As Microsoft Corp. took the wraps off its long-awaited Windows Vista operating system, manufacturing software partners yesterday began what is sure to be an ongoing love-fest by unveiling new products and pledging allegiance to the next-generation operating environment and to the industry giant's new Office 2007 desktop productivity suite.
For instance, MSC.Software Corp., a maker of manufacturing simulation software, and Transpara Corp., which offers an operational key performance indicator (KPI) engine for process industries, have released products compatible with Vista and Office 2007. In addition, PLM purveyors UGS Corp. and Dassault Systemes announced full support for the new OS across their respective product portfolios.
According to Microsoft officials, the company counts 640,000 partners worldwide. More than 1,000 ISVs are developing and testing products for Microsoft Office 2007, while another 3,000 partners are in the final stages of development, the company claimed. Many manufacturing-specific ISVs have previously outlined their efforts to reengineer products around Vista, including Invensys, Activplant, and Exact Software, in order to take advantage of the system's improved memory management, 3D support, and security features.
Some vendors used Microsoft's announcement yesterday to make their own big splash.
UGS, for example, said its entire application portfolio, which includes Teamcenter PLM and digital lifecycle management applications, NX 3D design software, Solid Edge 3D CAD software, Tecnomatix digital manufacturing software, and the UGS Velocity Series of mid-market PLM solutions, are all Vista-certified. In the second quarter of next year, UGS will also debut within Vista customized toolbars for Teamcenter, offering users a richer experience within the Office framework, UGS officials said.
Similarly, Dassault Systemes' PLM products, including CATIA, DELMIA, ENOVIA, and SIMULIA ,are Vista-capable, and, coupled with ENOVIA's 3D Live -- a 3D collaborative technology -- will allow users to search and navigate PLM information regardless of location, source, or format, officials said.
PLM applications will get the biggest boost from Vista and Office 2007 out of the gate, as the new Microsoft technology leverages 3D graphics, which engineers are familiar with. But more importantly, Vista extends the reach across the enterprise.
"What's compelling for manufacturers is the way it is taking 3D, which manufacturing customers have lived with for years, and making it that much more pervasive," said Chris Kelley, UGS's vice president of partnerships and platform marketing, in an interview with Managing Automation. "That means ... more people downstream, outside of the core manufacturing department, who have access to Vista ... [will show] more demand for the information created with the 3D applications." It unlocks the potential for manufacturing to engage with a larger set of co-creators and co-collaborators, Kelley added.
Other manufacturing applications are tapping into the potential of the new OS as well.
MSC.Software provides manufacturers with simulation tools to help them, for example, perform stress analysis to predict how a product will respond under certain conditions. The company's new product, SimOffice, is designed to help engineers analyze and test complex mechanical parts.
SimOffice is built on Microsoft .NET technology and runs on Vista -- as well as NT and XP, officials said. "We know not everyone will run Vista beginning in January," said Ted Pawela, MSC.Software's product marketing director, in an interview. "But as they adopt Vista and learn how to use [new] productivity applications from Microsoft, it will be natural to use [our] simulation applications," as they will have the same look and feel, he said.
For example, the rich collaboration capabilities of Vista will enable engineers to create test models that are intuitive, as well as to generate and exchange reports related to product performance, which will help users make more informed decisions.
In addition, Transpara Corp., which offers Visual KPI, a tool that can compile composite key performance indicators from a variety of sources and make them available at the desktop or to a PDA or phone for mobile users, announced a new version of its software for Microsoft Office 2007.
Visual KPI displays data via a browser. As a result, Vista is not as important to this application as is Office 2007, because the KPIs are configured using Microsoft Excel. Visual KPI allows users to create customized composite KPIs and scorecards without additional programming by leveraging Excel 2007 services and SharePoint 2007, Microsoft's Web-based portal.
To that end, SharePoint 2007 was one of about 30 accompanying product announcements that Microsoft made yesterday in conjunction with the major launch of Vista, Microsoft Office 2007, and Exchange Server 2007. Other announcements included Visio Professional, the Groove Server 2007 to manage Office 2007 across the enterprise, and new security offerings for Exchange, to name a few.
While the Microsoft announcement is huge news for the software giant, it wouldn't be as noteworthy without a supporting ISV infrastructure. "Our partners play a vital role in the early adoption, development, and delivery of Microsoft technologies," said Rob Bernard, general manager of Microsoft's Worldwide ISV Group, in a statement. "By working closely with partners like Transpara, we are helping to provide our mutual customers with a high-quality product, seamless technology integration, and improved user experiences."