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4 Feb 2008 Russia is after growing PLM marketElena Goretkina
We publish translation of Russian PLM market in 2007 review by "PC Week/Russian Edition" observer Elena Goretkina.
The time when to be successful an entrepreneur could release a good product and for the rest of his life reap the fruits, offering unlimited variations of his brainchild, sunk to the oblivion. Today it would not be enough to survive. According to the experts of ARC Advisory Group, nowadays production companies gain 25-30% of their income from the products created in the last five years. They must continuously develop new products and launch them to the market faster than their competitors. Unfortunately, it means looking into several conflicting tasks at once: promoting innovation, increasing the income, meeting tight deadlines of product launches and ensuring the highest quality of their products. The only way “to kill all four birds with one stone” - use product information as effectively as possible. To that aim, the Product Lifecycle Management technologies (PLM) are quite essential, creating an integrated environment for the end-to-end management of product design, testing, manufacturing, servicing, amortization and disposal. Although such an approach has obvious advantages, certainly enjoyed by the groundbreakers, the PLM path is not paved with roses.
Dynamic Market
The concept of PLM appeared at the beginning of 2000s and has already become popular. Still, not everybody understands that PLM is not a ready or adjustable software solution, but a set of technologies and integration techniques for already operational corporate systems with means of collective work, aimed at creating an integrated information space. Acronym PLM is also somewhat confusing: Obviously, it is impossible to manage product lifecycle, so it would be more correct to talk about managing product inofmration throughout its lifecycle. There is no clarity, which particular software technologies help implementing PLM. Although many research companies study developments on this market, their assessments of the market size are different (See the Table).
CIMdata gives the widest definition of the PLM market, including in the PLM management tools the base standards and technologies (XML, means of visualization, collaborative work and applications integration); tools for computer-aided mechanical and electronic design (CAD and EDA), manufacturing planning (CAM), analysis of engineering information (CAE) and supporting tools (usually known on the Russian market under the name “SAPR” - CAD); additional programs (data storage, information control, document flow); functional applications (managing configurations, versions, projects and knowledge) and specialized industry applications. Therefore, CIMdata reports show the biggest PLM market size.
Other firms, for instance, Daratech, consider PLM as only mechanical design tools (CAD, CAE, CAM) and design data management systems. Besides, some researchers take into account only software sales, while others also include related services. All together, it gives such a spread of market assessments.
Despite the difference in quantitative indicators, all researchers unanimously agree that the PLM market is growing and will continue growing. Various arguments support such a point of view. For instance, CIMdata explains that companies became aware how important is PLM for increasing their efficiency and, therefore, started investing in such technologies. Daratech emphasizes growing demand from not only big but also small companies. The ARC Advisory Group states that functionalities of PLM-applications gradually expand beyond the traditional area of computer-aided design to cover other aspects of the product lifecycle, including content management, after-sales services, marketing, etc.
Comparing various PLM market segments, all researchers note increasing demand for the systems of Collaborative Product Data Management (ñPDM). According to the ARC Advisory Group, it is associated with globalization of industrial production — business relations between companies are expanding and so is the need for collaborative use of information. CIMdata emphasizes that cPDM segment grows faster than the PLM market in general: in 2006 it grew by 13.6% and reached US$ 6.9 billion However, CIMdata considers that cPDM segment includes not only PDM-systems, but also visualization, data exchange, project portfolio management, regulatory compliance verification and application integration tools as well as industrial solutions. It is expected that in the coming years the segment will be growing on average by 13.6% annually and by 2011 will hit $13 billion
The second part of the PLM market comprises data pre-processing tools: computer-aided design and technical information publishing tools and ancillary software. This sector is bigger than the first one but its development is not so fast. For instance, according to CIMdata, last year its growth was 9% – reaching $13.2 billion The rise is experienced mostly due to electronic design programs and mid-range CAD-systems, while heavy CAD and engineering analysis tools tend to fall behind. CIMdata presumes that in the next five years the tools segment will increase by 5.3% and by 2011 will be equal $17.1 billion.
A significant number of providers of software and services operate on the PLM market. To have a better understanding, CIMdata classifies them into providers of products for particular areas (CAD, CAM, EDA, CAE, etc.), consulting/ integrating companies, and developers of integrated systems. The first group has the biggest number of market participants, while the third has the highest aggregate income. In the latter researchers include only five developers, focused on the PLM-market: Agile, Dassault Systemes, PTC, SAP and UGS. Last year the group had some changes as Agile was bought by Oracle, and UGS joined the Siemens concern and now operates as Siemens PLM Software. These changes will be reflected in the 2008 report, but for now we will concentrate on 2007.
2007 happened to be quite interesting for the global PLM market — as if by arrangement, it attracted the “big fish”. Obviously, such attention by the captains of industry can hardly be a coincidence. Year after year, the global PLM market demonstrates sustainable growth. According to IDC, in 2006 sales of CAD and PDM-systems increased by 9% and reached $5.8 billion, the estimate for 2010 is $6.9 billion The PDM segment grew by 11%, and CAD - by 8%. As a result, the share of data management tools is increasing and is getting closer to 27%.
CIMdata reported that Dassault showed the best sale figures, while UGS and PTC got the second and third positions accordingly. Nevertheless, researchers point out that all three leaders considerably increased their income. As before, it was achieved mostly due to the tools sector (that is, CAD and ancillary software), although supplies of cPDM-systems are growing faster, and therefore, their share in turnover is increasing.
All providers of integrated products distribute them and offer accompanying services both independently and through partner networks, including system integrators, resellers, consultants, etc. Provider’s impact on the PLM-market can be assessed by combining direct and partner financial results (Fig. 2). Again, Dassault turned out to be the leader. Researchers noticed that IBM brought a considerable contribution to Dassault as their business partner, while UGS benefited from a partnership with a big American integrator EDS. Influence of other members of the ”Group of Five” is also growing. For instance, last year PTC and SAP expanded their partner programs, which positively affected their aggregate income.
PLM in Russia
IDC gave its analysis of the Russian CAD and PLM markets for the third consecutive year. In Russia the PLM market grows even faster than on the global scale. According to IDC, in 2006 the growth rate was 29%, and the market size - $66 million. However, its structure is somewhat different. The share of PDM-systems is lower that on the global market, being around 13%. In the West most companies have already acquired CAD tools and currently focus on managing the accumulated engineering data, while in Russia CAD implementation is currently at full swing. However, PDM-systems are also popular in Russia; that is why, as pointed out by IDC, CAD and PDM segments are growing at equal rate.
Therefore, supplies of PLM-products in Russia increase at a faster rate than in the world. (Fig. 3). Besides, the structure of the Russian market differs from global markets: PDM share in Russia is 13%, compared to 27% on the global market. IDC estimates that by 2010 sales of the above systems in Russia will reach $113.4 million in constrast to $6.9 billion on the global market.
Unfortunately, widespread piracy prevents accurate assessments of PLM distribution and use. “Implementation often happen spontaneously and cannot be accounted”, — said Vladimir Malukh, the Director on Engineering Consulting, LEDAS.
Nevertheless, all PLM-providers operating in Russia confirm that the market situation is favorable. “Demand for PLM-solutions is growing continuously. New executives come to the industries, aspiring to improve production and design efficiency. Even the companies that already equipped the working stations of their designers and production engineers with automated systems show interest towards integrated solutions. But in the absence of real integration labor productivity suffers”, — explains Vitaly Taldykin, Marketing Director of Top Systems. Nikolay Nyrkov, the Deputy Director of the Corporate Department, ASCON, links the current upsurge with the output growth in processing industries, scaling up investments into the companies’ fixed capital and continuous “legalization” (using licensed versions) of CAD.
The later factor is especially encouraging as previously the level of piracy in the CAD segment exceeded the average for the software market in general. Feedback from providers shows that the situation started changing only a couple of years ago. Perhaps, it partly happened because at that time all leading western players opened their representative offices in Russia and began actively fighting against the clandestine market.
Such efforts as well as investments in developing their business in Russia pay off. For instance, Laurent Valroff, the Director of Dassault Systemes Russia, said that in the last two years sales of PLM-solutions doubled in Russia, naming, in particular, aircraft and shipbuilding industries, where historically Dassault products have strong positions. He also pointed out the recovery of Russian car manufacturing, significant expansion of the number of automated working stations in design and production engineering units, as well real interest towards Delmia digital manufacturing system.
Attention to PLM-solutions is also growing as the clients become increasingly aware of their advantages. “All local events in Novosibirsk confirm that industry representatives have abandoned their skeptical attitude towards PLM and now show active interest regarding integrated systems. Recently several organizations have approached our competence center, requiring PLM-consulting: the nature of their requests bespeaks obvious improved understanding of the importance of PLM technology for achieving better competitive strength”, — said Vladimir Malukh.
Latest Trends
The PLM concept was born when companies accumulated huge volumes of electronic information (drawings, 3D models, specifications, etc.), using CAD. To benefit from such intellectual wealth, it must be properly managed. That is why the core of every PLM-solution (at least in discrete manufacturing) is an engineering data management system. In the course of its short but active life, PLM technology has come a long way and, along with PDM, it now encompasses diverse activities of a manufacturing company, constantly expanding its coverage.
The above-mentioned providers of integrated systems have been especially active. To acquire missing technologies, they prefer taking over the developers of the most successful and proven solutions rather than wasting time for developing their own ones. They can afford such “shopping” because the rise of the PLM-market correlates with increased income for its leading participants.
Therefore, consolidation of the PLM-market is gaining momentum. Last year Dassault bought MatrixOne, one of the five leading players on the PLM-market, and acquired a system, oriented towards satisfying the needs of several industries; PTC bought Arbortext, a provider of dynamic document publishing tools, and PolyPlan, a producing software for Digital Manufacturing. Not long before that, UGS took over Tecnomatix, which also had a leading position in Digital Manufacturing. At the beginning of this year, UGS itself was bought by the Siemens concern. The amount of that sensational transaction ($3.5 billion) means that IT power players take a serous interest in PLM technology. Such an assumption was confirmed promptly - Oracle bought Agile, also a member of the “Group of Five”, while SAP presented an ambitious plan for developing own PLM-technologies.
Such active processes of mergers and acquisitions allow researchers to suggest that the PLM-market is going to follow the “rule of three”; that is, it will ultimately become dominated by the three leading players. Other observers believe, however, that this market is flourishing thanks to a constant influx of new technologies offered by the start-ups. Certainly, both points of view are correct and PLM providers are divided into different camps: several big cats, offering integrated solutions for total product lifecycle, and the numerous armies of smaller developers of specialized products for various lifecycle stages. Such a situation already exists but with time the gap between the two camps will increase.
Another PLM trend is related to an increasing role of Digital Manufacturing technologies. The basic rationale for the deal between Siemens and UGS was that the latter had an advanced solution in the field. Now Digital Manufacturing comes to the forefront. Hopefully, equipped with such solutions, industries will be able to fill the long-existing gap between manufacturing and design that causes huge overheads. Currently all the Big Three (UGS, Dassault, PTC) are aggressively promoting their Digital Manufacturing tools: UGS —the Tecnomatix system, Dassault — Delmia, and PTC — Windchill MPMLink (former PolyPlan). CIMdata experts believe that such a trend leads to integration of Digital Manufacturing systems with the tools for Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions (MES) and, therefore, to even more comprehensive advancement of PLM technology, covering various company’s activities.
In Russia Digital Manufacturing technology is not widespread yet, although certain shifts are developing. According to Laurent Valroff, recently large Russian clients have manifested their strong interest to the solutions based on the Delmia products. Perhaps, it is related to development of the Delmia Express version, aimed at small companies.
Rather than being a random event, it reflects another trend in the PLM-field. Initially, product lifecycle management technology was designed for large and very large clients, such as Boeing, Airbus, NASA, etc. About two years ago, the captains of industry turned to small and medium businesses. Targeting this group, Dassault started the set of Express PLM-products, and UGS — the Velocity Series package. These products are not abridged versions of the original systems. “The key element of PLM Express solutions is simplicity of implementation, achieved due to their functional bundling, suited to meet the needs of a designer, a product engineer, a manufacturing engineer and other specialists”, — explained Laurent Valroff.
Simultaneously with entering the segment of small and medium businesses, the grandees have also changed their partner policy. Coverage of the huge armies of smaller firms can only be achieved through partner networks. Suppliers usually explain this step by exercising care after the clients: smaller companies often deal with tasks as complex as the giant firms and need integrated PLM-solutions no less than their “big brothers”. In reality, they are simply pragmatic. Lately the segment of heavy systems has shown practically no growth, while researchers see perfect opportunities for the products designed for small and medium business. For instance, AMR Research estimates that the PLM market for medium-sized businesses (with annual turnover $30—999 million) will increase 12% per year.
It ought to be noted that earlier CAD suppliers did not ignore the segment of small and medium-sized businesses. However, it was dominated by developers of mid-range systems (SolidWorks, Autodesk, Think3, etc.), and their tool sets and systems mostly targeted the parts of the lifecycle related to product design and manufacturing planning. In principle, the captains of industry entering this market will enable small companies to expand the use of PLM-technology beyond the design stage.
Russia experiences the same tendencies. “Currently the price of the ticket to PLM is going down”, —said Vladimir Malukh. Partly it happens because foreign companies have special pricing policies for Russia. “In our company the cost of a workstation is lower in Russia than in Europe”, — confirmed Laurent Valroff.
It would seem that such an aggressive offensive from western champions must worry Russian CAD developers. However, they are not scared. For instance, Vitaly Taldykin stated that intensified competition and increasing demand encourage market development. A growing number of vendors that earlier did not possess integrated CAD/CAM/CAE/CAPP/PDM-applications in their “arsenal”, are moving towards this direction. Gradually finalized PLM-projects appear in Russia, therefore, building a technological base for adopting and applying such solutions in domestic industries. “Western experience is good, but emergence of domestic examples means a considerable step forward”, —said Vitaly Taldykin, referring to the projects carried out by “Signal” Experimental Design Bureau in Engels and an instrument-making company in the Saratov region.
Practical experience is especially important in the PLM field. As emphasized by experts, PLM is more than a set of applications, it is a business strategy enabling all partners in a network to implement collaborative product development and introduce innovations throughout the product lifecycle by means of particular applications and processes.
Russian clients are turning to PLM?
Regardless of the process of “democratization” in the PLM world, large companies retain the leading positions on implementing these systems. “The top-range segment is definitely dominated by the aerospace industry, mainly due to implementation of an advanced system at Sukhoi holding and its numerous allied industries, covering hundreds of working stations”, — states Vladimir Malukh, emphasizing enormous significance of the Sukhoi SuperJet project for advancing PLM-technologies in Russia.
Historically, on the global markets as well as in Russia, PLM-technology initially proliferated in aircraft construction, shipbuilding and car manufacturing, although we already have good examples from other industries; particularly, Cryogenmach, and the Krasniyarsk Combine Harvester Plant have been widely using integrated systems for several years. However, these are also large companies.
The reason for success “on top” is obvious: large-scale PLM-solutions are considerably more expensive than a patched-up automation. “Small business still lags behind but there are all necessary preconditions for progress”, - believes Vitaly Taldykin. It seems that a “downward” movement has already started. According to Laurent Valroff, the heads of small and medium businesses form better understanding of the advantages of integrated PLM-solutions and are ready to discuss their implementation.
Nikolay Nyrkov reckons that most clients are middle-sized companies, employing from 20 to 200 engineers. Vladimir Malukh gives examples of not even small but super-small PLM users, in particular, furniture manufacturers. He explains such a phenomenon by dynamic development of the furniture industry, and availability of inexpensive industry solutions coupled with relative simplicity of their implementation: “As far as I am aware, there are at least 6000 – 8000 working stations, talking only the legal (licensed) ones. In terms of money the segment is obviously small as the average cost of a working station does not exceed $1000, but if we add other successful related industries — manufacturing windows, shop windows, shop equipment, then indicators of PLM-penetration become quite impressive. It is worth noting that the industry is dominated by technologically simple but integrated solutions, actually covering the whole product lifecycle”.
What motivates Russian companies to implement such projects? To achieve, one needs two main components: desire and resources. According to the suppliers, they observe positive trends in both areas. Educational efforts of vendors and successful experience of groundbreakers slowly convince companies that only a systemic approach will help them to survive in a free market economy. There are also more specific reasons. “Often clients simply wish to get design and technological manufacturing planning under basic control and hope that a modern-IT system will be helpful”, — explained Nikolay Nyrkov. Such good intentions are supported by their growing financial capabilities. As Laurent Valroff sees it, currently even those companies that previously were at the edge of bankruptcy, are able to increase their investment flow in the IT-infrastructure.
In the PLM-field, the time of radical changes and technological breakthroughs is over. Perhaps, at some point, this stage will be back again, but at the moment technologies are developing in a rather evolutionary manner. Therefore, the survey respondents expect that in the next year the trends, typical for the expiring year, will continue, though with some changes.
“In the next year the companies’ interest towards integrated solutions and 3D-modelling will be growing, and demand for integrated solutions will be even higher”, - expressed his hopes Sergey Kuraskin. He is supported by Maxim Bogdanov: “In the coming year all tendencies typical for the last year will only strengthen, as the clients will be more demanding when it comes to the delivery terms ànd efficiency of integrated projects”.
Companies’ transition to an integrated automation system of design and technological manufacturing planning will increase demand for implementation services. “There are all preconditions that services for implementing integrated solutions will enjoy bigger and bigger demand. We hope that next year the trend will be even more pronounced”, — believes Sergey Kuraskin.
The Russian PLM-market will also be affected by global trends, particularly, the transition to “digital”. “Books, music, movies, television, equipment — everything becomes digital. This trend is observed in CAD as well, which pushes users to translate all kinds of data into an electronic format, and to have virtual testing of ideas and virtual analysis of behavior of developed objects before delivering it to a production unit or a construction site. If previously digital prototypes were rather an exception than a daily routine, in the near future we face mass implementation of such technologies in all sectors of industry and construction”, — is convinced Anastasia Morozova, the Marketing Director of Autodesk Russia and CIS.
Another important factor, according to Ms Morozova, is globalization of the world economy: “Year by year a growing number of companies use tools for exchanging information with teams of engineers and architects, dispersed around the globe. Therefore, there will be an increased demand for the tools enabling easy organization of collaborative product development, access to global components database, and remote control of design processes”.
According to Anastasia Morozova, infrastructure is being developed at an especially fast rate: “Everything built before, regardless of whether it is a small factory or a unit of a huge holding, requires competent maintenance and operation. Therefore, demand for GIS (geographic information system) coupled with CAD is growing and will be growing in the future”.
Thorny Way
Presenting PLM advantages, vendors usually present examples of successful projects, passing over their failures. Clients are also reluctant to reveal their mishaps. Therefore, any negative information evokes a wide response. For instance, last year’s Airbus announcement about a two-year delay of launching A380 aircraft made much noise. One of the reasons was that partners used incompatible versions of CATIA CAD and errors occurred when they started exchanging engineering data. In other words, even a PLM-system did not help the giant to avoid troubles.
At the same time, Boeing – the main competitor of the European aviation industry – reassured that the company was not experiencing similar difficulties with its PLM-system, and 787 Dreamliner project was fail-safe. Then suddenly an American aircraft manufacturer announced putting-off the aircraft launch for six months due to a shortage of composite materials. At first glance, it seems that there was nothing in common between a deficit of materials and PLM; however, a simple question arises: why do you need a system, which does not allow you to control the work of your suppliers? Researchers believe, however, that the issue lays not in the concept of PLM as such but in its incomplete realization by Boeing's partners. The company itself has achieved considerable advancement in creating a single environment for design and engineering analysis but has failed to secure sufficient technological coverage of its hundreds (!) of suppliers.
Russian experts are also convinced that such failures have been caused by a human factor rather than by IT failures. “The problem of the aviation giants is that their chief executives overestimate “infallibility” of CAD and PLM and, as a consequence, set tight deadlines, giving no time allowance for the high complexity of the projects. Furthermore, Boeing was in a hurry to launch the aircraft by the company’s anniversary and in such a rush they forgot about the compliance with assembly procedures and paperwork management”, - explained Vladimir Malukh. As far as he is aware, a similar Russian project, undertaken by “Sukhoi”, is going successfully.
Nevertheless, Russians have their own difficulties. All vendors, without exception, stated that the biggest one is an extreme shortage of professionals – not only technical experts but also specialists able to ensure quality PLM implementation. Such a shortage is typical for both IT-firms and manufacturing companies. Attempts to handle the problem have been undertaken throughout the last several years; however, there is still no light at the end of the tunnel in spite of the efforts of providers to contribute in resolving the problem. For instance, practically all of them offer special educational programs, under which universities can obtain software on favorable terms or even free-of-charge.
Sharing his experience, Dmitry Abakumov, the Marketing Director of PTC, emphasized the lack of financing as another significant factor: “Owning to that, instead of comprehensive PLM implemention companies plunge into a “patched-up” automation, which can only increase the costs, as companies buy software from different providers, and then start exchanging one for another, etc..”.
Advancing PLM-systems, as any other comprehensive software, requires support by the executive management, which often raises frictions. Vitaly Taldykin thinks that “sometimes company’s top-managers lack the will to make complex decisions on PLM-projects, which would require reorganization”. Laurent Valroff agrees with him, being convinced that today the main factor of success is competent management and the sustainability of the company’s management team, who must be able to carry out a consistent implementation policy.
The problem is partly related to insufficient qualification of top-and mid-level managers. In view of Dmitry Abakumov, to improve efficiency, Russian companies must achieve comprehensive reengineering of business-processes, management structure, staff work, and only then implement information technologies. Sometimes Russians naively believe that buying certain software product will automatically resolve all company’s problems.
Vendors trust that ultimately many obstacles will disappear, as with implementation of successful projects companies will be accumulating experience of applying full-scale PLM-solutions in Russian conditions, which will be useful for them in future.
Summing Up
Therefore, last year’s projection of the leading market players regarding the upturn of the Russian PLM-market has come true. Let us see if their other assumptions are confirmed.
Many survey respondents anticipated growing interest of their clients to PDM systems and integrated solutions for computer-aided design and process planning. Judging by current responses, their yearning proved to be true. According to Maxim Bogdanov, the Marketing Director of ASCON, now we not only witness the upsurge in implementation of integrated solutions, but also the interests of manufacturing companies towards integration of PDM- and ERP-systems are growing fast.
Other respondents are of the same opinion. In view of Dmitry Abakumov, the Marketing Director of the Russian branch of PTC, clients express deepening interest towards a single information environment for product development and manufacturing.
Increased demand for integrated solutions is partly explained by the “democratization” of PLM-products. Previously intended for large corporations only, now even providers of “heavy” products release their versions for smaller companies.
Another reason for the rising PLM-market – businesses are expanding the range of adopted products. For instance, until recently Russian companies practically did not use Digital Manufacturing systems, designed for modeling, testing and optimizing technological processes. Finally, “the ice broke up”. According to Laurent Valroff, the Director of Dassault Systemes Russia, in 2007 clients’ interest to these technologies translated into a number of production projects in the aviation and car manufacturing industries.
The PLM-market has been long suffering from piracy. Therefore, market players link the prospects of its development with legalization of users. A year ago, many of them stated that “things are really cooking” and the process must continue gaining momentum in 2007. So far, exactly this is happening. In the opinion of Maxim Bogdanov, an active stand taken by the government in its battle against non-licensed software products has become a very important development factor for the software sector.
Such developments have favorable impact upon financial performance of the market players. Few of them report their financial indicators, but analysis of the published data leads to a conclusion that the income of some providers grows at a higher rate than the IT market in general. Such an impressive outcome encourages foreign providers to build up investments in developing their business in Russia. For instance, in three years Autodesk invested over $5 million in the CIS countries and intends to invest another $25 million in the next three years.
As a result, competition on the PLM-market becomes more intense. Although it is not an easy task for the Russian developers to compete with western giants, they are not scared. “The Russian industry gathers pace and global producers actively invest in developing their representative branches in Russia. Therefore, we embark on serious market rivalry, based not just on slogan exchange but rather product functionality and a sophisticated approach to solving the problems of design and technology process planning”, — notes Sergey Kuraskin, the General Director of Top Systems. He is supported by Maxim Bogdanov, who indicates practically complete convergence of functionalities of most 3D CAD-systems available on the Russian market.
Simultaneously with increased demand for design automation tools, the popularity of specialized computers is also going up. According to Yury Dronenko, the Technical Director of the Arbyte Group, last year graphic stations and integrated solutions for CAD became more marketable. It is partly related to the above-mentioned trend towards legalization. If users have to pay for the software, they try to get maximum useful effects and purchase optimized “hardware”. It is not a coincidence that Arbyte points at a deepening interest towards programmed 3D-manipulators that accelerate 3D model-building.
Analyzing industry segments of the CAD market, providers reckon that the construction industry gained the leading positions in 2007. For instance, ASCON began active development of construction design tools, and Autodesk selected technology for developing a single Building Information Model (BIM) as one of the company’s priorities. Perhaps, developers’ interest is fuelled by the increased demand. According to IDC, in 2006, sales of automation tools for the architecture and construction industry in Russia increased by 79%.
All market players expect an ongoing upsurge of the Russian PLM-market and, as a consequence, intensifying competition between Russian and foreign market participants. “We anticipate increased rivalry from western companies”, —said Sergey Kuraskin. However, Russian developers are determined to meet “the enemy” armed to the teeth and plan releasing not only regular versions of already existing solutions but also completely new products. In their turn, foreign competitors are not going to sit back and do nothing and intend to implement in-depth product localization, expand partner networks, develop new offerings in service and consulting, and actively exercise educational projects.
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