Wednesday November 22, 1:00 am ET

PARIS, -Dassault Systèmes announced today that ITER, the joint international research and development project that aims to demonstrate the feasibility of fusion power is using PLM Solutions from Dassault Systèmes as its development platform. ITER has used CATIA since the beginning of the project to define the "tokamak" - the heart of the ITER machine. As the project progresses, other areas, such as structure and piping design now need to be addressed, so ITER decided to extend its use of CATIA.

"DS' PLM solutions are playing a key role in the ITER project. We are working hand in hand with DS to benefit from cutting edge design and collaboration best practices that have been developed in various industries. Accuracy and reliability are crucial to this project," explains Eric Martin, head of design office. ITER chose ENOVIA as the collaboration environment for the ITER development community. ENOVIA VPLM will play a critical role in managing the large amount of ITER data as it is estimated that the ITER machine will be made up of around 10 million parts.

"By deploying CATIA and ENOVIA, ITER is able to manage the complete project within a single PLM platform, including Mechanical and Plant Design disciplines," says Bruno Latchague, executive vice president development and support, Industry Solutions, Dassault Systèmes. "Our cooperation with ITER is about innovation. We are building a world-class program with them to ensure a successful global rollout of our PLM solutions for ITER partners and suppliers." Over time, several hundred suppliers will be involved in the development, manufacturing and assembly of the ITER machine.

ITER brings together seven partners, known as the ITER Parties. These are the European Union (represented by EURATOM), Japan, the People's Republic of China, India, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the USA.