TM) project management and secure collaboration tools integrated with the IBM Rational ClearCase environment

-- Release software executables through Windchill PDMLink and Windchill ProjectLink

"PTC is very excited to be partnering with the software configuration management industry leader, IBM Rational," said Chad Hawkinson, director of product & market strategy for electronics and high tech, PTC. "We hear from companies struggling with problems such as shipping the wrong version of software executables to manufacturing, or not having visibility to problems early enough, causing delays of days to weeks in releasing products. This integration will enable Windchill PDMLink to manage the overall product configuration of a product across electrical, mechanical and software development, allowing companies to release higher quality products to market on time."

About PTC Solutions for Electronics & High Tech

PTC solutions for electronics & high tech are designed to meet the product lifecycle management requirements of electronics manufacturers. These solutions include product development process and data management, electronic verification and collaboration, environmental regulatory compliance (RoHS, WEEE, etc.) and 3D mechanical design. PTC has over 3,000 high tech customers, including the top 30 electronics manufacturers across the globe.

About PTC

PTC (Nasdaq: PMTC) provides leading product lifecycle management (PLM), content management and dynamic publishing solutions to more than 40,000 companies worldwide. PTC customers include the world's most innovative companies in manufacturing, publishing, services, government and life sciences industries. PTC is included in the S&P 500 and Russell 2000 indices. For more information on PTC, please visit http://www.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 risks and uncertainties include PTC's ability to undertake development activities to successfully integrate the technologies needed to adequately address the software configuration management capabilities required by our customers and successfully coordinate and manage joint activities with third parties, such as IBM, (including development, implementation, marketing and support) in order to continue to deliver products and services that meet those requirements, together with such other risks and uncertainties as are detailed from time to time in reports filed by PTC with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including PTC's most recent reports on Form 10-K and 10-Q.

PTC, The Product Development Company, Windchill, Windchill PDMLink, Windchill ProjecLink and all PTC product names and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of PTC in the United States and in other countries.