Is there enough movement in the systems engineering market?
It is worth looking at the activities of the big players in the SE from time to time to identify trends. How are companies such as Siemens, PTC or Dassault operating? What acquisitions are taking place? Are they tactical or strategic? Here is a brief analysis of this.
Who are the players?
As systems engineering is extremely broad-based, it is not possible to analyze all manufacturers here. In this respect, the focus here is on the larger players or those players where something interesting has happened. About interesting incidents I have already reported on this several times.
Digital transformation
Even if digital transformation is now a buzzword that has been trodden flat, it is still highly relevant in systems engineering. It is about (1) tapping into as many data sources as possible and (2) evaluating this data in such a way that insights can be derived that lead to greater business success. It also means (3) linking the entire product value chain.
PTC has with LiveWorx has set up its own conference on the topic. Strategic alliances, such as with Ansysgaps in the company's own portfolio are bridged. In the case of Ansys, this primarily concerns simulation. Point (3) is used for PTC covered via ThingWorx. Ansys has with the Acquisition of Granta further expanded the area of simulation.
Internet of Things (IoT)
At ThingWorx from PTC It's about a platform for IoT, and this path seems to have been PTC to be set. Incidentally, ThingWorx also includes rapid manufacturing, another trend. However, hardly anyone else has made rapid prototyping an integral part of product development. The topic tends to emerge via CAD companies such as Autodesk where it appears under the term Advanced Manufacturing reaches even further.
IoT is also Siemens an important topic, as the Acquisition of Mendix last year. This is hardly surprising, as the large Internet companies have shown how lucrative dominating an infrastructure can be. Be it Google (Android) or Amazon (AWS).
Artificial intelligence
IBM is on the subject of AI with Watson, of course is very active and promises better requirements thanks to artificial intelligence. However, there is not yet much to be seen of this in practice, and There was also a lot of criticism in the health sector.
Also PTC has high hopes for AI, and last year launched the Purchase of Frustration the portfolio.
What about MBSE?
I would like to see a bit more movement at MBSE, the last major activity was the Acquisition of No Magic from Dassault. But there is no real movement to be seen here. This may be due to the fact that the adoption of SysML 2.0 will still take a few years and many changes are expected.
Nevertheless, this development worries me a little: In the SysML area, there are actually only Sparx Enterprise Architect, Dassault Cameo (formerly MagicDraw) and IBM Rhapsody with a significant market share. These are all very old desktop applications that do not necessarily meet modern expectations. A modern alternative would be desirable here.
Photo by Gabriel Crismariu on Unsplash
