IBM speaks: The DS/IBM PLM deal from another perspective

IBM still believes in PLM — but now sees a different way to interact with what it sees as a large, lucrative and diverse market. Its partnership with Dassault Systèmes is still strong, but the change in their business relationship allows IBM to enter a customer or prospect account as a more neutral partner, able to better address the customer’s needs with a broader portfolio of possible solutions.

I’ve had several conversations over the last few weeks with IBM representatives, and all are puzzled over the perception in the market (and within IBM) that this announcement signaled the end of its involvement in PLM. Not true, said Michael Wheeler, vice president, IBM Manufacturing and Supply Chain Solutions: IBM still maintains a staff of global business services consultants, software developers and services specialists with a deep knowledge of manufacturing company concerns, the PLM software space and how to best leverage IBM’s solutions to bridge that gap. Going to DS are the sales and contract management assets; reorganization within IBM makes it seem as though the rest of its PLM expertise is disappearing but that is not the case. Wheeler said that "PLM is a critical growth area for IBM” and that IBM is “more focused than ever” on the manufacturing market.

It’s more than words: last week IBM announced that it is launching a global network of Product Lifecycle Management centers "designed to help customers launch new products more quickly by leveraging proven business methodologies and software development models". Through the centers, clients will have access to over 10,000 (yes, probably not all dedicated 100% to PLM, but still …) researchers, software developers and consultants that help clients "integrate all aspects of a product’s lifecycle into other critical enterprise systems often leveraging a service-oriented architecture (SOA) as a way to reuse a company’s existing technology to more closely align with its business goals."

Wheeler sees the DS/IBM PLM transaction as the natural next step in the evolution of both DS and IBM within their respective spheres. DS will grow as a company that wants to manage its business relationships with customers; IBM is changing to focus on building out frameworks to support the exchange and analysis of corporate data. The IBM Product Development Integration Frameworks (PDIFs) are standards-based integrations of IBM SOA and partner assets, services and data models to support business processes. In other words, rather than supporting only PLM or back-office apps in an account, IBM wants to tie together design, engineering, test, manufacturing, accounting, sales and all of the other parts of an enterprise using some sort of computer technology using bundles of application software and supporting middleware, bolstered by best practices and consulting to implement whatever vendor’s approach most resonates with a particular client.

My take: IBM sees its potential as limitless as it builds technology layers that can be used by all PLM (and many other business software) suppliers. It can most credibly address users of all the PLM brands if it is agnostic, and gaining a bit of separation from DS will only help there. That said, DS is still an important partner for IBM and the knowledge its developers and consultants have of that brand’s solutions can’t be ignored; but IBM is now free to develop a commensurate level with Siemens, PTC, MSC Software and others.