Aras Announces Innovator 11

Aras, a provider of PLM (product lifecycle management) systems, has revealed the general availability of Aras Innovator 11. This version, according to the company, introduces visual collaboration using new secure social technology in the platform. This enables teams across disciplines to communicate effectively about products in the organization.

By being able to visually collaborate, users can view content, add markups and make comments in the context of PLM items. Aras Innovator 11 offers:

• Discussion threads with embedded viewables;
• Coverage of all data types including 2D, 3D, schematics & layouts, Microsoft Office formats;
• Placement of everything in the context of a product structure and processes;
• Usage of the PLM permission model to control comment visibility and participation.

“Developing and manufacturing products that combine electronics, software and mechanical aspects requires a level of cross-discipline collaboration that’s been hard with traditional PLM systems,” said John Sperling, vice president of Product Management at Aras. “We’ve changed that by making collaboration for everyone secure, visual and easy.”

Aras has also launched Aras Flow, an integrated application for tablets. This application offers mobile accessibility to product designs, view drawings and redline models. Main features include voting, e-signatures and task checklists, discussion threads, photo, video and audio recording capture as well as the ability to pin change workflows to the start screen for real-time status updates.

For more information, visit Aras.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.