Given the global economic downturn, the dramatic changes in currency and stringent environmental and import/export compliance requirements across the region, European manufacturing companies are looking for innovative ways to better manage their businesses and remain competitive. The combination of ERP and PLM solutions stands to help them realize shortened project cycles, improved product quality, collaboration across the supply chain, significant cost savings and increased customer satisfaction.
At QAD Explore EMEA, a customer conference held in Sorrento, Italy this week, Phillipe Faure, CIO of joint QAD and PTC customer Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, said, "At Gemalto we are always looking for innovative solutions that will help us accelerate product design, deliver more product faster around the world, and manage the ever-changing environmental and trade compliance issues. This in mind, we see great potential for integrating QAD Enterprise Applications with PTC Windchill and other PTC products as we expand our international business. We are making plans to evaluate the integration soon.”
QAD Enterprise Applications, a comprehensive set of integrated business solutions designed for a new generation of software users, are already installed at some 6,100 customer sites in more than 90 countries. As a PTC Channel Advantage Reseller, QAD will now be able to introduce the PTC Product Development System (PDS) to customers in the automotive, high technology, industrial equipment and life sciences industries. The integral PTC PDS is comprised of market-leading Pro/ENGINEER®, Windchill®, Arbortext®, Mathcad®, and ProductView™ products, which have been designed to work together to help companies optimize their product development processes.
“By combining QAD’s enterprise software expertise with PTC’s leading product development solutions and expertise, our customers can gain significant competitive advantage through this partnership,” said Pamela Lopker, president and founder of QAD. “We view it as another important step toward realizing our vision for the Perfect Lean Market for manufacturing - a frictionless value chain where efficiency is optimized and waste is eliminated.”
This partnership will offer a “one-stop-shop” for QAD customer ERP and PLM needs. With the addition of PTC product development solutions to their existing QAD implementation, customers can confidently approach today’s economic uncertainty by demonstrably improving the efficiency of their own global business processes. QAD’s strong international presence, deep knowledge of manufacturing industry processes, and its ability to now also provide customers in its targeted vertical markets with a comprehensive PLM solution that complements their enterprise manufacturing solutions, is a prime advantage of this partnership.
“PTC has recently begun to broaden its reseller network to expand its reach into manufacturing companies of all sizes around the globe,” said Paul J. Cunningham, executive vice president, Worldwide Sales, PTC. “We believe that customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa who choose to use QAD Enterprise Applications in conjunction with PTC’s product development solutions will benefit from increases in overall product development efficiencies and as a result improve time-to-market, control costs and drive competitive differentiation.”
QAD is a “Total Solution Provider” for PTC solutions. Together, QAD and PTC provide strategic business solutions, data management services, enterprise services, training and conversion services to customers worldwide. PTC’s Channel Advantage Program was recently chosen out of a multitude of vendor programs by VARBusiness Magazine to be named a 5-Star Partner Program. This award recognizes vendor partner programs which have the most comprehensive offerings for their markets and technology sets.
About QAD
QAD is a leading provider of enterprise applications for global manufacturing companies. QAD applications provide critical functionality for managing manufacturing resources and operations within and beyond the enterprise, enabling global manufacturers to collaborate with their customers, suppliers and partners to make and deliver the right product, at the right cost and at the right time. Manufacturers of automotive, consumer products, electronics, food and beverage, industrial and life science products use QAD applications at approximately 6,100 licensed sites in more than 90 countries and in as many as 27 languages. For more information about QAD, telephone +1 805 684 6614, or visit the QAD Web site at www.qad.com.
“QAD" is a registered trademark of QAD Inc. PTC and its logo, The Product Development Company, Pro/ENGINEER, Wildfire, Windchill, Arbortext, Mathcad, ProductView and all PTC product names and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Parametric Technology Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries.
Note to Investors:
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements made
under the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. A number of risks and uncertainties could cause
actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking
statements. These risks include, but are not limited to, evolving demand
for the company's software products and products that operate with the
company's products; the company's ability to sustain license and service
demand; the company's ability to leverage changes in technology; the
company's ability to sustain customer renewal rates at current levels;
the publication of opinions by industry and financial analysts about the
company, its products and technology; the reliability of estimates of
transaction and integration costs and benefits; the entry of new
competitors or new offerings by existing competitors and the associated
announcement of new products and technological advances by them; delays
in localizing the company's products for new or existing markets; the
ability to recruit and retain key personnel; delays in sales as a result
of lengthy sales cycles; changes in operating expenses, pricing, timing
of new product releases, the method of product distribution or product
mix; timely and effective integration of newly acquired businesses;
general economic conditions; exchange rate fluctuations; and, the global
political environment. In addition, revenue and earnings in the
enterprise resource planning (ERP) software industry are subject to
fluctuations. Software license revenue, in particular, is subject to
variability with a significant proportion of revenue earned in the last
month of each quarter. Given the high margins associated with license
revenue, modest fluctuations can have a substantial impact on net
income. Investors should not use any one quarter's results as a
benchmark for future performance. For a more detailed description of the
risk factors associated with the company and the industries in which it
operates, please refer to the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for
fiscal 2008 ended January 31, 2008.
