IBM Expands Presence in PLM

IBM has formed a Product Development Integration Framework (PDIF), calling it "the most important announcement that IBM has ever made in the PLM space."

But it's not just all about IBM. They got eight PLM vendors to agree to write PDIF applications and connectors:

* PTC
* UGS
* Geometric Software Solutions
* MSC Software
* Agile Software
* Centric Software
* Engineous Software
* PROSTEP

Oops, who's missing? Dassault Systemes. Michael Hickins of Internetnews.com got these rave quotes from analysts:

* "The framework is game-changing, but I won't call it PLM."
* "It's more a cycle of life."
* "They've glommed onto this lifecycle thing and they're trying to push it through the [IBM] organization."

In the end, the purpose of PDIF is a way for IBM to sell more of its highly-profitable consulting services.

Comments

[csven]

Interesting timing on this.