Is Pro/INTRALINK dead?

I'm sure that's what our competitors will tell you. They need to say something. But I'm here to tell you that they've never been more wrong. Personally, I think that Pro/INTRALINK has never been more alive!

The competitor's story typically goes something like this… Pro/INTRALINK is being retired. PTC will make you switch to Windchill. You'll have to buy it. Switching will be hard. Given that, you should take this opportunity to look at my solution for managing Pro/ENGINEER data...

If we dissect that message piece by piece and look at the facts, you will see that it is quite distorted while the true story is quite compelling!

First, Pro/INTRALINK isn't being retired; in reality it is being refreshed! Pro/INTRALINK has now become the centerpiece of PTC's core Product Development System (PDS) strategy. As such, R&D investment is up dramatically, because many of the enhancements we have made and will make within our Product Development System will automatically benefit you in Pro/INTRALINK 8.0 and future releases. There are now literally hundreds of developers working to improve the Pro/INTRALINK solution at each major release. As such, Pro/INTRALINK has a long-term roadmap with major new capabilities conceived well into the future. Better yet, with the new Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire UI, integration with Pro/ENGINEER has never been tighter.

Second, you don't have to switch to Windchill and third, you don't have to buy it. While Pro/INTRALINK 8.0 does use Windchill technology in its architecture, the product remains Pro/INTRALINK and you can deploy just the Pro/INTRALINK level of functionality to match the current system. You have the option to upgrade further to build a more functional Product Development System, but that is an option. And maintenance-paying customers are entitled to this new version as they would be to any upgraded version of the same product from PTC.

Fourth, upgrading is relatively straightforward. Customers first configure the Pro/INTRALINK 8.0 system. Next they run a utility that first verifies data integrity and then converts the data to the new database. This utility even allows merging of multiple Pro/INTRALINK databases during the 8.0 upgrade. We've tested this utility with numerous real-world customer databases with impressive results. To make it even easier, you have several options. Either PTC can do the migration for you, a certified partner can assist you, or we can teach you how to do it so that you do it yourself with good success. You decide.

Fifth, there is no other solution– none – that offers the capabilities that Pro/INTRALINK 8.0 provides for Pro/ENGINEER users. Furthermore, only PTC has a scalable solution that can master data management for the Pro/ENGINEER workgroup, but scale to include full-function enterprise PDM, collaboration, visualization, other ECAD and MCAD integration, sourcing, ERP integration, and more on the same architecture and with the same database and same user interface! UGS doesn't have that, Dassault doesn't have that, MatrixOne doesn't have that, and Agile doesn't have that. Nobody else does. They are not even close.

The bottom line is that Pro/INTRALINK 8.0 is designed to bring a lot of value to our customers. If you've contemplated recently what value you get in return for the maintenance investment you've been making in Pro/INTRALINK, you'll see we are about to make a balloon payment! If anybody says otherwise, tell them to look at the facts!

Please keep the feedback coming by participating in our discussion forum.