Mentor Graphics, USG to simplify electromechanical development process

Mentor Graphics Corp. and UGS, a provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services, have signed a joint cooperation agreement to deliver tight interoperability between their products, which provide solutions to meet the emerging needs of complex electromechanical platforms such as automobiles, airplanes and trains. Both companies are investing resources to develop this integration and plan to deliver the first stage of integrated products in the second half of 2005.

UGS will enhance Teamcenter and NX product lines to further its "mechatronics" initiative -- the synergistic integration of mechanical, electrical, electronics and software technologies into electromechanical products. The joint cooperation agreement will lead to enhancements in Teamcenter, a product knowledge management and lifecycle collaboration platform, and NX, the digital design and analysis solution.

Teamcenter will provide the integrated design of an electromechanical product, with electrical architecture and mechatronics sub-systems definition tied together with the overall system design. NX provides an environment to do associative electrical routing through an integrated design environment.