MSC.Software, the leading global provider of simulation software and services, today announced that it has joined the Design/Simulation Council, a consortium of manufacturers, suppliers and technology providers focused on improving interoperability and creating open standards within product development technology. The Council is hosted by Collaborative Product Data Associates (CPDA), an industry analyst organization that provides in-depth, collaborative research serving the design, engineering, and manufacturing markets, with specific expertise in product lifecycle management (PLM) technologies and processes. The Council promotes a standard framework employing common terminology to integrate and optimize the diverse and divergent specialist activities currently fragmenting design efforts. The framework will allow companies to compare their processes with those of other companies, accelerate their strategic planning and better evaluate technologies for investment. Current members of the Council include Airbus, General Motors, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, Lockheed Martin, Motorola Whirlpool and Visteon and technology companies including LMS International, UGS, Engineous Software, Altair Engineering, the Georgia Institute of technology and many others. "MSC.Software is wholly committed to being an 'open company' and our customers have been very clear about wanting to work within open, well integrated virtual product development process and architectures. Only through an open framework can our customers truly reduce the time and costs associated with product development," said Bill Weyand, chairman and CEO, MSC.Software. "We are very excited to become part of the Design/Simulation Council and look forward to working with our customers and other industry leaders as we look for innovative ways to make our technologies more open and interoperable." "We are especially pleased to have MSC join the council," said Don Brown, Chairman of CPDA. "MSC's leadership in CAE, especially with its open strategy, as well as its expertise in product development processes, will be a great asset to the council as we work on our open framework methodology and move to the pilot stage later this year."