Upgrade/Crossgrade to Windchill PDMLink from Old ProEngineer possible?

[SvenR]

hi,

we are still using Pro Engineer basic package but want to upgrade to use Windchill PDMLink.

So looking at the license packages, I thought that we would need to upgrade or crossgrade to the package "Creo Engineer II" which includes PDMLink.

But our reseller seems to not think this way and offers additional PDMLink Licenses (Heavy user) separately - as addition to the Pro Engineer licenses. This would make things more complicated than needed I think, and I suspect it's more expensive since packages are normally cheaper than separate licenses.

Is it possible to crossgrade to the new packages like Creo Engineer II from the old ProEngineer Foundation ?

greetings

sven

[egifford]

Sven,

Normally you can upgrade your existing licenses to the newer license packaging, which in many cases includes the PDMLink Heavy user license. You might gain functionality within Pro/E as well, depending on how the modules are packaged (watch that you don't lose something though). You'll have to pay an uplift or conversion charge, so compare that to the price of just adding PDMLink heavy user licenses. Also make sure you compare the ongoing maintenance fees that will result. Sometimes you get a lower price on your future maintenance by going with the current packaging.

Do you currently have a PDM system, something like Intralink, or will PDMLink be your first data managment tool for Pro/E? Reason I ask is if you're moving from Intralink 3.x to Windchill PDMLink 9.x 10.x, your VAR may try to woo you with how the total maintenance price (seats of Pro/E and Intralink) will go down with moving to the newer license packaging that includes PDMLink. Two things make that a questionable truth. With PDMLink, the licensing for Oracle or MS SQL is not included - you must pay Oracle or MS separatly for that to remain legal (the licensing for Oracle was included with Intralink 3.x...only became a separate line item on the quote the last year or two it was avialable). In addition, Intralink 3.x licensing was a concurrent use license model, PDMLink is a named user license model. In other words, if with Pro/E and Intralink 3.x you have 20 floating licenses and 28 users who make use of them, you're fine - just limited by the licensing application to 20 people running it at any given time. With Windchill PDMLink you have to have a license for PDMLink for every named user in the system. So if you still have 20 Pro/E licenses and 28 Pro/E users using it for product design, you actually need 28 licenses of PDMLink. The "less expensive" nature of PDMLink licensing vaporizes pretty quick when you factor in the true cost. Also be aware that there are four types of PDMLink licenses (that I know of): Heavy, Light, View-Print and External. The licensing agreement from PTC outlines the differences and rules.

Regards,

Erik