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Structural Dynamics Research Corporation

Slogan	Get there faster
Fate	Now part of Siemens Automation & Drives
Successor	Siemens PLM Software
Founded	1967, Cincinnati, Ohio
Defunct	2001
Location	Plano, Texas
Industry	aerospace/defense automotive and transportation fabrication and assembly
Products	PLM software and services — Metaphase, I-DEAS
Key people	William Weyand, CEO Glen Weinkoop, COO
Subsidiary	Metaphase, Inc.

SDRC (Structural Dynamics Research Corporation) was a leading company specializing in MCAE (Mechanical Computer Aided Engineering) and PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) software.

SDRC was formed by engineers, lead by then associate professor Dr. Jason R. Lemon, from the University of Cincinnati in 1967, as a consulting company specializing in structural dynamics, or how mechanical parts vibrate. US Steel was a primary customer and early investor, until selling their shares to General Electric in the early 80's.

To aid in its consulting, the company wrote software to simulate and predict vibration. Companies began asking for rights to use this software, and thus SDRC entered the software market. In the 70s, SDRC became known as a Finite Element and Modelling company, and during the 80s and 90s became one of the leading companies in solid modeling and analysis. SDRC (Lemon) is well known globally as one of the first to coin the term "MCAE" (Mechanical Computer Aided Engineering) in the 70's. Dr. Lemon left SDRC in 1982 to form a new start up in 1983, International TechneGroup Incorporated; focused on applying CAE early in product development to lead design, a methodology known as CP/PD (Concurrent Product and Process Development).

Among several technologies pioneered by SDRC, it was one of the first companies to introduce a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution, as a result of its joint venture with Control Data. The product, Metaphase, eventually became the sole property of SDRC.

SDRC was purchased by EDS in 2001 for a reported $950 million. SDRC was merged with EDS subsidiary UGS Corp.. The new combined company operated as and EDS PLM Solutions from 2001 through 2004. EDS sold off in its CAD/PLM software business to a team of private equity firms in 2004. The new UGS Corp. operated as an independent, privately held company before being purchased by Siemens AG in 2007.

I-DEAS was SDRC's Computer-aided design software package. SDRC was bought by Electronic Data Systems in 2001. Unigraphics and I-DEAS were merged into one product, NX. I-deas is still published by Siemens PLM Software, the successor to UGS Corp.

Metaphase was SDRC's Product Lifecycle Management product. It was best suited designed for managing CAD data. Metaphase is now published under the Teamcenter Enterprise name by Siemens PLM Software.

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