PTC to offer Windchill PLM on-demand for SMEs

Product lifecycle management (PLM) software developer PTC is to tap an IBM computing on-demand service centre so that manufacturing SMEs can access its systems more cheaply. It’s an extension of a service that’s been running for companies with initial start-up, infrastructure or administrative problems. Users will go through a shared, hosted environment to get to Windchill – and thus get to all the facilities for managing product information, collaborating with partners, suppliers and customers on design, and controlling development processes. The service, which applies to all major CAD systems, will be available on a per-user, subscription basis, starting at $100 per month, through PTC’s resellers. PTC’s software will be hosted in IBM’s Boulder, Colorado on-demand centre, which uses IBM Universal Management Infrastructure (UMI) technology to distribute software as a service.