PTC and Rockwell Automation have signed an early extension and expansion of an existing strategic alliance around IoT and digital transformation.
The two companies’ partnership emerged in 2018, with Rockwell making a $1 billion equity investment in PTC and taking an 8.4% ownership stake in PTC. This week, they said they have worked with nearly 250 new customers in the course of their strategic partnership, for which the primary joint offering is their digital transformation software suite which integrates industrial IoT, edge-to-cloud analytics, manufacturing execution systems and augmented reality, called FactoryTalk InnovationSuite, powered by PTC. The new agreement extends the partnership through 2023 and beyond, according to the pair.
“Over the past two years, PTC and Rockwell Automation teams have combined great innovation to offer our customers the world-class FactoryTalk InnovationSuite solution,” said Blake Moret, chairman and CEO of Rockwell Automation. “The expansion and early extension of our contract with PTC signifies the increasing value of this strategic alliance and its importance to the connected enterprise.”
The extension ensures continuity for both companies’ sales and product development efforts, the partners said, and the agreement now includes PTC’s product lifecycle management and software as a service (SaaS) products. The two companies said that the expansion “will streamline both companies’ commercial efforts to extend a comprehensive digital thread solution, from upfront design through the operate, maintain and optimize-lifecycle stages.” PTC will also offer Rockwell Automation’s virtual machinery simulation and testing software to its own customer and partner network.
Jim Heppelmann, president and CEO, PTC, said that the alliance with Rockwell “has expanded our reach and our capabilities as we champion Industry 4.0 initiatives around the world. The powerful impact of our offerings amid the current macroeconomic environment proves the market’s need for this collaboration.”
The two companies said that as manufacturers adjust to the global pandemic, they are facing pressure for better financial performance that has “accelerated the need to digitally transform products, processes, and people across all business levels.”
