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UGS, HP and Intel Launch the Velocity Series Consortium to drive PLM to Mid-Market Manufacturers in Asia


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Consortium to Help Mid-Market Manufacturers Reduce Costs and Minimize Barriers to Innovation

JUNE 28, 2006, BEIJING – UGS Corp., a leading global provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services, today announced the launch of the Velocity Series™ Consortium, an Asia Pacific initiative aimed at stimulating the use of PLM technology among small to mid-size manufacturing companies. UGS, along with consortium partners HP and Intel will help these companies drive innovation using PLM software running on efficient, optimized hardware and networking platforms.

The UGS Velocity Series™ portfolio includes the UGS software products, Solid Edge®, Femap™, NX CAM Express, and Teamcenter™ Express, for digital product design, analysis, manufacturing process and data management respectively. Velocity Series is the first comprehensive, preconfigured portfolio of software for the PLM mid-market.

“Asia’s mid-market companies are the hidden drivers of the region’s economic development and growth,” said Tony Jolly, vice president of SI & Channel Business Development for Asia Pacific, UGS. “They need to innovate to survive and compete in increasingly globalized markets. They recognize this need, and more importantly, their customers are demanding it.”

Mid market companies have traditionally been slower than large manufacturers in implementing PLM, according to AMR Research. Limited technology budgets, smaller IT teams, a focus on production rather than innovation, and – of equal importance – highly fragmented legacy IT environments are common barriers. Responding to these issues, Velocity Series Consortium is launching a number of initiatives aimed at making PLM technology easier for these mid-market companies to acquire, deploy and support.

To demonstrate PLM feasibility, implementation and return on investment, the Velocity Series Consortium has invested in a PLM Center of Excellence located at the facilities of leading Chinese auto manufacturer Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corp (SAIC). In addition to the UGS Velocity Series portfolio, the center will include UGS’ Teamcenter, NX™, and Tecnomatix™ solutions running on Intel™ Xeon DP processor-powered HP™ xw8200 workstations and DL380 server.

The acquisition costs for PLM solutions is expected to be lowered by the Consortium through software and hardware pricing offers targeted at mid-market manufacturers as well as large OEMs that want to lower the cost of adopting PLM solutions for their suppliers. The Consortium plans to further ease PLM acquisition costs with funding for proof-of-concept trials for qualifying mid-market enterprises and will emphasize low total cost of ownership by supplying solutions which are rapidly deployable and preconfigured with the industry’s best practices.

The Consortium will assist with information sharing necessary for effective PLM deployment by setting up a dedicated information portal for small to mid-size companies in the region, supported by each of the consortium partners. The portal, Velocity Series Consortium, which can be accessed at www.vsconsortium.net, contains a wealth of technical specifications and supporting information for IT departments and end users to help them realize the benefits of PLM in the shortest possible time. The portal will also host user case studies whereby users can exchange tips and best practices. A number of additional initiatives are also planned and will be announced and made available at a later date.

UGS and HP worked closely together to ensure that entire software suite of UGS Velocity Series would support the new Intel-based HP workstation as 32-bit applications immediately, and have collaborated to ensure future releases of 64-bit extensions. The companies’ development relationship also continues to provide ongoing certification, tuning and support of HP products.

HP and UGS have been working together to help companies successfully deploy PLM solutions for more than 18 years,” said Rod Strand, UGS Global Alliance Manager, HP. “Today, manufacturers see the need to innovate, but must also realize quick time to value. HP and UGS are working closely together to deliver the technologies, services based on our joint industry experience to minimize customers’ investment risk by synchronizing their IT and business environments.”

Industry sources suggest that demand for PLM among mid-market companies is increasing rapidly. AMR Research predicts that PLM sales to mid-market companies will increase from US$2.1 billion in 2005 to US$4.0 billion in 2009.

According to a recent report by Aberdeen Group, “challenges such as time-to-market pressures, globalization, managing outsourced design and demand for increasingly complex products cause many smaller companies to miss product revenue, product launch, product cost, product development cost, and quality targets.” The report found that small to mid-size enterprises that address these challenges using PLM software, “have realized increased revenues, reduced product cost and decreased product development cost,” according to Jim Brown, vice president Global Product Innovation and Engineering, AberdeenGroup.

“The participation of SAIC in our first Center of Excellence in the region shows the importance of collaboration among supply chain partners to ensure that global competitiveness is maximized,” said Jolly. “The Velocity Series Consortium is all about collaboration. Three of the most recognized brands in PLM and enterprise technology are combining their resources to bring these value creating tools to a whole new segment of the market in Asia.”

About UGS
UGS is a leading global provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services with nearly 4 million licensed seats and 46,000 customers worldwide. Headquartered in Plano, Texas, UGS’ vision is to enable a world where organizations and their partners collaborate through global innovation networks to deliver world-class products and services while leveraging UGS’ open enterprise solutions, fulfilling the mission of enabling them to transform their process of innovation.

Note: UGS, Femap, Tecnomatix, Teamcenter, Solid Edge, NX and Transforming the process of innovation are trademarks or registered trademarks of UGS Corp. or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries. Intel is a trademark or registered mark of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries. HP is a trademark or registered mark of Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries. All other trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks belong to their respective holders.

The statements in this news release that are not historical statements, including statements regarding expected benefits of the product, adoption by customers, continued innovation and other statements identified by forward looking terms such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate” or “project,” are forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements, including, among others, risks relating to developments in the PLM industry, competition, failure to innovate and intellectual property. UGS has included a discussion of these and other pertinent risk factors in its annual report on Form 10-K most recently filed with the SEC. UGS disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.



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