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ABB Power Generation Standardizes on SDRC's Software

20 January 1999

ABB Power Generation Standardizes on SDRC's Metaphase Enterprise Software

    CINCINNATI--Jan. 20, 1999--SDRC , a leading provider of enterprise product development solutions worldwide, today announced that the ABB Power Generation Segment has standardized on SDRC's market-leading Metaphase(R) Enterprise(TM) product data management (PDM) software. The largest of ABB's divisions, ABB Power Generation is using Metaphase(R) to accelerate product order execution and delivery to its customers worldwide.
    ABB Power Generation is a major global producer of electric power plants and services. The company wants to provide faster, better and more reliable customer service by using a new PDM system to control information flow among partners, suppliers and customers. It is reducing project lead-time by integrating business processes -- design, order engineering, manufacturing, maintenance and service -- into one worldwide information management system.
    "We strongly believe that Metaphase is the best technology for implementing web-based PDM solutions," said Dr. Jean-Michel Locarnini, executive vice president, system integration of ABB PTI, Ltd., the information technology division of ABB. "ABB is a completely decentralized organization. Metaphase's federated capabilities fit perfectly in our distributed environment."
    With Federated Metaphase, ABB Power Generation can share the engineering data it produces for its custom-designed plant components with manufacturing. The separate PDM systems can interoperate as one system, allowing cross-company collaboration.
    ABB Power Generation made the decision to standardize on Metaphase after completing a pilot program. Engineers, order managers and production staff declared in a company survey that PDM was a must for their business. As a result, ABB Power Generation rolled-out its Metaphase-based PDM system to hundreds of European and North American users in July, 1998, and plans to increase users up to 3,000 within two years.
    "Web-based enterprise PDM is essential for businesses such as ABB that have diverse and globally distributed operations," said Robert Nierman, executive vice president and chief operating officer of SDRC. "We are pleased with ABB Power Generation's formal commitment to Metaphase, and we look forward to continued success."
    ABB continues its commitment to PDM, further leveraging the worldwide PDM Competency Center it established in 1997. An expanding consultancy and computer services company of the ABB Group, ABB PTI founded the PDM Competency Center to offer Metaphase PDM software, along with supporting services, to its diverse customer base within ABB.
    ABB's Power Generation Segment employs more than 42,000 people worldwide with orders in 1997 of US $9.7 billion. The ABB Group employs approximately 213,000 people with orders in 1997 of about US $35 billion. ABB Power Generation offers a comprehensive range of solutions to meet changing customer requirements. ABB's technological edge in clean and efficient power generation includes combined cycle systems, steam, hydro, nuclear and co-generation plants. In addition to the supply of power plants, ABB serves customer needs for retrofit, life extension, upgrades and modernization of existing power plants. A comprehensive range of turnkey solutions cover an entire scope of service including site management studies, software development, design, engineering, project management and finance.
    SDRC (Structural Dynamics Research Corporation) is one of the world's leading providers of enterprise product development solutions with its suite of mechanical design automation software and product data management software. The Company's products, coupled with engineering and consulting services, help manufacturers optimize product development early in the design process, enabling them to reduce cost and cycle time while significantly improving quality and time to market. SDRC provides the award-winning I-DEAS product suite of integrated CAD/CAM/CAE software, and the market-leading PDM software, Metaphase(R) Enterprise(TM), which is developed, marketed and supported by SDRC's Metaphase Technology Division. SDRC employs more than 2,400 people worldwide, with 75 offices in 17 countries throughout North America, Europe, and Asia/Pacific.
http://www.metaphasetech.com/ http://www.sdrc.com/

    Note to Editors: SDRC and Metaphase are registered trademarks, and Metaphase Enterprise is a trademark of Structural Dynamics Research Corporation. All other trademarks or registered trademarks belong to their respective holders.