IBM and Dassault Systemes Will Host Sixth Annual European CATIA Forum in Paris November 19-21st

Europe’s largest Product Life Cycle Management user conference will focus on improving product development and innovation -- More than 2500 participants expected --

 

Paris, France – August 26, 2002 - IBM and Dassault Systemes (Nasdaq: DASTY; Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA) today announced that the 2002 European CATIA Forum (ECF) will be held from November 19 to 21st at Disneyland, Paris, Newport Bay Hotel. With a focus on helping companies advance product development, this year’s forum will feature over 80 sessions, including user case studies, Dassault Systemes presentations, demonstrations, workshops, partners sessions, hands-on training and a Technifair.

 

Participants will include product life cycle management (PLM) experts from IBM, Dassault Systemes, and their partners (Software, Technology and Business), as well as PLM users. Presentations will concentrate on key industry issues, such as industry design, collaboration and integration with supply chain management, and the latest enhancements of the IBM-Dassault Systemes PLM portfolio, comprised of CATIA (product design), ENOVIA, and SMARTEAM (product data management) as well as Dassault Systemes’ manufacturing simulation and design application, DELMIA.

“The ECF is designed for our customers. It is a wonderful opportunity for the PLM community to share ideas and also for IBM and Dassault Systemes to receive feedback in order to continually improve our portfolio of products to meet our customers’ needs,” said Ed Petrozelli, general manager IBM Product Lifecycle Management. “Many of our customers already experiencing the benefits of PLM will discuss how the implementations of their PLM initiatives have positively impacted their business processes, allowing them to build more innovative products, boost efficiency, reduce time to market, and increase customer satisfaction.”

“This is really the year of 3D PLM, and ECF continues to grow as the key flagship event in Europe, where our customers are able to meet face to face with Dassault Systemes Research and Development engineers and executives,” said Bernard Charles, president, Dassault Systemes. “The focus of the conference is to help participants become industry leaders by deploying an integrated approach to design, engineering, and manufacturing operations and improving development productivity and innovation.”

Companies of all sizes from around Europe will demonstrate real-life deployments of IBM-Dassault Systemes PLM solutions in a wide variety of applications. Expert panels on the implementation and optimization of the CATIA, DELMIA, ENOVIA and SMARTEAM solutions will offer tips and guidance in the use of PLM solutions. All plenary, user, and Dassault Systemes sessions will be simultaneously translated into English, French, German and Italian.

A hands-on CATIA V5 session will allow attendees to design a real-world product themselves and, as introduced at last year’s ECF, there will be a four-hour in-depth “ECF Academy” training session to help PLM application users learn advanced functionalities to increase productivity.

More than 30 PLM solutions workshops, limited to 25 attendees each, will be led by IBM and Dassault Systemes application specialists to present the most effective methodologies to optimize PLM solutions. Experts, developers, and product managers from both companies will highlight the latest features of PLM solutions and provide insight on implementation processes and best practices. IBM and Dassault Systemes’ business, software and technology partners will also be present to demonstrate their latest complementary solutions and equipment.

For more information or to register for this event, please visit

www.ecforum.com