EDS, IBM Battle Over Ford Deals

Ford Motor Co. becomes a virtual battleground for software giants Electronic Data Systems Corp. and IBM Corp. as the latter says it will supply the auto maker with design and data management applications.

A resulting news report suggests EDS was spurned by Ford because its products are too pricey. An agitated Tony Affuso, EDS president-PLM Solutions, tells Ward's the report “totally misrepresented” its relationship with Ford.

“We'll be the information backbone and nervous system for vehicle development,” he says, noting EDS also won a long-term deal to supply Ford with software for computer-aided design and data management. Titles including Ideas, a competitor of CATIA, the CAD software developed by IBM partner, Dassault Systems.

Affuso dismisses the IBM deal, saying: “They're piloting this usage on one vehicle program.” However, Ford Premier Automotive Group brands Volvo and Land Rover use CATIA. Volvo is using the latest version (V5), while Land Rover has the previous version and is testing V5.

At least half of today's cars have IBM's fingerprints on them, claims IBM Vice President Christine Lemyze. The Ford deal puts IBM/Dassault in the IT centers of 23 major OEMS; EDS says its products are used by 27.