IBM to acquire EADS Matra Datavision

Product lifecycle management (PLM) products and services giant IBM, which recently acquired the consulting arm of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, is now buying engineering applications and services company EADS Matra Datavision for an undisclosed sum. The transaction should be completed in Q4 this year and take effect by January 1 2003 when the firm will become part of IBM. EADS Matra Datavision has been IBM’s top PLM business partner since their alliance kicked off back in 1998, distributing and providing integration services for IBM PLM and Dassault Systemes’ Catia flagship CAD/CAM, Enovia PLM/PDM solutions and Smarteam collaborative CAD/PDM product development and management applications. It operates globally, and has had considerable success primarily in the automotive, aerospace and defence, general manufacturing and machinery, consumer products and electro-mechanical industries. Bringing EADS Matra Datavision in house alongside IBM’s existing world-wide PLM practice will add both to the product offerings and to its capacity to build and implement advanced integrated engineering product development and change management projects for large engineering and manufacturing firms across the industry spectrum. The announcement comes less than three months after IBM and Dassault Systemes announced aggressive growth plans for their push into PLM projects, with IBM increasing pre-sales and sales resource while Dassualt agreed to dedicate 135 specialists to further development of the full product range. Remembering that IBM also boasts the full Delmia engineering simulation and visualisation product suite, and its intention to offer solutions at least in the ‘M’ part of SME (small to medium enterprises) this is a powerful force. And with analyst IDC expecting the PLM services market to grow from $1.9 billion in 2001 to $5.5 billion in 2006 (23.4% pa), IBM is well positioned to take advantage. Small wonder then that rival PTC’s largest global reseller Rand has jumped ship and is now partnering with IBM particularly in the mid- to low-end of the engineering design market (90% of Rand’s customers are sub-five seats). In fact, IBM says its PLM business unit is one of the pillars of its e-business strategy and at the heart of its industrial sector offering. Ed Petrozelli, general manager, IBM PLM: “Following this week’s creation of IBM’s Business Consulting Services unit, the acquisition of EADS Matra Datavision [means] IBM can now deliver customers a more complete range of PLM solutions and services that will help them design, build and manage better products and allow them to drive down costs.”