Autodesk cloud-based alternative to PLM now available

Autodesk, Inc. has announced the immediate availability of Autodesk PLM 360, the cloud-based alternative to product life cycle management (PLM) that the company unveiled last November at Autodesk University. The solution is meant to be a “powerful, affordable and easy-to-implement solution at a fraction of the cost of traditional PLM systems,” the company explained.

Autodesk PLM 360 is the latest offering to build upon the company’s cloud-based solutions. Autodesk says that it is the first cloud-based PLM solution focused on business applications beyond engineering and bill of material management. As a result, employees in a range of roles – from planning and product development to quality and compliance to service and more – can better access product and project-related information that helps them continuously improve the products they design and manufacture.

“Our customers deserve modern technology to help solve the needs of their increasingly complex and global businesses,” said Robert “Buzz” Kross, senior vice-president, Design, Lifecycle and Simulation at Autodesk. “Autodesk PLM 360’s simple, flexible, cloud-based approach will radically improve the ability for companies to gain the full benefits of PLM, helping them to become more competitive and grow their business.”

“We’ve found Autodesk PLM 360 to be a welcome expansion of our digital prototyping workflow,” said Rob Ferber, CEO at Electron Vault, a clean-tech energy-storage provider. “Given the high costs and expertise associated with traditional PLM, we just didn’t want to go there until now. Autodesk’s accessibility, rapid deployment and ease of use reduce the complexity of managing PLM processes across our global teams.”

Autodesk PLM 360 takes a highly configurable, no-programming approach to system configuration that eliminates the need for expensive programmers and consultants. Dozens of pre-installed apps automate business processes across the life cycle. With intuitive drag-and-drop functionality, users can easily tailor apps or build their own to meet specific needs without having to purchase additional modules.

Autodesk PLM 360 is a multi-tenant cloud application that is always up-to-date and compatible with any customer-specific configuration. IT professionals are freed from non-strategic system management since users access Autodesk PLM 360 from a fully managed data centre that provides security, high performance and disaster recovery. Additionally, the cloud-based foundation offers users anytime, anywhere access, from virtually any mobile device or web browser.

Autodesk PLM 360 also features integration and interoperability to on-premise systems, including Autodesk Vault product data management (PDM) software. Vault enables workgroups to organize, manage and track their engineering CAD data, manufacturing bills of material and change processes from a centralized location.

www.autodesk.com