Aras, SolidWorks and Disruptive PLM Strategies

October 27, 2011

BAM! Aras just announced Enterprise PLM for SolidWorks. Here is the new article -Enterprise PLM for Enterprise PDM. Navigate to the following article to read more – Open Source Aras Releases Commercial PLM Solution for SolidWorks. Here is the short conclusion made by Randall Newton: Our assessment: Aras just plugged a huge hole in the SolidWorks marketplace, one as big as the product name is long.

Fast rewind back in 2010. SolidWorks World 2010. Anaheim, CA. SolidWorks is announcing about their future products on top of Enovia V6 platform. During that event SolidWorks made multiple mentioning of Enovia V6 to be used as a platform for future enhancements of SolidWorks. Here is the passage from razorleaf’s blog summarizing SolidWorks World 2010:

SolidWorks has a new product line, SolidWorks PLM. This line will include a number of offerings, thefirst of which is cloud-based data management named SolidWorks Product Data Sharing (PDS). This software was demonstrated on the last day of the show, operating right inside of SolidWorks. For those paying close attention, the PDS plug-in showed a label, “powered by ENOVIA V6.”

Now rewind seven month ago. SolidWorks 2011. I posted – Integrated PDM and PLM: Wrong Question? This blog was a follow up on the conversation and presentation made by Jonathan Scott of Razorleaf about SolidWorks Enterprise PDM and ENOVIA V6 integration. Slides are still here.

The interesting comment to this post was made by Marc Lind of Aras:

My sense is that the future will be about leveraging existing systems / data, like legacy PDMs, with more modern technologies to enable global processes, cross-functional collaboration and new ways of doing business. Our “view” at Aras is: Use the latest PLM technology to automate what makes economic sense, gets results quickly and gives you control over your own destiny.

I had a chance to meet Aras booth during SWW 2011. Aras presented a co-existance between Open Source Enterprise PLM and EPDM (see photo in the beginning of the post)

Another rewind. April 2011. ACE 2011 (Aras Community Event). After digesting all ACE 2011 materials and presentations, my clear conclusion was – Aras PLM lines up against Windchill, Enovia and TeamCenter. Navigate to my earlier blog to see slides presented Aras. The integration capabilities of Aras were clearly outlined and existing PLMs were presented as “PLM Legacy”.

Here is the quote from my blog post:

Integration is an important element of every PLM strategy and implementation. There are multiple aspects of integrations – desktops, CADs, PLM systems and ERP systems. Aras presented a very broad scope of integrations and integration technologies. (note: I was a bit surprised to see existing PLM systems defined as “legacy”)..

Aras Enterprise PLM vs. Enovia V6

The Enterprise PLM offering by Aras is pretty straightforward. Aras is going after 3 key areas – Engineering Bill of Material management, Change Management and Project/Portfolio Management.

All these modules are available in Enovia V6 portfolio – Enovia Engineering Central and Enovia Program Central. Now, customer can make a decision.

What is my conclusion? Aras is clearly playing a role of a disrupter on PLM market. Back in 2007, Aras disrupted PLM first time by introducing Open Source PLM. It looks like Aras is on the way to make a second disruption among large companies using SolidWorks and taking a role of Enovia V6 in a bundle EPDM / EPLM. Enovia clearly has a technological advantage of having unified development forces in their new Dassault facilities in Waltham, MA to develop “best in class” Enovia V6 / SolidWorks EPDM integration. The speed of customer adoption will be a key factor for Aras. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg

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Business Process Management, PLM and Open Source Track

September 16, 2011

BPM (Business Process Management) is another interesting topic I’m following already many years. I found it connected to PLM and other product development disciplines. PLM usually contains some elements of Business Process Management. I’ve been discussing the topic on my blog early. Look on few previous posts such as PLM Software and Business Process Scalability and How to increase business process technology adoption rate for PLM? BPM wasn’t on the list of hot announcements that PLM vendors are doing these days. It was kind of "considered done" action. Was it that, in reality? I don’t know. Process management is an inside topic in PLM implementation. IT and engineering system management people are interested in how to make it right. The same people can also decide what tools and infrastructure will be used for process management. Does it come from PLM vendor? Maybe IT will decide to use some alternatives in addition to that? Who knows? The decision will be hidden deep in IT department…

Nevertheless, I found the following article in CNET interesting – Open Source BPM startup BonitaSoft raised $11M. For me the importance of the event was mostly because of it is another example in a wider trend – finding simpler and more affordable solutions for complicated problems. BPM is one of them. There is plenty of tools that can be used to get BPM done in a complex way. This is where IT is going. This is where complex PLM implementations are going. I found the following passage interesting:

Gartner explained the market growth by pointing to increased interest in software-as-a-service (SaaS) tools, which offer a cheaper entry point, and a shift toward funding BPM projects from business-unit budgets rather than IT, reflecting an emphasis on BPM’s business benefits.

The combination with open sources creates another confirmation that IT (or even departmental management) is seriously considering such a type of solutions to become part of implementation.

What is my conclusion? Think about mindshare PLM vendors. The solution portfolio they are selling combined from multiple layers, components and functional pieces. BPM is one of them. IT is the organization PLM vendors need to convince as part of their selling process. I think, we can see an evidence of how this pattern is going to change. A simpler and cheaper solution is going to challenge larger BPM vendors. Open source play a revolutionary role in this trend. PLM vendors learned from large ERP companies how to sell solutions to large manufacturing firms. Is it going to change? I don’t know. Just my opinion…

Best, Oleg

Image: tungphoto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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BIM Open Source – Stimulus for PLM?

September 15, 2011

Open source is trending. I think, Android success and some other OSS projects created some winds towards future open source adoption. In my view, companies are taking notes. I was reading Graphic Speak article Autodesk releases Revit IFC Explorter as open source.

Autodesk today released its Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) exporter for Revit as open source code. Going forward the code will be managed by a five-person committee, one of whom will be an Autodesk employee.

I’ve been writing about "open source" before. However, most of my posts were about PLM and Open Source. You can take a look on some of my previous blog posts – PLM Wood And Open Source Termites and PLM and Open Source Big Games. One of the key elements of every open source solution is a community. Therefore, I found the following passage is very important:

The Revit IFC exporter open source code is managed by a five-member steering committee composed of one Autodesk employee and four members of the AEC Building Information Modeling (BIM) community. The Revit IFC Exporter Open Source Committee is chaired by Emile Kfouri, BIM application development manager, Architecture, Engineering and Construction Solutions, Autodesk.

PLM Open Source Stimulus

I found BIM is more friendly with Open Source compared to PLM. I don’t have much experience in this space, therefore, wanted to ask my BIM blogging colleagues to close my educational gap related to some solutions I discovered such as BIM Server, Open Source BIM and maybe some others. However, I made a notice and think IFC is playing a significant role in helping to establish BIM Open Source. I think, some standards like STEP or maybe JT Open can play a similar role in PLM?

What is my conclusion? I think the dynamic between BIM and PLM Open source development can be interesting. Even if BIM and PLM are different from the business standpoint, I can see a similarity in some technological and product foundations. What is your take on this? I’m looking forward to hearing both PLM and BIM people here. Please, speak your mind.

Thanks, Oleg

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“JT Open” and the Future of PLM 2.0

August 29, 2011

Despite the fact “PLM 2.0″ was first articulated by Dassault back in 2006, I think, the term itself has some rights for expanded live beyond DS V6 platform. In my blog last week I discussed some aspects of comparison between PLM 2.0 and Web 2.0. One of the most important conclusions, also mentioned in the comments, were about “openness”. Actually, the conversation about openness is always dangerous in CAD/PLM domain. The vendors’ walled gardens provide significant barriers to develop solutions for heterogeneous enterprise environment.

During the weekend, I had a chance to read Design News article – SpaceClaim Stakes Manufacturing Claim. Have a read and make your opinion. SpaceClaim is clearly one of the youngest representatives of CAD vendors. However, what specially caught my attention was a comment made by Blake Courter about JT Open:

Another core area Courter emphasized in this new release was interoperability — a critical requirement, he said, for making in roads in the manufacturing production space, particularly in the automotive sector. In this vein, SpaceClaim built on its backing of Siemens PLM Software’s JT Open technology with the new release’s support for semantic Product Manufacturing Information (PMI). This means SpaceClaim users can leverage JT data in a lightweight format, or they can work with richer, more associative information, including meta data and PMI.

Courter applauded Siemens PLM Software’s efforts around JT Open, particularly as far as the format has made inroads into the automotive sector. “Kudos to Siemens for creating a level playing field and making a neutral format for delivering the goods,” he said. “The JT Open guys have done the right thing going after ISO certification and paralleling other standards where they can.” SpaceClaim is putting its money where its mouth is, Courter said, by becoming a JTOpen and ProSTEP iViP member.

Blake’s comments made me think about future potential paths of JT Open as a potential enabling technology for PLM 2.0. As you remember from the history of Web, some key technological elements made a significant contribution to the development of Web 2.0. The famous LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) was one of the key elements. Bundle together with AJAX and development of the blogs and wiki platform it enabled live people involvement into the broader development of web content.

One of the biggest problems of PLM these days is the ability of PLM applications to proliferate inside of organizations upstream and downstream. PLM vendors developed multiple exchange formats, and as it seems to me, stack in their transition to the agreement. What can move things forward is some business innovation in this space? Open Source is one of them. What if the technological leader such as Siemens PLM will release JT Open formats and tools under one of the possible open source licenses? Does it sound crazy? I’m not sure. It will allow to remove all barriers to proliferate data and processes downstream in organizations and boost usage of JT Open by other CAD and PLM players.

What is my conclusion? For a long period of time, many ideas were considered as crazy of impossible for implementation. However, for the last decade, we’ve seen already some very interesting industry and technological moves. Will JT Open become another one? Time will show. What is your take? Speak your mind.

Best, Oleg

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PLM, Cloud and Open Source Separation?

June 2, 2011

Cloud and Open source are two topics I’m often touching on my blog. In my view, these two trends are notable if you think about where PLM innovation is going these days. Two years ago, I wrote – SaaS and Open Source: PLM Future Rides. We can see what happened since then.

Cloud services getting some traction. PLM vendors are trying to tap into cloud delivery by introducing focused applications or product. Recent SolidWorks announcement about n!Fuze is one of them. I covered it in my post SolidWorks n!Fuze – Cloud Remake of PLM Collaboration? Autodesk made few bold statements about the cloud with the announcement of Infinite Computing ideas. If you have some more time, you can read my post PLM vendors and cloud strategy where I’m shared my view on major PLM vendors cloud strategy. In parallel, for the last couple of years, I can see valuable development around PLM and Open Source. Some of my post on this includes PLM Open Source: Strategic or Off Road and PLM Wood and Open Source Termites.

Open Source and Vendors lock-in

The issue of vendor lock-in is well known in CAD/PLM world. For many years, the relationships between CAD/PLM vendors and customers was almost similar to "catholic marriage". I learn something new recently. It was about tight dependencies between cloud and open source. Navigate your browser to the to the InfoWorld.com article“Why the Cloud Can’t Be Separated From Open Source”. I found the following passage interesting:

“According to Michael Skok of North Bridge venture Partners, a firm specializing in open source funding, one of the chief customer objections to the cloud is the high potential for vendor lock-in.” Open source technology provides an obvious solution to the vendor lock-in dilemma.

I want to bring some examples of notable open source programs. Navigate to OpenStack – you will discover the program that employs open source and cloud. I can see a quite impressive list of companies, including Dell, Cisco, NASA, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. It is hard to dismiss the significance of cloud and open source when you see these names.

PLM Cloud and Open Source Options

It made me think about future potential of PLM, Cloud and Open source to play together. Aras PLM is one of the cloud innovators in this space. I’ve been visiting their ACE 2011 earlier last month. One of the hints Aras made was about their switch towards Linux and other Open Source platforms such as MySQL, On the showcase of ACE 2011 partners presented solutions leveraging some other open source technologies – Lucene and Solr. At the same time, Aras made an announcement about the availability of Aras platform on the cloud.

What is my conclusion? Most of the people are thinking about PLM and Open Source from the narrow "price" standpoint. In my view, the perspective is much wider and covers un-locking from vendors as well as future cloud expansion. Just my thoughts… What is your take?

Best, Oleg

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PLM Simplification, Alfresco and AutoCAD Integration

May 31, 2011

One of the trends I am following constantly on my blog is the simplification. PLM is very complex and still way too expensive. However, I can see multiple evidence of changes that happen around us. Open source and IT consumerization are two interesting strategies. Normally, I’m not reading press releases. In modern social Web 2.0 environment, press releases are like dinosaurs. Even so, the following press release, made me stop for scrolling down my browser – Formtek Announces Enhanced Engineering Data Management Solution for Alfresco®, Including New EDM Connector for AutoCAD®.

Alfresco and SharePoint alternative

I’m following Alfresco for a couple of years now. In a nutshell, you can hear about Alfresco as an open source alternative for SharePoint. Dig a bit into Alfresco website – you will find the evidence of Web 2.0 DNA. The following interview with Alfresco CEO John Powel explains about what problems in content management Alfresco is pretending to solve – content complexity, solution cost, deployment complexity.

AutoCAD and Alfresco Content Management

AutoCAD content is widely available everywhere. You can hardly find a company that has no AutoCAD drawing. Therefore, to expand the content management solution to AutoCAD content is an interesting move. Microsoft and SharePoint made few steps to develop better connectivity to AutoCAD. Autodesk Vault has some modules and functionality to publish the content to SharePoint. However, publishing is complicated. It is so 95…. I’m going to learn more about Alfresco AutoCAD interface on June 8. Navigate to the following link to watch the webinar.

Formtek will demonstrate its new EDM Connector for AutoCAD®. The Formtek EDM Connector for AutoCAD provides access to Alfresco repository functionality – including browse, open, check-in, check-out, and view/edit metadata functionality – directly from within the AutoCAD application. The Connector also maintains the integrity of AutoCAD referenced drawings (XREFS), as well as other types of referenced files (DGN, PDF, raster, etc.), by automatically associating them to the current AutoCAD drawing within the Alfresco repository.

What is my conclusion? In my view, open source platforms can provide an alternative to existing data management systems. However, the integration is still a problem that needs to be solved. "To CAD or not to CAD" – this is a typical dilemma in engineering data management. Last month on ACE 2011, Aras, presented the integration strategy, which included CAD systems as well. The evidence of content management platform integration with AutoCAD is another example. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg
Freebie unlike most of the press releases.

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PLM: From Work To Home via Microsoft and Open Cloud

May 30, 2011

Let’s talk about PLM software development today. Rewind pre-Web 2.0 and pre- iPhone era. Life was simlpe. After SolidWorks finally proved Windows is good enough for mechanical CAD, the majority moved to Redmond-based software. I’ve been thinking about changes that happened mostly for the last few years and what influences how we are going to develop PLM software in coming few years. There are two major trends I can identify: mix between “work” and “home” and significant influence of “open source” technologies.

The “Chat” Continues from Work To Home

These days we put fewer borders between work and home environment. Mobile technologies and cloud services allow to many people to be available during after working hours. Global development just added an additional pressure on people to be available out their normal work hours. Social marketing, custom-oriented product development and many other are additional factors changing our traditional working environment. I read Kelly Sommers’ blog Kellabyte – Continuous Client: Our multi-device dream but how do we build it?. This is my favorite passage.

Our needs for computing workflow have completely changed. Services like DropBox or Instapaper are narrow solutions to the real problem. DropBox lets us sync our data so that we can access it on multiple devices but it’s not addressing the workflow issue. DropBox doesn’t carry over the context of what we were doing when we shifted devices.I decided to count how many times I switched devices between noon and 6pm, so a 6 hour period. I switched devices 37 times.

Please take a look on the following picture from the same blog. This is a very typical scenario that may happen.

At the same time, most of the software is addressing data, but not addressing the “workflow” issue. And this is something that is really important if you think about business software like PLM. The only device-less software these days is the email. I can follow my emails on a desktop, tablet, mobile phone almost seamless. If you are lucky to use Google Apps, you can completely disconnect your life from a particular PC. At the same time, this is absolutely not happens in PLM business applications.

Microsoft Baby Steps towards Open Cloud

So, what happens with Microsoft these days. Do you think Redmond folks are sitting and waiting until Google mail will replace Microsoft Exchange and Outlook? Not at all. Recently, I wrote about Office 365. This is the “product” example. At the same time, I found some interesting trends related to the technological aspects of Microsoft-related development. Singularity is not popular and you can see Microsoft’s steps towards the technological trends we can see on the cloud. Navigate your browser to the following link and you will see how Microsoft Azure and PHP are working together – New SDK and Sample Kit demonstrates how to leverage the scalability of Windows Azure with PHP.

This Open Source SDK gives PHP developers a “speed dial” library to take full advantage of Windows Azure’s coolest features.

Spend some time, read it and make your opinion. Craig Kitterman brings multiple examples of software developed for Facebook and other cloud application by leveraging Microsoft Azure and PHP. Deal of the Today is sample application for PHP developers to learn how to take advantage of Microsoft Azure scalability.

What is my conclusion? I can smell ch… ch… change in everything that happens in people behaviors and software development these days. The traditional applications, development stacks and people expectations are moving forward. Gen-Y will be coming to business very soon, and they won’t tolerate existing environment. Everybody understands that, in my view. Is it a time to revise PLM software stacks and axioms? Just my thoughts… Speak your mind, please.

Best, Oleg

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PLM Open Source: Strategic or Off Road?

March 17, 2011

I’m watching closely everything that happens around with Open Source. The world of Open Source is changing all the time. Remember, in the beginning it was about Linux. Then it comes to other places – content management, CRM, enterprise search, mobile platforms and many other places. What happens with manufacturing and engineering systems? Is there a place where Open Source can provide some advantages? I read an article Open Source Software Hits a Strategic Tipping Point by Laurie Wurster. The author discusses what traction Open Source getting in the industry. Here you can see some information about the level of Open Source acceptance on the picture below provided by Gartner.

Picture-25.png

These numbers made me think about what possible path Open Source can take in engineering and manufacturing software segments.

Open Source Debates

I can observe multiple debates in the software community about what is Open Source and what software can be qualified as Open Source. In general I can see an open source as a model that promotes availability of the software source code to the system end users and following modification. However, the model, is not clean and transforming all the time. Some disputed models in this space are community-based development as well as mixed licensing where some of the system code is proprietary and another piece is open under one of avaialble open source licenses. Alternative, stricter definition refers to the Gartner’s definition of Open Source as a software released under Open Source Initiative licenses.

Open Source and Engineering Software Segments

In my view, Open Source might have a different potential in engineering and manufacturing software segments. It depends on the level of specialty, community size and existing software product and vendors strategy in this segment. In general, I can see an open source trend is to go bottom up from more generic type of software to more specific one. The size of the potential community is also very important. For example, CAD/CAE is a segment, which can be characterized by very specific skills, large number of mature products and software vendors. Despite few examples (Archimedes, BRL-CAD,avoCADo), I think, chance for CAD Open Source is relatively low in coming few years. On the other side, data management has a wider implementation scope. There are several mature open source products in this space such asMySQL, Cassandra and others, so a potential data management solution such as PDM can be very possible created by community of data-oriented developers. The last segment I wanted to touch is so called "software for collaboration". In my view, this is one of the most confusing in the space of engineering and manufacturing. At the same time, there are many open source tools in this category that can provide a value and can be easy enhanced with additional features.

What is my conclusion? I think Open Source gains acceptance and making progress in diverse fields. Depending on the application field it can become strategic or get off road. However, your organization needs to have a set of skills to make an open source happen. It is all about implementation, changes, coding, testing. It cost money and resources. Multiple tools can be combined into compelling solution. Do you think Open Source is for your organization? What flavor of Open Source do you prefer and see more applicable? I’m going to discuss it next month during my Beyond PLM panel on Aras Community Event (ACE) next month.

Best, Oleg
Freebie.

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PLM and Open Standards: Money Talks?

March 5, 2011

I’m keeping my eyes open for everything that happens in the space associated with open source and open standards. Open standards are not well developed in engineering and manufacturing space. In my view, CAD / PLM mind share vendors are not on the leading edge of open standard development. I can see multiple reasons to that – traditional orientation on proprietary data, strong competition, IP protection and what is mostly important – business strategy oriented on locking customers on the particular software with strong emphasizing of recurrent revenues coming from upgrades, renewals and next versions.

The following article caught my attention – “UK Government Defines Open Standards as Royalty Free”. It made me think that open source and open standard can have more momentum ahead.

New procurement guidance from the UK government has defined open standards as having "intellectual property made irrevocably available on a royalty free basis". The document, which has been published by the Cabinet Office, applies to all government departments and says that, when purchasing software, technology infrastructure, security or other goods and services, departments should "wherever possible deploy open standards".

My perspective on Open and Free was always from the standpoint of marketing practice. Open Source, Freemium Business models – these are examples I mentioned in my blog before as something that may have a significant potential in the future. Companies may develop their own understanding of "open" and "open standards". It is interesting to see the future trajectory of JT as an open standard. Aras PLM is an example of vendor that developing their position in the market as "enterprise open source". Will "enterprise open source" develops a different notion of "open source"? How "enterprise open source" will correspond to the notion of "intellectual property made irrevocably available on a royalty free basis" – a good question to ask. I’m going to ask these questions on my Beyond PLM panel during Aras Community Event in April 2011 in Dearborn, MI.

What is my conclusion? In my view Open has a future. "Proprietary" and "customer locking" will be diminished within the time. However, to move between these two polar points takes time and significant amounts of turbulence. Existing vendors, legacy software, business models – cost of change is significant. But cost of saving will be huge on the side of manufacturing and consumers. In my view, companies will need to take the leapfrog in order to compete in a different way.

Best, Oleg
Freebie. (irrevocably available)

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PLM Innovation and Packaging Trajectories

December 18, 2010

Innovation is a popular word these days. It sounds modern and trending. Everybody wants to jump to this bandwagon. I found myself reading and listening a lot about innovation during last time. The best book, I can recommend you is Peter Druker’s bestseller – Innovation and Entrepreneurship. It was re-printed many times. You can buy one on Amazon for a price less than one buck. However, the book is exceptional.

I spent Thursday listening and talking about innovation in engineering software during COFES Israel Forum in Hilton Tel-Aviv. You can get an idea about who attended by navigating your browser to COFES Israelwebsite. Brian Shepherd of PTC brought the idea of packaging in PLM. It made me think about some interesting trajectories related to the innovation in general and more specifically in PLM.

Packaging and Roles

The idea is to split application into pieces and providing different applications to people in a company. It sounds to me as a blend of the old “role-based” portfolio and trending App Store ideas. The fundamentals of this model are very healthy, in my view. However, the execution of this “re-packaging” is mostly important. The ability of apps for inter-play and exchange information is one of the most critical aspects. The second will be usage of heterogeneous Apps coming from different vendors. As you can see the backside of flexible packaging is the same data problem. PTC has something called Common Data Model. You can listen Mike Campbell of PTC is speaking here about Creo Common Data Model. It will be interesting to see how it will be different from Dassault V6 platform.

Enterprise Open Source

Another idea how to charge people for PLM in a less painful manner. Aras Corp. is leading this PLM innovation. You can get PLM software for free – no associated license cost. However, you will be able to get extra services by paying maintenance, subscription and services. This model, re-package a very complicated PLM sales process as well lower entry barrier. An additional aspect of this innovation is to prove software maturity by enabling people to run free download and evaluation. The last is only half true, in my view. Yes, you can download for free. However, your organization time is not free. In most of the situations, you can have a free PLM software for evaluation from other PLM vendors.

Services

This business model started many years ago as ASP model. Later, it was renamed as “on-demand” and SaaS. Now this model is associated with so called “cloud” platforms. The leader of SaaS offering, San-Francisco based Salesforce.comis selling the software by charging service money per month/year contracts. PLM early innovators in this space is bom.com (later re-branded as Arena Solutions). To sell services is an interesting approach and provide some financial benefits. However, PLM by nature removes one of the most strong advantages of SaaS model – flexibility to stop service at any time. At the time your data will be locked into PLM database, you need to pay to both providers until you will transfer your assets in an alternative system.

What is my conclusion? Reading the same book by Peter Druker, you can find, innovation may happen in different places. Product, Technology, Services, Business Processes, Logistic and Business Model. Edward Lewis from Hollywood fairy tale Pretty Woman is buying up businesses to break them up and sell them off in piece with a profit. It is hard to sell large PLM Platform these days. PLM vendors are trying to find an alternative model, which will be more successful in 2010s. Services, Open Source, Re-packging – all these models have one single root – to find an appropriate way to match customer needs and product offering. The innovation is in a business model. However, the simplicity of products is probably the key to success.

Best, Oleg

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