Aras, SolidWorks and Disruptive PLM Strategies

by Oleg on October 26, 2011 · 21 comments

BAM! Aras just announced Enterprise PLM for SolidWorks. Here is the new article – Enterprise PLM for Enterprise PDM. Navigate to the following article to read more – Open Source Aras Releases Commercial PLM Solution for SolidWorks. Here is the short conclusion made by Randall Newton: Our assessment: Aras just plugged a huge hole in the SolidWorks marketplace, one as big as the product name is long.

Fast rewind back in 2010. SolidWorks World 2010. Anaheim, CA. SolidWorks is announcing about their future products on top of Enovia V6 platform. During that event SolidWorks made multiple mentioning of Enovia V6 to be used as a platform for future enhancements of SolidWorks. Here is the passage from razorleaf’s blog summarizing SolidWorks World 2010:

SolidWorks has a new product line, SolidWorks PLM.  This line will include a number of offerings, thefirst of which is cloud-based data management named SolidWorks Product Data Sharing (PDS).  This software was demonstrated on the last day of the show, operating right inside of SolidWorks.  For those paying close attention, the PDS plug-in showed a label, “powered by ENOVIA V6.”

Now rewind seven month ago. SolidWorks 2011. I posted – Integrated PDM and PLM: Wrong Question? This blog was a follow up on the conversation and presentation made by Jonathan Scott of Razorleaf about SolidWorks Enterprise PDM and ENOVIA V6 integration. Slides are still here.

The interesting comment to this post was made by Marc Lind of Aras:

My sense is that the future will be about leveraging existing systems / data, like legacy PDMs, with more modern technologies to enable global processes, cross-functional collaboration and new ways of doing business. Our “view” at Aras is: Use the latest PLM technology to automate what makes economic sense, gets results quickly and gives you control over your own destiny.

I had a chance to meet Aras booth during SWW 2011. Aras presented a co-existance between Open Source Enterprise PLM and EPDM (see photo in the beginning of the post)

Another rewind. April 2011. ACE 2011 (Aras Community Event). After digesting all ACE 2011 materials and presentations, my clear conclusion was – Aras PLM lines up against Windchill, Enovia and TeamCenter. Navigate to my earlier blog to see slides presented Aras. The integration capabilities of Aras were clearly outlined and existing PLMs were presented as “PLM Legacy”.

Here is the quote from my blog post:

Integration is an important element of every PLM strategy and implementation. There are multiple aspects of integrations – desktops, CADs, PLM systems and ERP systems. Aras presented a very broad scope of integrations and integration technologies. (note: I was a bit surprised to see existing PLM systems defined as “legacy”)..

Aras Enterprise PLM vs. Enovia V6

The Enterprise PLM offering by Aras is pretty straightforward. Aras is going after 3 key areas – Engineering Bill of Material management, Change Management and Project/Portfolio Management.

All these modules are available in Enovia V6 portfolio - Enovia Engineering Central and Enovia Program Central. Now, customer can make a decision.

What is my conclusion? Aras is clearly playing a role of a disrupter on PLM market. Back in 2007, Aras disrupted PLM first time by introducing Open Source PLM. It looks like Aras is on the way to make a second disruption among large companies using SolidWorks and taking a role of Enovia V6 in a bundle EPDM / EPLM. Enovia clearly has a technological advantage of having unified development forces in their new Dassault facilities in Waltham, MA to develop “best in class” Enovia V6 / SolidWorks EPDM integration. The speed of customer adoption will be a key factor for Aras. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg

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Tagged as: Aras, Dassault, ENOVIA V6, Enterprise PLM, EPDM, SolidWorks

  • MarcL

    Well put Oleg. While we agree in theory with the ‘markarchitecture’ outlined… the reality is that when companies that run SolidWorks need true enterprise scale PLM capabilities, they are buying Teamcenter, Agile or Windchill (for some reason we never see ENOVIA in SolidWorks companies).
    Those companies are then forced to rip out EPDM to implement one of those other systems… and of course the next conversation is, “have you seen Solid Edge (or Creo) recently?”
    We view this as giving SolidWorks users a choice that’s optimized for their existing design practices and maintains their EPDM investment (and BTW, we don’t sell CAD so DS’s position is protected).
    MarcLhttp://www.aras.com

  • beyondplm

    Marc, thanks for this comment and clarification. I understand what you are saying about TC, AG and Windchill. Aras' advantage not to sell CAD undersood. However, looking on Enovia V6 portfolio, I see a clear overlap. How do you position what Aras do vs. Enovia Engineering and Program Centrals?

  • MarcL

    From a “positioning” standpoint, very similarly; although not as focused on CATIA mgt… but positioning is just something that marketing people do (often in a vacuum)…

    Back to Reality… what’s most telling for me is that many of the largest SolidWorks VARs don’t sell ENOVIA… they sell Oracle / Agile PLM.

    We’re giving them something that fits better with their line-up of SolidWorks products, complementary functionality (not forcing rip & replace of EPDM like Agile) and technology (we’re Microsoft platform, not Oracle stack like Agile).

    MarcL
    http://www.aras.com

  • José de las Heras

    Sharing your thoughts Oleg; thank you.

    P.D.: DS to embedding SW and V6, might take longer than 2 years. If that´s the case, the Aras opportunity to selling EPLM to SolidWorks Customers is huge. An aggressive marketing plan should be in place along 2011.

  • beyondplm

    Marc, thanks for such a clear explanation. Reality check is always good. Let me make a reality check of Aras an Open Source PLM provider. I assumed that Bill of Material, Change Management and Program/Project modules of Aras Innovator are distributed as Open source. Does it mean Aras will re-package the same modules with non-Open Source license to sell via SolidWorks VARs? What will happen if a customer is using Aras Innovator with Open Source license? Best, Oleg

  • beyondplm

    José, you are absolutely right. As I mentioned in the post DS initially announced SolidWorks PDM/PLM products on top Enovia V6 back in 2010. It is almost 2 years since SW 2010 and the only product that was delivered is n!Fuze (http://beyondplm.com/2011/01/2…. Best, Oleg

  • Randall Newton

    I find it interesting that Razorleaf provided the slideshow you link to, about Enovia V6 and SolidWorks. Razorleaf is a day-one reseller for Aras's EPLM for SolidWorks.

  • MarcL

    Think of it like Apple’s OSX… that’s actually Linux under the covers, and you can still get the source & run it w/o cost… but, Apple puts a great UI on it and bundles in a bunch of other goodies and sells it as a combined offer = it’s exactly what we’re doing w/ EPLM, super simple.

    MarcL
    http://www.aras.com
    http://www.aras-eplm.com

  • beyondplm

    Randall, I know Razorleaf. As a service company Razorleaf develops multi-axis specialization – EPDM, SmarTeam, Enovia, SharePoint, Office2PDM and now – EPLM. No surprise. Oleg

  • beyondplm

    Slow Marc… Please don't do “position in the vacuum” :) . Mac OS/X (this is what you mean by Apple OSX) is not UI on top of Linux.

    Mac OS/X – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M…
    Mach Kernel – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M…
    HIstory of Linux – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H…

    If you go back to roots, you figure out a known lawsuit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U… was actually related to BSD. Flavors of BSD were used as a foundation for Mac OS/X together with NeXTSTEP. Linux was developed under GNU GPL.

    However, getting back to your explanation, does it mean Aras is applying “dual license” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M… for Aras Innovator for EPLM? So, the same modules are available as open source and as a commercial software?

    Best, Oleg

  • MarcL

    Ah yes, that’s what I get for trying to use an over simplified example with you (and yes proper naming nomenclature is important :-)

    To answer your question directly, “Yes, the same modules are available as open source and as commercial software.” except of course the EPDM connector technology and all the related items/processes for SolidWorks and EPDM.

    Actually, would be referred to as ‘split licensing’ (as opposed to ‘dual license’).  It’s same structure we’ve been using all along.  The 451 Group did a good write up on it last year http://www.the451group.com/rep… (logon needed)

    Hope this helps.

    MarcLhttp://www.aras.comhttp://http://www.aras-eplm.com

  • beyondplm

    Marc, thanks for clarification! Good discussion…oleg

  • http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidsherburne David G Sherburne

    I agree that Aras is a disruptive PLM platform and business model. It brings much value to the table and the latest push to better the integration to native CAD shows that the company is moving to compete on the native ground of the CAD solution providers as an alternative to PDM. I like this trend and it will make our company think hard about the next PDM upgrade. The real question is can Aras's integration offer the level of features required for a adequate user experience across all multiple platforms. We have had limited success with solutions outside the native CAD-PDM match and for our global heterogeneous CAD organization IF this package form Aras is mature it will bring a lot of value. We plan to test this out so stay tuned.

  • Jeppe

    Please read “When is Open Source not Open Source?” at OSI.
    http://www.opensource.org/node…
    Best regards
    Jeppe

  • beyondplm

    Thanks for sharing! Interesting to know an update opinion after 5 years of Aras. They call themselves “enterprise open source”. Interesting if it makes a difference..

  • beyondplm

    Native PDM may have an advantage. Aras is trying to play in the space “beyond PDM”. In my view, connection between PDM and PLM is not obvious and to make it successful is not a simple work. One of the most challenged questions are related to cross-department processes (i.e. Change Management) and data integration (i.e. Engineering BOM). I'd love to see how Aras is integrating smoothly with EPDM workflow and how EBOM can be referenced in Aras MBOM. Just my thoughts. Oleg

  • MarcL

    After reading OSI post, recommend this article from Ralph Grabowski’s upFront.eZine earlier this year “Just How Open is Aras with its Open-Source PLM” http://www.upfrontezine.com/20…
     
    Provides some deeper insight/explanation to the points raised by Michael Tiemann back in '07.
     
    MarcL
    http://www.aras.com

  • beyondplm

    Marc, thanks for sharing this link. Best, Oleg

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