IBM and Dassault Systèmes’ Worldwide Academic Program to Develop Elite PLM Engineers Exceeds $100 Million Contribution Level

Partners equip tomorrow’s innovators with leading-edge technology to enable companies to benefit fully from Product Lifecycle Management

Linköping, Sweden and Paris, France – June 26, 2003 – IBM and Dassault Systèmes (Nasdaq: DASTY; Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA) today announced that one of Sweden’s leading technical universities, the Linköping Institute of Technology, became the latest participating university in the IBM Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Higher Education and Training Program (HEAT).

The Linköping Institute of Technology’s Department of Mechanical Engineering (IKP) has graduated from a traditional CAD platform to an IBM PLM solution platform, with CATIA® V5 for collaborative product development and SMARTEAM® for lifecycle management, collaboration and decision support, developed by Dassault Systèmes.

IBM and Dassault Systèmes’ contribution to colleges and universities around the world has reached a new peak of $110 million in overall PLM HEAT program benefits, exceeding the $70 million goal originally established when the program was initiated in 1997. The PLM HEAT program educates university and high school students in PLM software and methodologies. Using IBM Product Lifecycle Management’s core product design and product data management applications, CATIA, ENOVIA™ and SMARTEAM, the program seeks to help alleviate the shortage of skilled engineers by preparing students for the business world.

As demand for IBM’s PLM solutions grows, existing training sites are unable to meet the increasing demands for skilled professionals required by manufacturing companies. Accordingly, IBM’s Product Lifecycle Management business unit, with support from Dassault Systèmes, created the PLM HEAT Program to enable universities to fulfill the abundance of requests from students and instructors to use the state-of-the-art CATIA and SMARTEAM applications.

IBM and Dassault Systèmes now provide top educational institutions around the world with the necessary products, services and benefits to establish a leading edge CAD curriculum using CATIA, the world’s number one product design software. Universities and academic institutions receive CATIA and SMARTEAM software for curriculum or research and development for a nominal fee, along with instructor training and technical support, as well as free CATIA Companion courseware.

Professor Stefan Björklund, Department Chair of Mechanical Engineering at Linköping Institute of Technology, said, “Launching this new cooperative venture between our university, IBM and Dassault Systèmes will enable us to train tomorrow’s workforce on the most advanced technology available today. It’s important that the curriculum we offer, as well as our PLM systems on which we educate our students, reflect and support actual business needs. Leading players in many industries already leverage IBM PLM Solutions. These systems will give tomorrow’s workforce the capability of accelerating and assimilating new technological developments in product design and collaboration. Moreover, the IBM PLM Systems will be a useful tool in existing research projects and business networks where collaboration is required.”

Ed Petrozelli, general manager, IBM Product Lifecycle Management, said, “IBM supports innovation by partnering with universities to facilitate the integration of the next generation of the workforce. Today's announcement reaffirms IBM's commitment to not only deliver the best solutions and methodologies on the market, but also to prepare competent and trained IT professionals to shape the on-demand workplace of the future.”

“Dassault Systèmes is dedicated to education and believes that future success of business depends on equipping tomorrow’s innovators with leading-edge design technology today,” said Francis Bernard, founder and executive committee advisor, Dassault Systèmes. “With this program, we are reaching our objective.”

IBM and Dassault Systèmes have a legacy of preparing technology professionals for the demands of working in the real world. Their investment in HEAT supports the needs of students, universities and customers, and the broader demands of the business world. IBM and Dassault Systèmes have already provided more than 150 institutions in North America, 650 in Europe, and 200 around the world with the opportunity to build a state-of-the-art Product Lifecycle Management application curriculum.