ORA研究总裁Bruce Jenkins
Siemens PLM在最近收购CFD领导者CD-Adapco中还收购了CD-Adapco的Red Cedar Technology子公司，Heeds Design Space Exploration Software的开发商。通过此举，西门子PLM加入了其主要PLM竞争对手，拥有用于设计空间探索的主要技术。达索系统（Dassault Systems）于2008年通过收购Isight Developer Enseral软件进入了市场，而PTC长期以来一直提供了内部开发的设计空间勘探产品，如今已知，即CREO行为建模扩展（BMX）。
World-class design space exploration products are also available from a multitude of independent software developers focused exclusively on this area. On the one hand, these vendors’ commitment to design space exploration is effectively assured. On the other hand, many are small companies that must devote a great portion of their resources to software R&D and customer support; the result is often constrained marketing and sales budgets that make robust growth a challenge.
Being owned by a large, deep-pocketed PLM vendor has the potential to liberate a design space exploration software business from such constraints. But for customers, could there be drawbacks as well? In evaluating and selecting a vendor, buyers need to weigh the likely benefits of sourcing design space exploration software from a major PLM vendor against the potential limitations.
可能的好处
A substantial PLM vendor is almost certain to have a robust base of corporate resources available to ensure adequate funding of software R&D, product marketing and sales, and customer support. Practitioners will likewise stand to benefit from the advice and experience of a substantial global user community through company-wide user group meetings and online forums.
Favorable pricing for the PLM vendor’s design space exploration software is likely to be available when the software is procured either as part of a larger product bundle, or under an existing corporate purchase arrangement or subscription plan.
Users are likely to benefit from good synergies between the vendor’s design space exploration tools, its mainstream PLM offerings, and especially its CAE offerings in the case of any PLM vendor with a significant CAE business line. This is an important consideration for user organizations either currently invested in those CAE products or contemplating an investment.
此外,每一个PLM供应商主要CAE商业s line also offers a solution for simulation process and data management (SPDM) built on the core data/process management technology underlying its PLM environment. Where archiving and retrieval of design space exploration processes and results are supported by this SPDM environment, that will make it easier to broaden usage of design space exploration from a workgroup or departmental activity to an enterprise capability.
潜在的局限性
In a PLM vendor’s R&D activity, a tendency may emerge to focus development of integration linkages on the vendor’s own CAE solvers, pre/post-processors and geometry modelers that design space exploration software must work with, at the expense of competitors’ solvers and other tools that users may need or favor.
如果整体业务条件变得具有挑战性，那么大型PLM供应商对其设计空间勘探业务线路的关注始终存在一些风险，将不会像专门用于设计空间探索的供应商那样强大。在这种情况下，设计空间勘探业务可能会经历研发和技术创新以及营销和销售的投资不足。即使在正常的商业时间，它的投资组合中具有多个产品的大型PLM Salesforce（与设计空间探索”的销售周期更容易，更直接，更直接，可能会摇摆其对设计空间探索产品的承诺。
如果这些情况中的任何一种导致销售不足或衰退，管理层可能会因设计空间勘探业务而魅力不足，从而导致了该业务的进一步缩减资源。如果这个恶性循环持续下去，它最终可以将软件降级为被忽视的后置产品线，或更糟。
用户应仔细评估PLM供应商的战略计划，并表示对其设计空间勘探业务的长期承诺以及其过去收购的成功记录，以判断是否可以安全地排除这种情况。
Filed Under:3D CAD世界
