Global partnership deal aims to offer the 3DEXPERIENCE platform as Software-as-a-Service.
One of the more interesting collaboration initiatives in recent weeks is between PLM developer Dassault Systèmes and the major French digital transformation consultant Atos. They have entered into a global partnership deal with the aim of offering the 3DEXPERIENCE platform as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). This partnership is not sensational in and of itself, as it falls well in line with Atos’ strategy of being a consultant suitable for everyone, regardless of which PLM system they build their business on.
Regarding this strategy, Atos claims that they have an “agnostic” software attitude, which in an IT context is tantamount to not being bound by any particular operating system, technical platform, programming language, development method—or even to any expected technical development.
“We work with best practice regardless of system,” said Pierre Barnabé, interim co-CEO and head of big data and security at Atos, in a previous engineering.com article in connection with Atos buying IDEAL Group, the largest dedicated European PLM and automation consultant in The Siemens Digital Industries sphere.
“Manufacturers today produce infinite amounts of data at all stages of a product’s life cycle, which is an invaluable asset but becomes a real challenge when it comes to using all this information to make better products. This is where PLM systems come to the rescue and prove to be a key factor for Industry 4.0,” Barnabé said.
Today, Atos has collaborations on the PLM side based on solutions from Siemens, Aras, Oracle, PTC and SAP. In this context, Dassault is not a newcomer, but has already previously worked with Atos on 3DEXPERIENCE solutions.
So, what’s new about the announced global partnership?
The press material states that Dassault and Atos now offer, “the 3DEXPERIENCE SaaS platform in a superior environment for critical and sensitive industries, especially in the defense and healthcare sectors.”
“The objective of this partnership is to give Dassault Systèmes’ clients the ability to deploy and operate the 3DEXPERIENCE platform SaaS in a dedicated region under their control,” says Dassault’s Sebastien Massart, Chief Corporate Strategy Officer at Dassault Systemes, when I asked for a clarification. “It provides, therefore, the highest possible level of trust and sovereignty from the client’s perspective. This approach is compatible with security certifications applicable to sensitive industries, such as defense and health.”
So, this seems to be a specifically designed high-security packaging of the platform, but one which in itself still enables everything that other industry segments normally can also benefit from, described as “collaborative cloud experiences while giving full control over data, processes and intellectual property rights.” The platform can be set up in any country, taking into account local industry and other related regulations.
While there is some news value in this deepened partnership, the most notable point is that Atos customers will be able to benefit from the high-level security capabilities that Atos can provide. Hence, a dedicated “sovereign” platform environment, managed and secured by Atos’ strong solutions.
Atos Security Strength is Key in this Partnership
Atos states that its services lean on the company’s “OneCloud Sovereign Shield,” which is a set of methods, products and cloud services. To this end, Atos brings cybersecurity expertise and solutions that meet the specific needs of critical infrastructures, such as defense industry-related activities where security aspects are among the most important characteristics. This includes a Security Operation Center (SOC) and cyber security services to secure maintenance and administration activities. Analysts have ranked Atos’ solutions number 2 in the world for cybersecurity services.
“We are pleased to bring our OneCloud Sovereign Shield to this SaaS application domain, so that we can offer a superbly secure implementation of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to critical industries worldwide. The partnership between Atos and Dassault Systèmes confirms our common ambitions to bring a unique offering to the market to improve the level of control that customers have over the use of the data they produce and exchange,” says Barnabé.
It should be added here that about a year ago, Atos announced an initiative committing to invest up to $2.4 billion to support and develop solutions to proactively accelerate its customers’ migrations to the cloud through a one-stop-shop.
Following this initiative, Atos later also joined the Software Republic initiative, as engineering.com reported on in a previous article. The “Republic” includes Atos, PLM developer Dassault Systèmes, car producer Groupe Renault, STMicroelectronics and defense manufacturer Thales, with the goal of joining forces to create a new open innovative ecosystem for intelligent and sustainable mobility.
Today’s announced investment can be considered as an extension of these types of collaboration initiatives and investments.
Highest Possible Data Privacy
According to last week’s announcement from Atos and Dassault, to ensure the highest possible data privacy the 3DEXPERIENCE platform is compatible with the French CIIP1 law and the European NIS2 directive, in particular for the detection of security incidents and administrative information systems. In short, the offer meets the specific needs of defense administrations, public authorities and entities that act as “critical service operators” and/or “vital operators.”
Atos and Dassault Systèmes will explore further opportunities to expand their partnership, leveraging Atos’s cybersecurity products and expertise in High Performance Computing (HPC) and critical system development, combined with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform solution.
Bernard Talks About Digital Twins
Dassault’s CEO, Bernard Charles, has also commented on the deeper collaboration with Atos. He says that the growing use of digital twins for product innovation, as well as for manufacturing and business in all industries, increases companies’ and administrations’ need for “hyper-reliable” platforms.
Many industries have started initiatives where they run businesses and product development solutions with the help of digital twins. This requires dedicated and secure environments to deliver reliable experiences to citizens, patients, consumers, students and business stakeholders.
“To unleash the power of the cloud, the whole stack—from IT infrastructure to business experiences—requires holistic, consistent cybersecurity operations,” says Charles, pointing out that the alliance with Atos, “provides the highest level of experience-based security and sovereignty, using the power of collaboration built on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. This in turn opens up new opportunities for reliable cooperation in domains where secure collaboration is critical, such as healthcare and defense. This Virtual Twin Cyber ​​Experience method will also be applied to the common solution itself.”
