San Jose, CA, November 1, 2012. CDS (Catalog Data Solutions, Inc.), a leading provider of online product selection tools for industrial suppliers, today announced the availability of online CAD libraries of PTC Creo models for the FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) high
school programs: FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC®) and FIRST ® Tech Challenge (FTC®) . PTC Creo is PTC’s 3D CAD/CAM/CAE software. PTC has modeled the FRC and FTC Kits of Parts and, with CDS, made it available to the teams through an online CDS Catalog for drag and drop download directly into PTC Creo. The PTC Creo CAD Models are available here or from www.3dmodelspace.com/ptc. 

FIRST strives to engage students in grades K-12 in exciting and innovative programs designed around the use of robotics to develop science and technology skills and motivate students to pursue careers in science, technology and engineering. PTC® is a sponsor and the highest level supplier - Crown level - of the FIRST
Robotics Competition. PTC is also the CAD and Collaboration sponsor for FTC. In addition to PTC Creo, all participating teams have the opportunity to use PTC Windchill® product lifecycle management (PLM) software for team collaboration, PTC Mathcad® for creating and sharing engineering calculations, and PTC Creo View™ for visual collaboration.

“The annual FIRST competition encourages both practical collaboration and product design skill development in designers of the future. It has also proven to be an inspiring experience for all the students, coaches, mentors, volunteers and sponsors,” said John Major, CEO of CDS. “At CDS we’re delighted to continue our support of PTC’s sponsorship by enabling the online CAD model
libraries for the use of all teams with our CDS Catalog and CDS ModelServer
technology.”

“We are proud to offer this capability with CDS to FIRST teams worldwide. The entire robotic design, build and ship cycle for FIRST teams is compressed into a short six weeks, emulating the tight development cycles faced by today’s professional product development teams,” according to Robin Saitz, PTC senior
vice president and executive sponsor for PTC's partnership with FIRST. “The teams very quickly learn to work together as cohesive units to meet the deadline. Having access the FRC and FTC Kit-of-Parts CAD Libraries through CDS eliminates the need to model standard components, enabling the students and
mentors to focus more of their time using PTC Creo to design a robot.”


ABOUT FIRST®

Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge,
and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With support from three out of every five Fortune 500 companies and more than $14 million in college scholarships, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC® ) and FIRST® Tech Challenge (FTC® ) for high-school students, FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL® ) for 9 to
14-year-olds, (9 to 16-year-olds outside the U.S. and Canada) and Junior FIRST® LEGO® League (Jr.FLL™) for 6 to 9-year-olds. Gracious Professionalism™ is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. The
circle, triangle, square logo elements are based on ancient scientific theory by Archimedes. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.usfirst.org.

About CDS (Catalog Data Solutions, Inc.)

CDS is a leading SaaS provider of product search, configuration, and online CAD solutions for manufacturers and distributors. Founded in 2005 with headquarters in San Jose, CA, CDS enables industrial part and building product manufacturers and their distributors to increase sales by enabling their
products to be specified into new designs, improve website conversion rates, generate high quality sales leads, and improve customer service. CDS SaaS solutions include the CDS ModelServer™, CDS Catalog™, CDS CAD Configurator™ and CDS Content Manager™. CDS’s skilled and experienced professional services team provides CAD modeling and implementation services for the successful deployment of CDS SaaS solutions. The company’s customers include the world’s leading manufacturers and distributors in the building products, high tech and industrial manufacturing industries. For more information, CDS can be reached at 408.550.8820 or by visiting www.go-cds.com.

 
FIRST® and FRC® are registered trademarks, and Gracious Professionalism™ is a common law trademark, of the United States Foundation For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (U.S. FIRST).

PTC, Creo, CreoView, Windchill, and Mathcad are trademarks or registered trademarks of Parametric Technology Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.

LEGO® is a registered trademark of The LEGO Group.

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