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AGILE EXPANDS AGILE 9 ENTERPRISE PLM OFFERINGS

At AGILITY Orlando, Agile Software Corp, a provider of product lifecycle management solutions, announced a slew of new enhancements and options to its Agile 9 Enterprise PLM solution, including a new release of the Agile Product Governance and Compliance product, and the delivery of numerous new features and improved functionality to the Agile 9 platform-Agile's n-tier, standards-based, service-oriented architecture.

Agile 9 includes a broad suite of business-ready PLM solutions built on the Agile 9 enterprise PLM architecture. This suite includes Agile Product Governance and Compliance, a solution for managing product and program compliance to standards and regulatory requirements, offering assurance of effective compliance throughout the product lifecycle. Agile Product Governance and Compliance provides:

Environmental compliance throughout the product lifecycle to collect, track, analyze and report on hazardous material content in products, as well as the treatment, recovery and disposal of electronic waste.
"Design for Environment" capability combining the enterprise product record with material and regulatory attributes-enabling designers to build products that meet environmental regulatory requirements the first time through.
Standards and regulatory management capabilities to measure products and processes against industry environmental and safety standards, as well as regulatory requirements including ISO (9000, 14000, 13485) and FDA (QSR).
System validation capability to validate that Agile software applications conform to stated processes as regulated by the FDA's Quality System Regulation 21 CFR Part 820.

Building on the strength of its current offering, Agile has recently signed agreements with i2, which will allow Agile users access to i2 hazardous materials and parts content; and with ESHconnect, which will give customers access to updated global regulatory information regarding product and packaging issues, such as the EU's WEEE and RoHS requirements.

Agile 9 Platform: Providing A Robust Foundation For PLM

The Agile 9 platform leverages Web services, J2EE, XML, enterprise application integration (EAI) and analytics technologies to provide visibility, management, control, collaboration and decision support of common product record information across all Agile solutions via a service-oriented architecture. Expanded platform features include:

Agile Portlets, available out-of-the-box, enable customers to quickly deliver PLM access through enterprise and department portals, while providing flexibility to define the optimal user experience based on each user's role within the organization. Agile Portlets provide extensive configurability and personalization capabilities, allowing customers to easily design portal pages to fit their individual needs. This personalized user experience accelerates user adoption, increases user productivity, and reduces the time and costs associated with extensive systems training.
Agile PLM Analytics are built on an industry standard analytics framework that enables customers to gain insight into product data gathered over time and analyze it across multiple dimensions. Users are able to navigate across large volumes of product data and use drill-down and charting capabilities to detect key trends and monitor metrics. Portfolio Analytics enables companies to analyze product portfolios, track program progress and metrics, optimize resource allocations and improve alignment of project priorities with key business objectives. In future releases, Agile will offer additional pre-configured solutions for Quality Analytics, Sourcing Analytics and Environmental Compliance Analytics built using industry best practices. Each of these solutions will leverage the extended product record throughout the Agile PLM platform and will bring in additional product attributes like inventory and demand forecasts from other systems.
The Agile PLM platform provides organizations with a robust, scalable, enterprise class application infrastructure. Agile's standards-based architecture allows customers to leverage existing IT investments and run Agile PLM solutions on preferred platform components including operating systems, application and database servers, portal servers, and business intelligence tools. Agile has expanded support for the Agile 9 platform across multiple technology tiers, enabling easy and non-disruptive adoption of cost-effective technology options. Recently certified platform components include Microsoft SQL Server, Apple Safari Browser, IBM WebSphere Portal Server, and Cognos Business Intelligence suite.

"The need for effective governance and compliance solutions has never been more critical to manufacturing companies. With the expanded Agile Product Governance and Compliance solution, and the agreements we have made with i2 and ESHconnect, our customers can rest assured that they will have access to the most comprehensive and up-to-date listings of parts, materials and regulatory information," said Chris Wong, Agile chief product officer. "By leveraging the enhancements we have made to the Agile PLM platform, including robust portal and analytics functionality, our customers will be well positioned to gain business insight, improve market responsiveness, enhance productivity and increase product profitability."