INDUSTRY

UGS PLM Solutions, the product lifecycle management (PLM) subsidiary of EDS announced the second wave of new customers for NX Nastran, the company's newest digital simulation and analysis software. UGS PLM Solutions launched NX Nastran in September 2003. Nastran, the world's most widely used finite-element analysis (FEA) software, was previously available only from MSC.Software Corporation as MSC.Nastran. "The list of international companies selecting NX Nastran is extremely impressive and highlights the market acceptance the product is experiencing in the high-growth computer-aided engineering (CAE) market both in the United States and internationally," said Tony Affuso, president and CEO, UGS PLM Solutions. "Global manufacturing companies are quickly realizing the efficiencies of selecting integrated solutions from a single PLM supplier -- the only PLM provider of Nastran in the market." NX Nastran customers In addition to the previously announced major license agreements for NX Nastran (November 2003) with Caterpillar Tractor, Raytheon Space Systems, Northrop Grumman, Orbital Sciences Corporation, Nissan R&D, ATK Thiokol and Textron/Cessna Aircraft, the following industry leaders have also recently selected NX Nastran as the next generation standard for high-performance digital prototyping and simulation: -- AeroFEM GmbH (Switzerland) -- Aeronautical Testing Services (Arlington, Wash.) -- Air Force Research Labs (Wright Patterson Air Force Base-Dayton, Ohio) -- Altair Engineering (Detroit, Mich.) -- AXS Ingenierie (France) -- Daimler-Chrysler Corporation (Sindelfingen and Unterturkheim, Germany) -- EADS (France) -- Forbes Marshall (India) -- General Electric Power Systems (Schenectady, N.Y.) -- Gulf Aircraft Maintenance Company of the United Arab Emigrates (UAE) -- Honeywell Aerospace (United Kingdom) -- Hyundai Heavy Industries (Republic of South Korea) -- Liebherr Aerospace (France) -- Lockheed-Martin -- Missiles & Electronics Systems (Baltimore, Md. & Orlando, Fla.) -- Material Sciences Corporation (Illinois) -- Matra Automotive (France) -- Martinrea International (Ontario, Canada) -- Monaco Coach (Coburg, Ore.) -- Penn State University -- Research Labs (State College, Pa.) -- Tata Steel (India) NX Digital Simulation backbone NX Nastran is being deployed across major industries including aerospace, automotive, electronics, heavy equipment and medical to digitally analyze, validate and optimize the functional performance of new products. As a key integrated component of the NX portfolio, NX Nastran provides comprehensive product performance simulation and complements other advanced digital simulation and prototyping solutions in the NX suite of CAE products. "NX Nastran provides the CAE solutions backbone for our entire suite of NX advanced digital simulation and prototyping solutions," said Chuck Grindstaff, president, PLM Products, UGS PLM Solutions. "In major releases over the next year, we will further extend the CAE capabilities and performance of the core NX Nastran code to provide solutions across a broad range of advanced engineering disciplines. Based on the UGS PLM Solutions' fair market value pricing and packaging philosophy, both new and existing customers will be able to readily obtain the power of NX Nastran as an extension to their current CAE and/or NX Digital Simulation suite of products."