PTC buys Ohio Design Automation to expand offerings

Needham, MA—To deepen its commitment to product lifecycle management for electronics, PTC recently acquired New Hampshire-based Ohio Design Automation (Ohio-DA) Inc. for approximately $12 million in cash.

By Control Engineering Staff April 19, 2004

Needham, MA— To deepen its commitment to product lifecycle management for electronics, PTC recently acquired New Hampshire-based Ohio Design Automation (Ohio-DA) Inc. for approximately $12 million in cash. Ohio-DA produces electronics design collaboration software. The transaction closed on April 7, pending fulfillment of certain conditions.

As part of the acquisition, PTC reports that it will retain Ohio-DA’s employees. John Lane, Ohio-DA’s president and CEO, will become a senior VP for PTC, and will report to James Heppelmann, PTC’s chief product officer.

Ohio-DA’s flagship, patent-pending product is InterComm electronic design verification, visualization and collaboration software used by more than 400 companies in more than 20 countries. InterComm gives users access to complex design data created in electronic design automation (EDA) tools, including those provided by Cadence Design Systems, Mentor Graphics, Zuken and other EDA vendors.

‘This strategic acquisition furthers PTC’s commitment to the high-tech and electronics industries by enabling us to help manufacturers address the growing challenges posed by the proliferation of electronic components in their products,’ says C. Richard Harrison, PTC’s president and CEO. ‘Manufacturers are trying to juggle disparate mechanical and electronic design processes and systems, while at the same time facing pressure to bring higher quality products to market faster. Our new combined offering will enable us to provide tremendous value to customers, who want an integrated solution to help address these growing challenges.’

PTC adds that its acquisition of this open standard for EDA visualization and collaboration gives it a highly differentiated solution. Integrating InterComm with PTC’s Windchill PLM solutions will allow companies to manage EDA design data across the enterprise, enabling concurrent design across an increasingly outsourced and geographically disparate design chain.

PTC reports that it presently serves nearly 3,000 high technology and electronics companies in multiple industries, including hardware, consumer electronics, peripherals, telecommunications equipment, semiconductors, government and military electronics, semiconductor equipment, and automotive and industrial electronics. PTC’s Windchill PLM customers in these segments include EMC, Harris, HP, Iomega, LG Electronics, NEC, Novellus, Samsung, Seiko Epson, and Unisys.

Ohio-DA’s products will be immediately available for sale by PTC. In addition, PTC plans to provide InterComm as an integral module of PTC’s Windchill PLM solutions. For further information, visit https://www.ptc.com/go/ohiodesign/ .

Control Engineering Daily News DeskJim Montague, news editorjmontague@reedbusiness.com