PLM: Same Vendors Continue to Dominate

The annual IDC PLM Marketscape report is out (free for download courtesy Siemens), and the vendors listed are not too much of a surprise.  Three distinct areas of PLM were analyzed in the report:

Computer Aided Authoring (CAx). This category includes CAD, CAM and CAE and includes technology like computer-aided design, machining and visual simulation.
[Vendors include AutoDesk, ANSYS, Dassault Systèmes, PTC and Siemens PLM]
[Market Leaders: Autodesk, Dassault-Systemes, PTC, and Siemens PLM]

Discrete Manufacturing. This category of vendor offers product data management and product-lifecycle management software for discrete manufacturing in the following industries: aerospace, automotive, high tech, medical devices, heavy machinery and shipbuilding.
[Vendors include Autodesk, Aras, Dassault Systèmes, Datastay, Infor, Oracle, PTC, SAP, and Siemens PLM]
[Market Leader: Oracle]

Process Manufacturing.  This category of vendor has software that manages the life cycle for processes in industries like chemical, drug, oil and gas, and food and beverages.
[Vendors include Aras, Dassault Systèmes, Datastay, Infor, Oracle, PTC, SAP, Siemens PLM, and Tradestone]
[Market Leaders:  Siemens PLM and Dassault Systèmes]

The report notes that the CAx market has been for a long time fairly mature and relatively stagnant to new developments in the handling and processing of data, but that has changed lately, especially in the area that IDC calls visual life cycle management. In fact, the IDC report notes that long-time more engineering-focused capabilities are being reshaped to be more generally applicable to other process industries, and the authoring and collaboration capabilities of CAx are being tailored to manage product innovation and planning processes of other industries.

Sanjeev Pal, IDC market researcher, commented that “Increasing relevance of PLM across industry verticals, the mounting complexity of products that require cross-industry expertise, and a growing need of end-users for expansion has raised the bar for PLM vendors to be both affordable and provide a seamlessly working portfolio of PLM applications.  This report is based on a comprehensive framework designed to evaluate vendors relative to one another and to those factors expected to be most conducive to user demand and to market success in the short-and long-term.”