PTC seals strategic collaboration agreement with Amazon Web Services to help firms design products faster and easier

PTC has announced a Strategic Collaboration Agreement (SCA) with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to accelerate the growth of its Onshape® cloud-native computer-aided design (CAD) and product data management (PDM) solution.

This partnership will focus on advancing product enhancements, customer adoption programmes, and artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives, all of which are aimed at helping product designers and engineers create new, high-quality products faster and more efficiently.

The Onshape team and AWS will collaborate on several product and go-to-market (GTM) priorities, including:

• Onshape Discovery Programme, which allows qualified users to try Onshape Professional at no cost for up to six months. This means engineering teams get to experience the unique speed and collaboration benefits of the cloud-native CAD and PDM solution for an extended period before making the decision of whether to adopt or not. Companies interested in applying for the Discovery Programme can learn more here.
  
  
• Onshape AI Advisor will allow users to design products faster by cataloguing the vast resource library of text-based documentation and videos and answering questions or making recommendations during the design process. While designing, users will be able to type a question in simple, conversational language and the Onshape AI Advisor will respond with an answer or recommendation based on the resource library. This will run on Amazon Bedrock and is expected to be released by the end of 2024.

• CAD and PDM Conversion Tools will expand intelligent data migration toolsets to reduce the complexity of switching systems by preserving the parametric features and sketch information of CAD models during translation.

• Onshape Government will deliver a security footprint to comply with The International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) requirements.

“Onshape continues to disrupt the CAD and PDM market, with product companies of all sizes choosing to switch and experience the speed, collaboration, and productivity benefits of the cloud-native approach,” said David Katzman, General Manager of Onshape and Arena, PTC.

“Our collaboration with AWS outlines some key priorities that will help us reach the hands of more designers and engineers, accelerate the delivery of some important product enhancements, and demonstrate how AI can assist in the product development process.”

Wilfried Dufaud, Co-founder, Executive Director & Head of Airworthiness, AURA AERO, added his support: “Using Onshape has allowed us to make our product development process faster, easier, and more collaborative.”

“We’re always working on the latest version of our design, we no longer deal with lost work or system crashes, and we’re now automating many of our repetitive CAD tasks, which saves us significant time. In addition to these day-to-day benefits, PTC and AWS give us high confidence in the availability, security, and reliability of our cloud-native approach to product development.”

Onshape’s growth has been fuelled by its goal to help companies switch CAD and PDM systems to a cloud-native solution, an increase in commercial adoption, notable product enhancements, and significant traction in the education space.

Leading companies such as Trek Bikes, Garmin, K2, Garrett Motion, and AURA AERO are all designing products using this platform.

Chris Grusz, Managing Director of Technology Partnerships at AWS, concluded: “PTC’s Onshape team and AWS will work together to expand technical and go-to-market collaboration to support the market evolution of engineering design tools moving to the cloud.

“Together, we will evolve PTC’s Onshape cloud-native CAD and PDM solution, supported by technology powered by AWS, and bring new AI/ML-powered capabilities and value propositions in a scalable and cost-effective manner to businesses around the world and the next generation user base in education.”

To learn more about Onshape, please visit www.onshape.com.