Dassault Systemes and Microsoft Sign Multi-Year Development Deal

By DE Editors

Citing a marketplace hungry for ways to improve the collaborative aspects of design and manufacturing, the principals of Microsoft Corp. (Redmond, WA) and Dassault Systemes (Paris, France) signed a long-term deal on Wednesday, November 17, to jointly develop technology to disseminate 3D design to all corners of business. The alliance is expected to last at least five years and deliver Dassault’s product lifecycle management (PLM) and 3D design products to companies of all sizes using Microsoft products as the delivery pipeline.

“We want to provide the platform to make 3D easy to use and easy to share,” said Bernard Charles, president and CEO of Dassault Systemes. He explained the development partnership would build on the existing ability for Dassault’s solutions to run on the Windows client and Windows Server platform to include Web services development via Microsoft .NET and real-time collaboration. No dollar figure was attached to the deal.

For his part in the announcement, which took place in Paris, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said the agreement, the largest his company has ever struck with another software developer, amounted to Microsoft’s dedication to collaboration. “The digital approach is absolutely amazing for what it can do for ]product] quality and ]manufacturing] efficiency,” he said.

The new alliance would bring Dassault’s entire line of products, including CATIA, DELMIA, ENOVIA, SMARTEAM, and SolidWorks, to divisions within a company previously unable to use 3D designs. For example, through the use of XML code it gives a marketing department the ability to receive a CAD image via the Intranet and copy it into a Word document where it can be rotated, enlarged, and manipulated like it can in the native program. All the attached information can be used in the Word program.

While the RandD agreement has obvious benefits for large corporations spread out over wide distances, it is also intended to bring PLM and collaboration to small- and medium-sized companies. Microsoft clients will be able to use 3D across the platform, integrating Dassault products with .NET, SQL Server, BizTalk Server, SharePoint Portal Server, Windows Longhorn, and Windows XP 64-bit Edition.

It will also make PLM accessible for a larger group of customers and is expected to speed development of products.

The two companies also expect to jointly encourage adoption of XML for 3D as an open standard for design and graphics by working with industry associations, other PLM software vendors, and 3D graphics companies.