PTC Inc. (formerly Parametric Technology Corporation) is an American

computer software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consist ...

and services company founded in 1985 and headquartered in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. The global technology company has over 6,000 employees across 80 offices in 30 countries, 1,150 technology partners and over $1bn in revenue. The company began developing parametric, associative feature-based, solid

computer-aided design Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve co ...

(CAD) modeling software in 1988, including an Internet-based product for product lifecycle management (PLM) in 1998. PTC products and services include

Internet of things The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other com ...

(IoT),

augmented reality Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be de ...

(AR), and collaboration software. They also do consulting, implementation and training business.

History

1985-1999

Russian immigrant and mathematician Samuel P. Geisberg worked at software-design providers

Applicon Applicon, Incorporated was one of the first manufacturers of Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) systems. It was co-founded in 1969 in Bedford, Massachusetts by four founders working at the MIT Lincoln Lab: Fontaine Richardson who ...

and Computervision prior to forming Parametric Technology Corporation in May 1985. In 1988, the company unveiled its first Unix-based commercial product called Pro/ENGINEER and soon-after landed

John Deere Deere & Company, doing business as John Deere (), is an American corporation that manufactures agricultural machinery, heavy equipment, forestry machinery, diesel engines, drivetrains (axles, transmissions, gearboxes) used in heavy equipment, ...

as its first customer. Pro/ENGINEER was the first parametric, feature-based solids modeling

CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...

software. Pro/ENGINEER could recognize a change in a single variable of a design and adjust the rest of the model accordingly. Parametric's revenue grew quickly from $3 million in 1988 to $45 million in 1991. The company went

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

in 1989 with symbol PMTC. In 1992

IndustryWeek ''IndustryWeek'' (IW) is an American monthly trade publication founded in 1882. Content ''IndustryWeek'' is a trade publication and website owned by Endeavor Business Media. It is a business-to-business (B2B) service that produces print, e-media ...

named Pro/ENGINEER 'Technology of the Year'. It made the

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...

in 1995 and exceeded $800 million in revenue in 1997. The company made a few acquisitions in the 1990s including CDRS and 3DPaint products from Evans & Sutherland, Rasna Corp.,

Reflex In biology, a reflex, or reflex action, is an involuntary, unplanned sequence or action and nearly instantaneous response to a stimulus. Reflexes are found with varying levels of complexity in organisms with a nervous system. A reflex occurs ...

and DivisionGroup. In 1998, Parametric acquired the company (Computervision) its founder Geisberg had previously worked for. The company consequently acquired Computervision subsidiaries including Windchill Technology, a Minnesota-based startup co-founded by PTC CEO, James Heppelmann. Later that year, Parametric released its internet-based ''Windchill'' Product Lifecycle Management (PLM).

2000-2009

In the 2000s, Parametric developed lifecycle management software for products, assets, applications, processes and services through acquiring several companies including Polyplan Technologies, Arbortext, Aptavis Technologies Corp. (Retail PLM), NetRegulus, Synapsis Technology, Relex Software and Planet Metrics. It also made a few CAD-related acquisitions including Cadtrain, NC Graphics, Mathsoft (developers of

Mathcad Mathcad is computer software for the verification, validation, documentation and re-use of mathematical calculations in engineering and science, notably mechanical, chemical, electrical, and civil engineering. Released in 1986 on DOS, it introduc ...

), ITEDO Software GmbH and CoCreate. A Y2K-like bug in 2003 was described by ''The New York Times'' 20 days before it would have caused a problem. In 2004 the company announced plans "to simplify its product management applications."

2010-2019

On October 1, 2010, James Heppelmann assumed the role of president and chief executive officer of Parametric. The company renamed its initial CAD product Pro/ENGINEER to PTC Creo. The company officially changed its legal name ‘Parametric Technology Corporation’ to PTC Inc and its NASDAQ ticker to PTC from PMTC in 2013. PTC continued to acquire CAD and PLM-related companies including MKS Software, 4CS Software Solutions, Servigistics, Enigma, NetIDEAS, Atego and Plugin76. In December 2013, the company made its preliminary Internet of Things acquisition with the $112m takeover ThingWorx. PTC continued to acquire IoT companies with the acquisition of IoT connectivity management provider Axeda Corporation for $170m in August 2014, IoT predictive analytics company Coldlight for $105m in May 2015 and industrial connectivity provider Kepware for $100m in January 2016. The company made its initial outside investment into the Augmented Reality space with the acquisition of Vuforia from Qualcomm in November 2015 and then acquired Waypoint Labs in April 2018. Rockwell Automation made a $1bn equity investment in PTC acquiring 8.4% ownership stake in PTC on June 11, 2018. PTC also announced major strategic partnerships with ANSYS and Microsoft in 2018.

Key dates

* 1985 - Company founded by Samuel Geisberg, formerly from Prime Computer, Computervision, and

. * 1988 - Steve Walske named CEO. Company shipped Pro/ENGINEER and was considered first to market with

parametric modeling Procedural modeling is an umbrella term for a number of techniques in computer graphics to create 3D models and textures from sets of rules. L-Systems, fractals, and generative modeling are procedural modeling techniques since they apply algorit ...

design software. This positions PTC as a leader in the CAD industry until the mid-1990s when a new generation of low-cost competitors arrive in the market. * 1989 - Initial public offering. * 1992 - Caterpillar Inc. becomes PTC's largest customer. * 1995 - Rasna, which "develops, markets and supports the Mechanica family of integrated software products for mechanical design." * 1996 - PTC acquires

project modeling and management software technology sold the following year to the Beck Group. * 1998 - Windchill released for product lifecycle management (PLM). PTC acquired Computervision Corp. * 1999 - Industries include

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and ast ...

retail Retail is the sale of goods and Service (economics), services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturing, manufacturers, dire ...

footwear Footwear refers to garments worn on the feet, which typically serves the purpose of protection against adversities of the environment such as wear from ground textures and temperature. Footwear in the manner of shoes therefore primarily serves ...

apparel Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural ...

, automotive, industrial equipment, consumer products,

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

, and

high tech High technology (high tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or the newest te ...

. * 1999 - Acquired Division Group (Division Ltd, Bristol Uk, Division Inc) virtual reality head mounted display amd software * 2002 - The company released Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire. This is the first CAD system to support web-based services. * 2004 - Acquired OHIO Design Automation. ECAD domain knowledge purchase resulting in what is currently Creo View ECAD. * 2005 - Acquired Arbortext for technical publishing technology. Acquired Aptavis for retail, footwear and apparel technology. * 2006 - Acquired Mathsoft for its engineering calculation software. Acquired ITEDO for its 3D

technical illustration Technical Illustration is illustration meant to visually communicate information of a technical nature. Technical illustrations can be components of technical drawings or diagrams. Technical illustrations in general aim "to generate expressive ...

software. * 2007 - Acquired CoCreate for its direct modeling technology. * 2008 - Acquired Synapsis for its performance analytics technology to improve environmental performance of products. * 2009 - Acquired Relex Software for its

reliability engineering Reliability engineering is a sub-discipline of systems engineering that emphasizes the ability of equipment to function without failure. Reliability describes the ability of a system or component to function under stated conditions for a specifie ...

software. * 2010 - James E. Heppelmann announced as CEO effective October 1, 2010. Company renames Pro/ENGINEER to PTC Creo. * 2011 - Acquired 4CS for its warranty, service, support and service parts technology. Acquired MKS for its

application lifecycle management Application lifecycle management (ALM) is the product lifecycle management (governance, development, and maintenance) of computer programs. It encompasses requirements management, software architecture, computer programming, software testing, ...

technology for all software development processes. * 2012 - Acquired Servigistics for its suite of service lifecycle management software. * 2013 - Acquired NetIDEAS hosting vendor for more technology deployment options. Acquired Enigma for its ability to deliver technical content to aftermarket service environments. * 2013 - Acquired

Internet of Things The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other com ...

platform developer ThingWorx for their software applications that connect and track network-enabled products. * 2013 - Acquired ThingWorx, the Exton, Pennsylvania-based creators of an award-winning platform for building and running applications for the Internet of Things (IoT). * 2013 - The company changed its legal name from Parametric Technology Corporation to PTC Inc. * 2013 - The company changed its NASDAQ ticker symbol to "PTC" from "PMTC". * 2014 - Acquired Axeda Corporation. * 2014 - Acquired ATEGO Software, a MBSE (model-based systems engineering) tool used in aerospace, transportation, and automotive industries (such as Alstom Transport and Rolls-Royce Defence). * 2015 - Acquired the Vuforia business from Qualcomm Connected Experiences, Inc., a subsidiary of

Qualcomm Qualcomm () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software, and services related to wireless technology. It owns patents critical to the 5G, ...

Incorporated. The Vuforia platform is an augmented reality (AR) technology platform. * 2015 - Acquired Kepware Technologies, a software development company that provides communications connectivity to industrial automation environments. *2018 - Acquired Waypoint Labs, a startup out of MIT / Harvard that allows frontline experts to capture and transfer knowledge using augmented reality * 2018 - Acquired Frustum, a generative design software company which takes advantage of

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech ...

. * 2019 - Acquired Twnkls, a Netherlands-based augmented reality services company. * 2019 - Signed Agreement to Acquire Onshape. *2020 - Signed Agreement to Acquire Arena Software. *2022 - Acquired Intland Software for $280 million *2022 - Announced intention to acquire

ServiceMax ServiceMax is a Service Execution Management company. It provides a cloud-based software platform designed to improve the productivity of complex, equipment-centric service execution for OEMs, operators, and 3rd-party service providers. Products ...

from majority-owner Silver Lake.

Organization

PTC has divisions for different product segments.

Internet of Things

PTC offers ThingWorx for the

Augmented Reality

PTC's

offerings use the Vuforia brand.

Creo

The PTC Creo suite includes product design and engineering software. Creo runs on

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...

and provides apps for 3D CAD parametric feature solid modeling, 3D direct modeling, 2D orthographic views, Finite Element Analysis and simulation, schematic design, technical illustrations, and viewing and visualization. Creo integrates with PTC's other product development offerings, including Windchill, Mathcad, and Arbortext. Mathcad is used to solve, analyze, and share engineering calculations.

CAD

The PTC CAD product provides

computer aided design Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve co ...

capabilities. PTC CAD is a suite of 2D and 3D product design software used to create, analyze and view product designs. PTC Creo software was released in June 2011 to replace and supersede PTC's products formerly known as Pro/ENGINEER, CoCreate, and ProductView. O

PLM

Windchill is the brand for product lifecycle management information such as CAD models, documents, technical illustrations, embedded software and calculations.

Mathcad

Engineering calculation software that is used by engineers to solve, document and share the calculations used for product design.

SLM

Service lifecycle management (SLM) software is used by manufacturers to understand how service planning, customer service, and analysis of returned product data can improve service value over a product's life. The Servigistics product integrates service planning, delivery and analysis to optimize service outcomes by providing a single view of service. PTC SLM products include what was formerly Arbortext. Servigistics Arbortext enables manufacturers to create, illustrate, manage and publish technical and service parts information.

Kepware

Kepware software, primarily KEPServerEX, is a connectivity platform industrial automation endpoints. The software enables users to connect, manage, monitor, and control heterogeneous devices.

Other

PTC president and CEO James (Jim) Hepplemann contributed to

Harvard Business Review ''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University. ''HBR'' is published six times a year and is headquartered in Brighton, M ...

reports in 2014, 2015, and 2017. In September 2017, PTC announced plans to move headquarters from

Needham, Massachusetts Needham ( ) is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts. A suburb of Boston, its population was 32,091 at the 2020 U.S. Census. It is home of Olin College. History Early settlement Needham was first settled in 1680 with the purchase of a ...

to Boston's Seaport District in January 2019.

References

External links

{{authority control Companies listed on the Nasdaq Companies based in Boston Software companies established in 1985 Software companies based in Massachusetts Software companies of the United States 1980s initial public offerings 1985 establishments in Massachusetts Computer-aided design software Computer-aided manufacturing software Computer-aided engineering software