We want to clear up some misunderstandings and inaccuracies that have been floating around regarding xLM targeting Enovia customers for Aras and vice versa. This is NOT the case.

Yes, we became an Aras partner. Nonetheless we still plan to continue and grow our Dassault Enovia and SolidWorks business. We see ourselves as technologists in the true sense of a consulting company. We do not sell software. During the last decade we have built our reputation for honesty, integrity and core competency in PLM and PDB. Our strengths are in business analysis, solution architecture and the actual heavy lifting of the work to be done – implementation, data migrations and software customizations. We always come to the table as a neutral third party to provide recommendations and advice and to help our customers achieve their objectives. As a matter of policy we never advise a customer they should utilize a specific software or work with a particular vendor. We do not direct customers to switch their software systems. Indeed, in the majority of cases our customers have already made the decision about the software they plan to go with and we are retained merely to help implement it and insure it meets the company’s objectives.

During the 9 years that xLM has been in business, we have endeavored to be a good corporate citizen and do our best for our customers, our partners, our employees and, yes, even our competitors. We have taken extreme care to keep records and accounts confidential and never play one partner against the other. Over the years there have been many opportunities to enhance xLM’s profits by doing the “wrong” thing. We consciously decided that our integrity and reputation over the long haul trumps any immediate profit gains; hence our rigid adherence to our core goals.

I would like to have an open dialog on this topic. I encourage feedback and insight on how other companies are working with competitors within the same industry and how they deal with it. If you are a software vendor, your input would also be valuable and enlightening.