Press Releases

PTC's "Product First" Strategy is Catalyst for Revival of Global Manufacturing Sector

Manufacturers Look to Product Development to Drive Revenue Growth and Shareholder Value

NEEDHAM, Mass., February 12, 2002 - PTC (Nasdaq: PMTC), The Product Development Company, today rolled out a comprehensive business strategy that it believes will enable manufacturing companies to adopt a single-minded focus on product development, and ensure long-term success for the manufacturing sector. "Product First," outlined to an audience of financial analysts, industry analysts, media, customers and partners in Boston, is based on PTC's 17 years of experience in helping customers win with superior products.

During the 1990s, manufacturers focused on strategic enterprise infrastructure to drive efficiency and reduce cost. While efficiency remains important, PTC understands that companies are also looking to product development to drive revenue growth and shareholder value. Recent announcements by manufacturers such as Apple, Ford, Hewlett-Packard, Intel and Sun signal a "back-to-basics" movement, focused on product development, in line with PTC's strategy.

"Let's face it: companies are known for their products, not their back-office systems. I know our customers by the products they make -- Harley Davidson makes motorcycles, Dell makes computers and Herman Miller makes the chair I sit in at work," said C. Richard Harrison, PTC president and chief executive officer. "PTC is at the forefront of a renewed manufacturing industry focus on products as the key to reinvigorating revenue growth and profitability. Product First companies realize that while efficiency and savings affect the bottom line, new products drive top-line revenue growth."


The Basic Tenets of Product First

Harrison stated that a Product First company:
* understands business success stems from an overarching commitment to superior products. This orientation starts at the top and is ingrained in company culture.
* places product development at the intersection of customer satisfaction, operational efficiency and the business goals of the company, establishing the unifying framework for all business process systems to contribute to corporate growth.
* provides a systematic and repeatable approach to translating innovative ideas into business results, the key to driving predictable and consistent revenue.

The Product First Architecture

Over the coming months, PTC will provide customers with a comprehensive Product First architecture that encompasses everything from product planning to support and service. The underpinnings of PTC's strategy are three fundamental concepts: create, collaborate and control. Only a complete product development process will allow manufacturers to create the product, collaborate with participants throughout the value chain, and to control the process.

In addition, PTC is creating a broad product development ecosystem by partnering with leading technology vendors like Groove Networks and TIBCO Software, and aligning with system integrators who are building substantial product development practices. These partners include: Accenture, Andersen, Atos Origin, Cap Gemini Ernst and Young, CSC, Deloitte Consulting, Hewlett-Packard Consulting, KPMG Consulting, Lockheed-Martin, PWC Consulting, and TRW, Inc.

"No other company knows more, does more or cares more about helping companies win with superior products than PTC," stated Harrison. "PTC has spent the last several years investing in this initiative, aggressively developing products and services, and partnering with leading companies to fulfill our master plan for Product First. This comprehensive platform will help manufacturers grow their marketplaces and enable PTC to win in our industry."

Essential Components

* Yesterday, PTC and TIBCO Software Inc. (Nasdaq: TIBX), announced a strategic partnership in which TIBCO's products will serve as the universal integration platform to link PTC's solutions with enterprise business systems such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM) and supply chain management (SCM).

* Later this year, PTC will announce the first truly integrated product creation and collaboration tool, based on "Project Wildfire." "Project Wildfire" will connect engineers and designers to the entire value chain. One of the exciting aspects of the Wildfire projects is the inclusion of peer-to-peer collaboration made possible by a partnership with Groove Networks.

* Pro/DESKTOP Express, a new easy-to-use product creation tool, fully compatible with PTC's Pro/ENGINEER solid modeling software, allows everyone within the value chain to collaborate with others for free.

* PTC's Pro/COLLABORATE(tm) is a free Web-based service allowing more than 8,000 PTC customers (since August 2001) to work collaboratively in virtual project workspaces with anyone in the world. The www.procollaborate.com Website delivers collaboration both within the enterprise and across firewalls with external suppliers, manufacturing partners and customers.

* Windchill® ProjectLinkTM is a comprehensive, Web-based, product development collaboration solution that allows teams inside or outside the enterprise to work closely together.

* Windchill® PartsLinkTM moves the marketing of parts and components onto the Web, allowing dynamic communication between buyers and suppliers.

* Windchill® DynamicDesignLinkTM dramatically reduces the time it takes to get a semi-custom product from initial concept into production. Windchill DynamicDesignLink automates design and engineering processes to reduce design rework and get high quality design-to-order products to market faster.

* Windchill® PDMLinkTM will provide order and control to the product development process and provides the enterprise with access to product information.

* Windchill® SupplyLinkTM, a contract manufacturing solution, which will allow OEMs to tighten the communications loop with their contract manufacturers to reduce process costs and bring high quality products to market faster.

PTC (Nasdaq: PMTC) develops, markets, and supports software solutions that help manufacturers win with superior products. PTC is the world's largest software company with a total commitment to product development. The company services more than 33,000 customers worldwide. Further information on PTC is available at http://www.ptc.com.


Except for the historical information contained herein, matters discussed in this news release may constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. These include: the success of our product development, integration and distribution efforts; our ability to realize revenue from the larger, strategic business opportunities we are pursuing as well as from our point solutions based on Windchill technology; market acceptance of the Windchill enterprise solutions, which have a longer sales cycle than our other products; our ability to compete successfully in the MCAD industry; the success of our partnering and customer satisfaction initiatives; the success of our Windchill integrated solutions strategy initiatives and our efforts to differentiate our MCAD offerings by targeting synergies with Windchill; the success of our cost reduction initiatives; and the effects of a weakening economy which may impact the overall demand for software and related services; as well as other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in reports filed by PTC with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's most recent reports on Form 10-K and 10-Q.

PTC and its logo, The Product Development Company, Product Development Means Business, Create Collaborate Control, Product First, Pro/DESKTOP, Pro/ENGINEER, Windchill, Windchill ProjectLink, Windchill PartsLink, Windchill DynamicDesignLink, Windchill PDMLink, Windchill SupplyLink, and all PTC product names and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Parametric Technology Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries.

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