CHICAGO, March 15, 2000 — Today at the National Manufacturing Week Conference and Exhibition, Microsoft Corp. announced that five manufacturing and engineering ISVs have earned Microsoft® Windows® 2000 certification for their applications and provide an exceptional user experience for manufacturers and other businesses.
The ISVs releasing or announcing newly certified Windows 2000 manufacturing applications are Alibre Inc., Datasweep Inc., Motiva Software Corp., Parametric Technology Corp. (PTC) and SolidWorks Corp. Microsoft will host a Windows 2000 certification award ceremony on Wednesday, 8-9:30 a.m. at its DNA for Manufacturing Theater, Booth 6310.
“Thousands of applications run superbly on Windows 2000, but very few ISVs are up to the rigorous challenge of releasing products that conform fully to the 77-page Application Specification for Windows 2000,”
said Scott Emigh, industry manager for engineering at Microsoft.
“We commend these ISVs for going the extra mile to provide manufacturing and engineering users with the most reliable, most manageable, easiest-to-use products in their categories. Where certified products are available, these are the products that corporate purchasers should choose.”
Application Specification Enables Greater Reliability and Manageability, Lower TCO
Microsoft developed the Application Specification for Windows 2000 in cooperation with enterprise customers and third-party developers to provide clear, concise guidelines to help developers create applications that deliver new levels of reliability and manageability, thereby reducing cost of ownership for customers.
The Application Specification for Windows 2000 has two versions: a core specification for desktop applications and a more comprehensive specification for distributed applications. Software that complies with either version of the specification is eligible to carry the Certified for Windows 2000 logo.
Applications that meet the desktop specification provide the following enhancements:
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Robust, self-repairing installation to help minimize conflicts among shared components and enable better application coexistence
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Easier software deployment and management for organizations
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Correctly maintained user preferences and computer settings to ensure a good roaming-user experience, support for multiple users per machine, and regeneration of application settings in machine replacement scenarios
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Tightly controlled network environment to enable network administrators to secure and control corporate desktops
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Consistent user experience and support for accessibility standards to reduce support and training costs
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Smooth application transition for users that upgrade from Windows 95 or later operating systems
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Support for OnNow power management to enable a better mobile computing experience
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Support for multimonitor configurations with standard graphics hardware
Applications that comply with the server specification offer the following benefits:
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Support for a globally available infrastructure for easier access for the user and easier management for the administrator
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Secure access to resources and security for client/server interactions
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Reduced service downtime caused by system failures or planned server maintenance and upgrades achieved by exploiting cluster services (for applications that comply with Windows 2000 Advanced Server requirements)
ISVs Praise Windows 2000 and the Application Specification Program
“Providing a digital approach to product definition, PTC’s Flexible Engineering solutions provide not only product innovation but also process agility to fuel e-business initiatives,”
said Brian Shepherd, vice president of Technical Marketing at PTC.
“With the high availability and Business Internet functionality of Microsoft Windows 2000, we can help our customers leverage the Internet to develop new products and processes that create competitive advantage. Windows 2000 enhancements, including a new installer and increased reliability, make it easier for customers to manage enterprisewide deployments of PTC products. This reduces the life-cycle cost of ownership and allows broader deployments so more people have a direct impact on product development.”
“From inception, Motiva has been committed to Microsoft’s server platform, ensuring the most scalable, reliable, and cost-effective design change management solution in the industry,”
said Greg Faussette, vice president of Partner Relations at Motiva.
“Motiva eChange Solutions provides a solid infrastructure for conducting business over the Internet, and Windows DNA certification is evidence of our continuing relationship with Microsoft to equip companies with the best solution for driving design change between worldwide business teams, supply chain partners and customers.”
“Being one of the first manufacturing applications to be certified on the Windows 2000 platform is a testament to our association with Microsoft and the architectural superiority of our Web-centric supply chain manufacturing solution,”
said Vladimir Preysman, president and CEO of Datasweep.
“Microsoft Windows 2000 provides the reliability, performance and scalability to support our largest customers’ global implementations in the business-to-business supply chain manufacturing market.”
“SolidWorks was designed from the ground up to leverage the native Windows environment,”
said Vic Leventhal, COO for SolidWorks.
“We pioneered the use of Windows paradigms such as drag-and-drop for production solid modeling. SolidWorks has become a driving force in moving the CAD industry to the Windows platform, with over 43,000 Windows-based design seats installed today. Large enterprise users of SolidWorks appreciate the reliability, manageability and ease-of-use enhancements afforded by Windows 2000. The Windows 2000 certification program complements SolidWorks’ demand for high product quality and end-user productivity.”
“The powerful, Web-enabled Windows 2000 operating platform provides our customers with a scalable and secure environment to conduct collaborative mechanical design sessions,”
said Paul Grayson, president and CEO of Alibre.
“We count on Windows 2000 to be reliable and always available for our remote-hosted subscription service. We are pleased to become one of the first companies to receive certification and look forward to delivering robust mechanical design solutions based on Microsoft’s new operating system.”
At the time of this release, Agile Software Corp., Autodesk Inc. and Symix Systems Inc. have products in VeriTest, the independent laboratory testing process for Windows 2000 certification.
“Autodesk has always selected the Microsoft platform as a foundation upon which to build our world-class design solutions,”
said Scott Borduin, vice president and chief technology officer at Autodesk.
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That’s why we have chosen to adopt the Windows 2000 Application Specification as the development standard for all our products. With Windows 2000 Certified
products from Autodesk, our customers will enjoy the highest level of performance, reliability and manageability.
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About Windows 2000 and Microsoft
Windows 2000 is an ideal platform for the next generation of business computing and addresses the full range of customers’ computing needs, from laptops and desktops to high-end clustered servers. The operating system helps organizations Internet-enable their business with a reliable, manageable infrastructure that is optimized for existing and emerging hardware. More information about Windows 2000 is available at http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/ .
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