PTC (software company)

The Russian immigrant and mathematician Dr. Samuel Geisberg worked at software-design providers Applicon and Computervision (acquired by PTC in 1998) 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 as its first customer. Pro/ENGINEER was the first parametric, feature-based solids modeling CAD 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 $3m in 1988 to $45m in 1991. The company officially went public in 1989 under the stock ticker PMTC. Parametric continued to gain industry recognition in 1992 with IndustryWeek naming Pro/ENGINEER ‘Technology of the Year’ and the company landing its largest customer to-date, Caterpillar. It made the Fortune 500 in 1995 and exceeded $800m in revenue in 1997. The company made a few acquisitions in the 1990s including CDRS and 3DPaint products from Evans & Sutherland, Rasna Corp., Reflex and DivisionGroup.

In 1998, Parametric acquired the company (Computervision) its founder (Dr. Geisberg) had previously worked for. The company consequently acquired Computervision subsidiaries including Windchill Technology, a Minnesota-based startup co-founded by current PTC CEO, James Heppelmann. Later that year, Parametric shipped Windchill, an internet-based solution for Product Lifecycle Management (PLM). PTC announced in 1999 it had 25,000 customers across aerospace, retail/footwear/apparel, automotive, industrial equipment, consumer products, electronics, and high-tech industries.

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), ITEDO Software GmbH and CoCreate.

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.

• 1985 - Company founded by Samuel Geisberg, formerly from Prime Computer, Computervision, and Applicon.[4]
• 1988 - Steve Walske named CEO.[5] Company shipped Pro/ENGINEER and was considered first to market with parametric modeling design software.[6] 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.[7]
• 1989 - Initial public offering.[8]
• 1992 - Caterpillar Inc. becomes PTC's largest customer.[7]
• 1996 - PTC acquires Reflex project modeling and management software technology[9] sold the following year to the Beck Group.
• 1998 - Company ships Windchill and is considered first to market with internet-based solutions for Product Lifecycle Management (PLM).[7] PTC acquires Computervision Corp.[10]
• 1999 - PTC announces it has 25,000 customers. Major industries include aerospace, retail/footwear/apparel, automotive, industrial equipment, consumer products, electronics, and high tech.[11]
• 1999 - Acquired Division Group (Division Ltd, Bristol Uk, Division Inc) Virtual reality - dVision Head Mounted Display & Software[12][13][14][15]
• 2002 - The company releases Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire.[16] This is the first CAD system to support web-based services.[7]
• 2004 - Acquired OHIO Design Automation. ECAD domain knowledge purchase resulting in what is currently Creo View ECAD.[17]
• 2005 - Acquired Arbortext for technical publishing technology.[18] Acquired Aptavis for retail, footwear and apparel technology.[19]
• 2006 - Acquired Mathsoft for its engineering calculation software.[20] Acquired ITEDO for its 3D technical illustration software.[21]
• 2007 - Acquired CoCreate for its direct modeling technology.[22]
• 2008 - Acquired Synapsis for its performance analytics technology to improve environmental performance of products.[23]
• 2009 - Acquired Relex Software for its reliability engineering software.[24]
• 2010 - James E. Heppelmann announced as CEO effective October 1, 2010.[25] Company renames Pro/ENGINEER to PTC Creo and promises the market product design software that is scalable, open, and easy-to-use.[26]
• 2011 - Acquired 4CS for its warranty, service, support and service parts technology.[27] Acquired MKS for its application lifecycle management technology for all software development processes.[28]
• 2012 - Acquired Servigistics for its suite of service lifecycle management software.[29]
• 2013 - Acquired NetIDEAS hosting vendor for more technology deployment options.[30] Acquired Enigma for its ability to deliver technical content to aftermarket service environments.[31]
• 2013 - Acquired Internet of Things platform developer ThingWorx for their software applications that connect and track network-enabled products.[32]
• 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.[33]
• 2013 - The company changed its NASDAQ ticker symbol to "PTC" from "PMTC".[34]
• 2014 - Acquired Axeda Corporation[35]
• 2014 - Acquired ATEGO Software, a leader in MBSE (model-based systems engineering) tool used in aerospace, transportation, and automotive industries (such as Alstom Transport and Rolls-Royce Defence)[36]
• 2015 - Acquired the Vuforia business from Qualcomm Connected Experiences, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm 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,[37] a startup out of MIT / Harvard that allows frontline experts to capture and transfer knowledge using augmented reality
• 2018 - Acquired Frustum, an advanced generative design software company which takes advantage of artificial intelligence.[38]
• 2019 - Signed Agreement to Acquire Onshape. Onshape - creators of the first Software as a Service (SaaS) product development platform that unites robust computer aided design (CAD) with powerful data management and collaboration tools.[39]

PTC has five product segments under two divisions: IoT Group and Solutions Group. The IoT Group consists of its Internet of Things and Augmented Reality business units and the Solutions Group includes CAD, PLM, and SLM.

PTC President and CEO James (Jim) Hepplemann has contributed to three Harvard Business Review reports through collaboration with Harvard Business School's economist, researcher, author, advisor, speaker, and teacher Michael Porter. The first report, 'How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Competition' was released in November 2014, 'How Smart, Connected products are Transforming Companies' published in October 2015 and a 'A Manager's Guide to Augmented Reality was printed in December 2017.

PTC runs its annual industry event LiveWorx in Boston, Massachusetts with 2018 event having over 6,000 attendees from over 40 countries.

In September 2017, PTC announced its plans to move global headquarters from Needham, MA to 121 Seaport in Boston's Seaport District in January 2019. The facility will be in the Boston Waterfront Innovation District. In December 2019, PTC Partnered with Callisto Integration, one of the leading Software Integration companies providing solutions which cover the manufacturing supply chain from materials receiving through manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution centers.[46]