ACADEMIA

UGS Corp., a leading global provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services, today announced it added 12 new partners to its global partner program and transitioned another 31 from its legacy partner programs during the first half of 2005. These 43 new and transitioned members join the rapidly growing list of solution providers already in the UGS Partner Program helping UGS expand the benefits of PLM and deliver them to new industries. "With the launch of the UGS Partner Program in May of last year, we have seen significant success and acceptance in the marketplace," said Chris Kelley, vice president, Partner and Platform Marketing, UGS. "Companies from around the world have quickly realized the value of working with the UGS platform. This has helped UGS create a dynamic and fast growing partner ecosystem that delivers value to our customers through an unsurpassed breadth of PLM solutions all working together within a consistent environment." The UGS Partner Program plays a vital role in UGS' ability to solve complex PLM challenges for its customers. The global partner program significantly broadens the PLM solution set available to UGS customers by pulling together hundreds of organizations worldwide with offerings that are complementary and closely tied to the UGS product portfolio. The new partners joining during the first half of 2005 are Atabok Inc, CIM Team, Datranet Limited, FE_Design, Function Bay, I-Logix, Imaginestics, Integrated Ideas, Motion Analysis Corporation, Product Sight, Safe Technology, Sandalwood and Sankyo Oilless. Each partner extends the UGS foundation by building custom applications for various tasks that include interfaces to other enterprise systems, customizations for particular vertical industries -- such as cabinet making -- and high powered analysis and simulation tools for the electronics industry. Many partners have chosen to exclusively offer their products in the UGS environment due to UGS' open standards approach and comprehensive tool kit. UGS continues to enhance its partner program to meet the needs of all partners. At UGS' annual users conference -- PLM World -- in May, UGS hosted the first meeting of the Partner Advisory Council (PAC), consisting of partners from all categories and competencies. The PAC is in place to help provide development, marketing and sales support for partners and will set the agenda for improvement and expansion of the UGS partner community.