It’s back to the future as the new owner of EDS and the new owner of UGS realize there’s big money to be made in working together again. You can thank a Malaysian automotive manufacturer for making the deal happen.

By Randall S. Newton
Editor-in-Chief

In a ‘Back to the Future’ move, Siemens PLM and HP have announced a joint partnership by which HP will resell Siemens PLM products. The deal calls for HP and Siemens to jointly sell Siemens PLM software, HP services, and industry-specific PLM-based applications to large enterprise customers globally.

If you know PLM history, you know this isn’t a new relationship. Once upon a time, there was Unigraphics, a MCAD software developer. It was acquired by  EDS, a major IT sales and services company. Later EDS allowed the Unigraphics division to become a spin-off, as UGS. It was later acquired by Siemens. Then, last year, EDS was acquired by HP. Now all those former EDS guys who were selling UGS solutions and services can do it again, with an HP logo on their blazers.

This deal breaks does break some new ground. HP has partnerships with other PLM software providers but the deals are for application management, not software sales. Siemens PLM also has other IT service providers as partners, but these partners do not resell Siemens software.

Part of the motivation for the deal came from Malaysian automotive manufacturer Proton Holding. It wanted an enterprise installation of Siemens PLM’s Teamcenter, using HP’s hardware and services, and it insisted on signing a deal with only one prime contractor.

The Final Analysis
This partnership is a great move for Siemens PLM. Not only  do they get the hottest name in technology as a partner, but the learning curve is almost nil. The former EDS guys at HP can hit the ground running.

The comparisons with its PLM rivals are interesting. Dassault Systemes just closed on the purchase of its largest reseller, the former IBM PLM Services. PTC bounces between wanting to sell direct and building a channel; currently it is in the “building a channel” phase, but reserving its largest customers as direct accounts. Autodesk, which refuses to call itself a PLM company, is a retail company with a small direct sales team.

In the data management side of PLM, we are currently watching Siemens PLM Teamcenter and PTC Windchill land the big accounts, while potential customers for Dassault’s ENOVIA V6 wait for the the dust to settle; many Dassault accounts are not convinced ENOVIA V6 is ready for deployment. §