EDS and Avatech Solutions to Expand Reach of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Solutions to Small and Medium Sized Manufacturers

Avatech, One of the Largest Integrators of Autodesk Software Worldwide, Expected to Become a Certified Reseller of EDS PLM Products

NEW YORK, Feb. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- DARATECH SUMMIT 2003 -- EDS (NYSE:EDS), the world's leading supplier of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services, and Avatech Solutions, one of the largest integrators of Autodesk software worldwide, today announced an agreement designed to enable Avatech to become a certified reseller of EDS software and thus expand its reach with small and medium-sized manufacturers.

EDS made the announcement in conjunction with the Daratech Summit 2003 conference, which opened today in New York. Tony Affuso, president of EDS PLM Solutions, is scheduled to address the conference on Tuesday.

EDS and Avatech intend to formalize the memorandum of understanding currently in place through an official reseller contract.

"This agreement is designed to enhance the distribution and support of EDS' world-class PLM solutions into the important market segment of small and medium-sized manufacturers while significantly improving their ability to intelligently and affordably leverage the same PLM technology used by many of the world's largest companies," said Stephen Brown, president of Indirect Channels in the Americas for EDS PLM Solutions.

"We are committed to protecting our clients' investments just as we are committed to enhancing our ability to reach and support important market segments through high quality resellers like Avatech. EDS is the PLM leader because we are the only vendor offering a seamless set of solutions supporting clients regardless of their size or existing product development environment," he said. "With EDS' scalable, 'multi-CAD' approach to PLM, mid-market manufacturers can begin to realize the business benefits of PLM while leveraging their existing product data -- data created in wide variety of CAD (computer-aided design) formats."

Key Growth Segment for PLM

PLM spending by companies with revenues between $30 million and $249 million increased by 85 percent from 2000 to 2001, according to the recent Product Lifecycle Management Applications Report, 2001-2006 from AMR Research. EDS expects PLM spending by small and medium-sized manufacturers to continue to increase significantly as distributed design and engineering teams expand, and collaboration between original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers continues to deliver cost savings and improvements in time to market.

Further supporting this growth potential is the lack of current PLM penetration into the mid-market manufacturing sector. As AMR stated in its report, "Although large discrete manufacturers have in many cases installed some sort of packaged PDM system (a subset of PLM), these are a very small minority of the overall addressable manufacturing base."

"This agreement is consistent with Avatech's strategy to expand its market focus and build upon its Autodesk offerings by broadening the diversified portfolio of collaboration, visualization and design solutions we deploy for our manufacturing customer base," said Donald R. "Scotty" Walsh, CEO, Avatech Solutions. "Furthermore, EDS' open and flexible approach to PLM ideally aligns with the needs of our current Autodesk customers and prospects.

"By leveraging Avatech's local expertise and support, our clients can intelligently implement the world's leading PLM solutions while protecting their current investments in software, training, process development and, most importantly, the highly valuable digital data they create."

About EDS

EDS, the leading global services company, provides strategy, implementation, business transformation and operational solutions for clients managing the business and technology complexities of the digital economy. EDS brings together the world's best technologies to address critical client business imperatives. It helps clients eliminate boundaries, collaborate in new ways, establish their customers' trust and continuously seek improvement. EDS, with its management consulting subsidiary, A.T. Kearney, serves the world's leading companies and governments in 60 countries. EDS reported revenues of $21.5 billion in 2002. The company's stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:EDS) and the London Stock Exchange. 

www.eds.com

About Avatech Solutions

Avatech Solutions, Inc. (BULLETIN BOARD: AVSO.OB) is a leading provider of design automation and quality assurance solutions for the manufacturing, building design, civil engineering and GIS markets. Headquartered in Owings Mills, Maryland, the company specializes in software development, technical support, training and consulting aimed at improving design and documentation efficiencies and the seamless integration of workflow processes.

Avatech is one the largest integrators of Autodesk software worldwide and a leading provider of engineering document management solutions. The company is the developer of the award-winning PrescientQA(TM) quality assurance software and cycle time reduction products for the manufacturing supply chain.

Avatech serves 20,000 clients worldwide including the industry leaders from Fortune 1000 and Engineering News Record's Top 500 companies. 

www.avatechsolutions.com

 

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