Microsoft, Dassault to cooperate on product development

CADalyst, Jan, 2005

Dassault Systemes' (www.3ds.com) PLM (product lifecycle management) products may become more appealing to small- and midsized companies after it announced a long-term global strategic alliance with Microsoft (www.micro soft.com). Dassault will synchronize development of its product line to match Microsoft's roadmap for its platform tools such as Microsoft .NET, SQL Server, BizTalk Server, SharePoint Portal Server, Windows XP 64-bit Edition and the upcoming Windows Longhorn version (due sometime in 2006).

Dassault's SMARTEAM and SolidWorks, which target the mid- to small-sized firm, are already developed only for Windows, but not so the high-end trio of CATIA, DELMIA and ENOVIA. The agreement should particularly help those companies trying to run ENOVIA and SMARTEAM in tandem.

Dassault gained a publicity boost from the presence of Microsoft chair and founder Bill Gates at the press conference announcing the alliance. However, the actual alliance appears to be little more than an agreement to share details about upcoming releases to better synchronize development cycles.

The agreement is not exclusive, and Microsoft said it welcomes similar arrangements with other PLM vendors. Likewise, Dassault will continue its support for IBM's WebSphere infrastructure, as IBM remains the primary route to the U.S. market for most of its high-end products.

"Microsoft and Dassault Systemes share a common vision of democratizing 3D and making PLM more pervasive," said Bernard Charles, president and CEO of Dassault Systemes.

Microsoft and Dassault also agreed to explore opportunities to work together to encourage market adoption of XML for 3D applications across the design and graphics industry. The two companies will work with industry associations, other PLM software vendors, and 3D graphics technology companies to advance interoperability using common XML-based technologies.

This does not mean, however, that Microsoft is endorsing Dassault's 3D XML for PLM format, a lightweight, open format for compressing 3D files without altering the geometry. Again, Microsoft is keeping its options open to also support other formats designed to encourage downstream use of 3D models for purposes such as technical documentation, maintenance manuals, and marketing materials.