Dassault Systemes Inc yesterday acquired the subsidiary of Matra Datavision responsible for developing two of Matra’s six Euclid products. As well as Matra’s Strim and Strimflow software, Dassault, which has a marketing agreement with IBM will fold Euclid Styler and EclidMachine into its Catia software before the end of 1999 and expand Catia’s capabilities to perform tasks such as free-form modeling and numerical control machining. Once Euclid Styler and Euclid Machine become part of the Catia software suite they will cease to exist as separate products, a spokesperson for Matra Datavision said. Matra Datavision, which is a subsidiary of Aerospatiale-Matra Hautes Technologies Group – and ultimately the Lagadere Group, will also become an IBM business partner as a result of the deal, selling not only IBM’s e-business software, but also Dassault’s Catia, and Enovia CAD/CAM software packages. The acquisition, which has been valued at between $3m and $4m will not result in any lay-offs, according to Matra Datavision. The Euclid products not included in the buy-out include Euclid 3, which will continue to be sold by Matra.
