Aberdeen Group Identifies Top Performing Vendors in PLM AXIS Report

Aberdeen's AXIS(TM) Provides Insight Into Value Delivered and Market Readiness of Leading Product Lifecycle Management Solutions


BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - April 28, 2009) - Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), announced today its top performing vendor rankings research in its AXIS™ Report for Hardgoods Manufacturers. The research showcases which vendors enabled client success based on the value delivered and the ability of the vendor to support and service its clientele. According to Peter Ostrow, VP of Aberdeen AXIS, "The 28-page vendor assessment is based on two key dimensions: first, Aberdeen aggregated Best-in-Class performance of companies in the target marketplace based on 4,036 primary surveys conducted typically over the past twelve months; and second, Aberdeen conducts a vendor readiness assessment which includes evaluation of responses to a standardized vendor questionnaire, analyst briefings, public records and customer interviews."

The AXIS Report on PLM Solutions is authored by Chad Jackson, VP/Group Director, Product Innovation and Engineering, Aberdeen, who finds that contemporary PLM solutions are yielding benefits for discrete manufacturers including innovative products, shorter time to product launch or delivery, and reductions in product and development costs. "The key pathways for successful PLM deployments," Jackson explains, "are formalized support for ideation and project funding processes, centralized management of product data and information, and formal tracking and automation of development processes." According to Jackson's findings after evaluating 11 PLM solutions vendors, the technology providers offering the best combined Value Delivered and Market Readiness scores include PTC, Arena Solutions, Siemens/UGS and Oracle/Agile.

Aberdeen President Stephen Gold reports that AXIS was developed in response to requests from Aberdeen's 2.5+ million business readers spanning 40 countries, including representation from 90% of the Fortune 1000. "Aberdeen's mission is clear as we take yet another step to educate businesses to action by providing them with relevant and timely information to make more informed decisions, understand best practices, and maximize their ability to gain competitive ground," states Stephen Gold. "With AXIS, Aberdeen provides a competitive intelligence perspective that allows organizations to understand their peer's experience with various service and product providers, and to determine which are best positioned to help them achieve their goals."

According to Lauren McCollem, Director of Marketing for Dimensional Insight, "The approach that Aberdeen has taken here is truly unique and exceptionally valuable to the marketplace." With this new research in hand, technology solution providers will be able to refresh their product roadmaps to reflect market successes and business user demands, and educate their market on how solutions impact customers' business results.

For more information on the Aberdeen AXIS™, please visit: http://axis.aberdeen.com or contact axis@aberdeen.com.

About Aberdeen Group

Aberdeen provides fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having benchmarked more than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is uniquely positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets, corporations turn to Aberdeen for insights that drive decisions.

As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of Harte-Hanks (Information - Opportunity - Insight - Engagement - Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit Aberdeen http://www.aberdeen.com or call (617) 723-7890, or to learn more about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748 or go to http://www.harte-hanks.com.

© 2009 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
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Contact Information: Media Contact: Peter Ostrow Aberdeen Harte-Hanks (617) 854-5373 peter.ostrow@aberdeen.com