Calling it an architecture rather than product announcement, Dassault Systèmes outlined the high points of its upcoming V6 PLM platform, including new Web 2.0 capabilities for sharing 3D data across the enterprise along with a full service-oriented architecture (SOA).

Dassault V6 fully incorporates the MatrixOne technology, which Dassault officials say better position it to be the single PLM platform for IP management across all engineering disciplines and for enabling collaborative business processes. This single repository will merge what previously constituted the separate data models of Enovia, MatrixOne and SmartTeam into a single physical platform, officials say, and Dassault will follow up with availability in May of a common set of business processes that spans all engineering and enterprise users, including those for BOM management, sourcing, regulatory compliance, program and portfolio management and requirements management.

IBM, Dassault's partner on PLM for over 20 years, called V6 a key development in bringing together the data and tools used between the design world and the manufacturing world. ''The current working between design and manufacturing has been limited — it's been connected but not together,'' says Peter Markey, solution and product marketing for PLM worldwide at IBM. ''When you're talking about a global manufacturing enterprise where business processes and suppliers span different parts of the world, those things start to become a bottleneck in terms of maxing time to market. ''V6 is a major step forward for providing a single platform to drive that collaboration to the next level.''

In addition to the integration benefits, V6's SOA also positions Dassault to provide PLM offerings under the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) delivery model, where customers pay a monthly fee to access the software over the Internet. ''We're not announcing any SaaS products yet, but we see a need for it in our portfolio as a deployment option for customers on the low end to get up and running without major hardware and administration costs and on the higher end for large OEMs with a lot of suppliers,'' says John Squire, Dassault's vice president of marketing, Enovia.

The other major piece of the V6 architecture announcement is the Web 2.0 angle. The software will be enabled for real-time, current collaboration across multiple locations via a Web connection and all modules will sport Dassault's 3DLive interface so non-traditional CAD users can easily search for, collaborate on and share 3D models and data. In addition, V6 will also encompass elements of 3DVIA, Dassault's community for sharing and creating 3D experiences aimed at the average consumer, the intent being to allow all constituents — from developers to consumers — to be involved in the product design process, from gathering requirements to testing and providing feedback on virtual prototypes prior to production.

''We're hanging this off the Web 2.0 concept of social design, viewing it as PLM online for all,'' Squire says. ''This allows an online community to participate in product design throughout all stages of the lifecycle.''

The addition of the 3DLive interface to the Dassault PLM suite in particular will go a long way in opening up access to non-traditional CAD users, according to Ed Miller, president of CIMdata Inc.''Leveraging the 3DLive program across their entire suite is a nice step forward,'' Miller says. ''They're using it as a vehicle to enable simplification of processes and that's a big deal.''

Squire said V6 solutions of CATIA, DELMIA, SIMULIA and ENOVIA are slated for delivery in May.