Insight XT Provides Easy Vaulting and Retrieval of Solid Edge Files and Related Documents, and a Visual Approach to Managing Increasingly Complex Design Data

Builds on Ten Years of Technical Leadership and Customer Success with Microsoft SharePoint-based Design Data Management

PLANO, Texas & NASHVILLE, Tenn. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — June 12, 2012 — Siemens PLM Software, a business unit of the Siemens Industry Automation Division and a leading global provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services, today introduced the Insight™ XT™ design data management solution, used to manage Solid Edge® software CAD files and related design data. Insight XT, based on Microsoft’s SharePoint, helps Solid Edge users significantly simplify and speed the completion of everyday design tasks by helping to better organize data and processes. Insight XT adds new part, product and project structures that are required by manufacturing organizations but are not available in standard SharePoint document libraries.

The announcement was made at Solid Edge University 2012, a global user event where participants were able to test drive Insight XT to see how it complements Solid Edge. The company also separately announced the release of Solid Edge ST5, which contains more than 1,300 new customer-driven productivity enhancements ( see release).

“As product complexity increases, the volume of associated design data continues to expand. Mainstream manufacturers are under great pressure to affordably manage this increasing data and often struggle with the complexities of data management solutions,” said Karsten Newbury, Vice President of Mainstream Engineering, Siemens PLM Software. “Insight XT is a simple, intuitive and easy to use solution that helps increase efficiency and allows mainstream manufacturers to have full control of their data and intellectual property. Insight XT is the result of more than ten years of technical leadership and customer success we have built with Microsoft’s SharePoint.”

Insight XT provides easy vaulting and retrieval of Solid Edge files and related design data, using a new approach to managing part, product and project structures and their related documents, thereby automating and simplifying complex error prone processes such as new product introduction and release to manufacturing. New content and relation browser interfaces provide a dynamic visual approach to displaying data relationships and associated tasks, enabling users to quickly understand complex design data and the impact of proposed design changes. Insight XT provides a straightforward approach to managing design data helping to turn time spent searching into time spent interacting with data, enabling users to simplify their design world.

Best Practices for Managing Design Data

A recent survey of more than 2,000 representatives from global manufacturing organizations conducted by Siemens PLM Software with the support of independent research firm Tech-Clarity, found that the majority of respondents are still using Windows® application folders and network drives to manage their design data, rather than any type of specific data management software. These users are experiencing significant challenges with finding the data and tracking progress of engineering changes. The survey showed that about 25 percent of the companies use more than 20 percent of their time on non-value-added data management tasks – that is one full day in a five-day work week.

Those respondents who rated their organizations highly for their performance in product development were 30 percent more likely to use specific data management solutions and were significantly more effective in key areas such as finding and sharing data and managing their design projects. To read the full report titled, “Best Practices for Managing Design Data,” please visit www.siemens.com/plm/bestpractices.

“The survey found that product complexity is a larger driver of data management issues than company size, indicating that there is a significant opportunity to improve data management performance in companies of all sizes,” said Jim Brown, President of Tech-Clarity. “Perhaps most importantly, companies that were rated as world class in terms of their product development performance spend 25 percent less time on non-productive data management tasks than others.”

Insight XT based on Microsoft SharePoint

Insight XT is based on Microsoft SharePoint, an easy to use common business productivity solution that provides a familiar environment for all information and collaboration tasks.

“The use of Microsoft SharePoint 2010 is growing rapidly in manufacturing companies around the world fueled by the need to enable the right people to access the right information at the right time, make better more informed decisions and accomplish project goals in the shortest possible time,” said Simon Floyd, Director of Innovation & Product Lifecycle Management Solutions for the Worldwide Discrete Manufacturing Industry, Microsoft Corp. “We are very impressed with Siemens PLM Software’s track record of bringing highly value-added SharePoint based solutions to market for design data management and collaboration. Insight XT represents a significant leap-forward in the management of design data and allows manufacturers globally to simultaneously take advantage of key business data and processes facilitated by SharePoint 2010.”

“Over the years, Siemens PLM Software has demonstrated that Insight, its SharePoint-based data and process management solution for Solid Edge has delivered significant value to users,” said Peter Bilello, President of CIMdata, a global PLM management consulting and research firm. “With the introduction of Insight XT Siemens PLM Software continues to work with Microsoft’s large SharePoint development investments and its own vast experience helping manufacturing companies across industry sectors manage product development. Insight XT adds critical capabilities needed by manufacturers, such as product structure management and tools designed to make it easy to understand complex data relationships. CIMdata strongly recommends that manufacturers using Solid Edge who are concerned about the costs and complexities of data management should consider Insight XT.”