PTC Blows OffSofTech PLM

Customers of SofTech like their ProductCenter PLM software, because, as one SofTech customer told me, it "works well for many of us who need a CAD-neutral PLM system that does not attempt to solve world hunger."

But now the company that used to pride itself at being the only PLM registered with three CAD vendors -- Autodesk, PTC, and SolidWorks -- has been given the let-go notice. In a letter to its customers, SofTech writes:

I am writing to you today to inform you that PTC has just informed SofTech that they will not be renewing our membership in PTC’s PartnerAdvantage Program effective January 31, 2008. The effect of PTC not allowing SofTech to renew in their Program means that SofTech will no longer have the right to use PTC’s Toolkits and Pro/ENGINEER licenses for software development, maintenance or customer support purposes beyond January 31, 2008.

PTC indicated that SofTech had not violated any of the terms of our PartnerAdvantage Program but cited that the competitive nature of our two companies was contrary to their best business interests and that our termination from their Program was non-negotiable. ...We had no prior warnings or indication from PTC that our relationship would come to an end.

We completely understand and sympathize with the hardship this action means for your company. We explained to PTC that as a valued customer to both PTC and SofTech, that we believed that six months notice was insufficient for you to evaluate, budget and implement an alternative PLM solution. ...PTC is taking our request under advisement and has indicated that they will provide us with a response within the next couple of weeks.

We hope for a favorable response from PTC and I apologize for not being able to provide you a more definitive answer on how we will be able to move forward at this time. ...

PTC has run into more difficult times (again), and is looking for ways to leanified itself. One way was to lay off up to 200 employees; another way is to cutoff third-party developers who sell similar products. Other CAD vendors have done the same in the past.

Third-party developers and CAD resellers live and die at the pleasure of their sponsoring CAD vendor. It's always sad to see this happen, but it's a known hazard of the business.

Comments

[Tom]

Has anyone migrated from ProductCenter to PDMLink? Looking to see if any migration tools exist, how the migration went etc.

[wudliketobeanon]

Tom,
A better question is "Has anyone migrated from ProE to solidowrks/Inventor". Its my opinion that a company that does unethical things to their own partners would do the same to its customer base.

I would like at migrating ASAP to Solidworks/Invetor/SolidEdge

Anon

[Alex]

You forgot to mention that DesignDataManager (http://www.designdatamanager.com/products/index.html) integrates with Pro/Engineer, SolidWorks, SolidEdge, and Inventor. It is also a CAD neutral software.

It seems after Dec 31, CSI will no longer be permitted to sell to new PTC customers if the information I have received as shown below from a 3rd party is correct.

Dear DDM Evaluator (ProE Users)
As a result of the One Space (CoCreate) acquisition by PTC Corp an agreement has been between PTC and CSI Ltd (DesignDataManager) as follows:
• CSI has agreed to not sell to any PTC customers that have been on support in the last two years.
• All existing Pro E DDM users will not be affected. We will still update and upgrade the Pro E module and support our present customers.