Carestream Health, the former Kodak Healthcare Imaging, dumps ENOVIA for 3,000 seats of Aras Innovator Suite. The fear and loathing in Enterprise PLM companies will be going full throttle any day now.

February 26, 2010–Today open source PLM vendor Aras announces that the former Kodak Healthcare Imaging, now known as Carestream Health, Inc., has selected the Aras Innovator suite as its enterprise PLM backbone. The implementation will replace the current worldwide use of Dassault Systemes ENOVIA Matrix One.

The “order” is for 3,000 seats. We put “order” in quotes because Aras Innovator suite is free to install, download, and use. Aras makes its money from support and customization. Aras runs on Microsoft’s model-based SOA technology. Aras was the first Open Source software vendor to be certified by Microsoft for both SQL Server 2005 and Windows Server 2008 R2, and is certified compatible with Windows 7. The product uses a version of Actify SpinFire visualization technology to allow full collaboration with all leading CAD formats, with additional features available for an upgrade.

The Final Analysis
Open Source in PLM reminds me of the old Mohandas K. Gandhi quote: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” With this big sale to Carestream Health, I think the PLM marketplace is about to enter the Fight stage against Aras.

No proprietary PLM vendor will acknowledge it, but today’s report from Aras will stimulate a lot of fear and loathing inside the direct sales forces offices at PTC, Dassault, Oracle PLM, and Siemens PLM. Of the four, Dassault and Oracle PLM have the most to lose. Dassault’s MatrixOne and Oracle’s Agile are long in the tooth and going through radical overhaul. Many customers see such upgrading as a great time to shop around. Siemens PLM, with its massive footprint in automotive, and PTC, with its increasingly popular Windchill, have less to fear.

The Aras market is manufacturers who prefer a best-of-breed approach to acquiring software, rather than relying on one neck to choke. And there are many of them, especially in high tech, health care, and consumer packaged goods. Because Aras is based on Microsoft Service Oriented Architecture, in many cases these companies already have IT people with the skills required to extend the program; no need to hire the expensive consultants from the PLM vendor. Plus there is the growing body of solutions freely available from the Aras user community. §