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UGS and Microsoft To Collaborate on Product Lifecycle Management

Product life-cycle management (PLM) applications vendor UGS and Microsoft announced this week a multi-year alliance through which they will collaborate to host the smaller company’s suite of products entirely on Windows -- a first, they say.

Plano, Texas-based UGS, whose products are widely used in manufacturing enterprises, has announced previous collaborations with Microsoft. Last summer, UGS announced it will add Microsoft’s eXtensible Application Markup Language (XAML) as one of its supported data formats. XAML is the format used by Windows Vista’s Windows Presentation Foundation, previously codenamed “Avalon.”

“Product lifecycle management is an integrated, information-driven approach to all aspects of a product's life -- from its design inception through its manufacture, deployment and maintenance, culminating in its removal from service and final disposal,” says a statement on UGS’ Web site.

A key intention of the alliance will be to help UGS deliver a full suite of its Teamcenter PLM applications on Windows, as well as to enhance other UGS products that already run on Windows. The full Teamcenter solution lets manufacturers create and manage product data in a security-enhanced environment, while enabling team members, customers, industry partners and vendors “participate in the creative process,” the two companies said in a joint statement.

About the Author

Stuart J. Johnston has covered technology, especially Microsoft, since February 1988 for InfoWorld, Computerworld, Information Week, and PC World, as well as for Enterprise Developer, XML & Web Services, and .NET magazines.

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