On Sept. 25, two IBM Rational business partners are announcing integrated PLM solutions that allow companies to bring higher-quality products to market faster.
Agile Software, San Jose, Calif., a maker of PLM (product lifecycle management) software, is expected to announce that the company is working with IBM Rational software on an integrated change management offering that will help companies bring software change management and hardware components together with enterprise PLM.
The new solution aims to improve governance of the product lifecycle across all engineering disciplines.
In addition, the integrated change management solution combines Agile PLM with the IBM Rational Software Development Platform, with initial focus on IBM Rational ClearQuest, to offer customers better insight, predictability and control over their product development process.
Benefits of the combined technology will include more collaboration among engineers involved in the product development process; greater visibility into software engineering; improved change management efficiency; and compliance with governmental and industry regulations.
Officials of both companies said the two have worked together in the past on efforts such as Agile PLM's support of the IBM WebSphere portal.
"The ability to manage the software content in our products across the lifecycle is critical—on par with the importance of managing the hardware," said Rich Plane, chief Technologist, Information Services, at Harris in Melbourne, Fla., in a statement.
"We are delighted that Agile and IBM Rational are taking this step toward a more integrated solution."
"Combining hardware and software change management into a single, integrated solution is a significant step for the future of PLM," said Scott Hebner, vice president of marketing and strategy, IBM Rational, in a statement.
"Our work with Agile Software underscores the value organizations can achieve by governing IT operations from development through product delivery," said Hebner in Somers, N.Y.
Meanwhile, PTC (Parametric Technology Corp.), in Needham, Mass., also on Sept. 25 is expected to announce integration with IBM Rational technology.
PTC will announce the integration of PTC Windchill with the IBM Rational Software Development platform to improve the management of the product development process for its customers.
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PTC officials said the integration of PTC Windchill PDMLink with IBM Rational ClearCase allows customers to synchronize software development with mechanical and electrical design data resulting in the creation of higher quality products in a shorter period of time.
Moreover, the integration enables Windchill customers to manage the complete configuration of a product across electrical, mechanical and software development.
"The integration of Windchill and Rational ClearCase enables Samsung to further strengthen its development process by increasing consistency across geographically dispersed teams," said Hee Sun Park, chief information officer, Samsung Electronics, Seoul, Korea, in a statement.
"This global integration results in less rework, lower costs, and faster time to market, which strengthens our competitive advantage."
In related news, Windchill, the PTC solution for content and process management, has been awarded "Ready for IBM Rational Software" validation.
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