Over Two Decades of Cloud PLM and QMS Innovation

ARENA: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE

Today, companies have several options to choose from when it comes to product lifecycle management (PLM) and quality management system (QMS) software. Although many systems are touted as enterprise cloud solutions, they are not truly designed to scale with an organization or handle all the complexities of new product development and introduction (NPDI).

Since its inception, Arena, a PTC Business has been forging advances in cloud-native technology to help manufacturing companies streamline product development processes and easily navigate highly competitive and ever-changing market conditions. Whether it be advanced supplier collaboration, flexible no-code configurations, or a product-centric approach to quality management—Arena attracts legions of loyal customers with its unmatched PLM and QMS capabilities.

Explore the events over the last two decades that have shaped Arena into the proven cloud-native PLM and QMS market leader it is today.

Bom.com (later known as Arena Solutions) is founded

February 1, 2000

Two Silicon Valley engineers join forces to establish Bom.com, a company focused on delivering affordable, turnkey technologies that help manufacturers accelerate innovation and gain a competitive advantage.

Bom.com introduces the first cloud-native SaaS PLM solution

February 5, 2000

The company introduces BOMControl, the first cloud-native SaaS PLM solution that is designed to deliver businesses maximum scalability and flexibility without the burden of costly IT overhead. Key capabilities include bill of materials (BOM) management, supply chain collaboration, change management, document management, regulatory compliance management, and enterprise integrations.

Bom.com changes its name to Arena Solutions

January 1, 2003

The new name “Arena” reflects the company’s mission to help customers achieve a competitive advantage through collaborative online solutions.

Arena launches a software validation package to simplify FDA compliance

October 1, 2006

Arena Validate provides a comprehensive set of validation documentation (e.g., requirements, impact analysis, protocols, templates, reports) supported by domain experts to help medical device companies speed FDA 21 CFR Part 820 and Part 11 compliance. Companies can spend less time validating Arena PLM/QMS solutions and stay focused on their core competencies.

Craig Livingston Kicks Off New Era as Arena Solutions’ CEO

January 1, 2008

Following his tenure as vice president and general manager of SME solutions for Agile software at Oracle, Craig Livingston is tapped to lead Arena Solutions as their new CEO. His leadership enhanced Arena’s out-of-the-box approach to product lifecycle management in the Cloud. Under his guidance, Arena broadened its offerings to provide highly configurable, advanced cloud-native PLM and QMS solutions.

Arena partners with NetSuite to form the industry’s first cloud-native PLM to ERP integration

January 1, 2010

Leveraging the Arena and NetSuite integration, Arena customers can push bills of materials (BOMs) and associated supplier information to ERP without the need to install or maintain any internal infrastructure. Arena later launches the first bidirectional Arena PLM to NetSuite ERP integration, enabling customers to send and receive critical information like costs and inventory.

Arena launches Supplier Item Lookup (SIL)

January 1, 2011

Arena partners with SiliconExpert and Octopart (now owned by Altium) to provide design and procurement teams critical component supplier information using Arena’s new Supplier Item Lookup functionality. SIL gives visibility into critical component details across the product design including market availability, compliance information, and bill of materials (BOM) health.

Arena releases Projects Management

October 1, 2013

Arena Projects enables teams to track assigned tasks and resources in context of the product record and ensure key product development milestones are met throughout the entire lifecycle.

Arena releases Quality Workflows

July 1, 2014

By linking quality processes directly to product development and sustaining activities in Arena, organizations can resolve issues quickly and drive continuous improvement.

Arena releases Analytics

October 1, 2015

Leveraging the product record in Arena, Analytics enables teams to easily monitor and measure KPIs related to quality and product performance through convenient dashboards and reports. This robust business intelligence platform provides meaningful insights to help companies identify opportunities for improvement and make more informed decisions.

Arena releases product-centric QMS solution

January 1, 2016

Unlike traditional document-centric quality management systems, Arena QMS electronically links quality and change processes directly to the product BOM to drive greater control and traceability and simplify compliance with FDA, ISO, and other industry regulations.

Arena releases Training Management

July 1, 2016

Arena Training streamlines training compliance for SOC, OSHA, FDA, ISO, and other standards. It links training plans and documents directly to the product record, automates training assignments, and easily tracks employee progress. Organizations benefit from reduced administrative overhead and simplified audits.

Arena releases Issue Management

October 1, 2016

Issue Management speeds product feedback to engineering from any source. It links tickets directly to the impacted product, project, requirements, and quality records in Arena for enhanced visibility and quicker issue resolution.

Arena streamlines integrations with CRM applications

August 1, 2017

New partnership with FlowEQ (formerly BrightReps) enhances the flow of information between Arena PLM/QMS and customer relationship management (CRM) applications like Salesforce and Zendesk. Support teams can readily share information from the field with engineering, quality, and other product stakeholders to quickly resolve issues and address customer needs.

Arena receives strategic growth investment from JMI equity

August 1, 2017

Arena is acquired by the private equity firm, JMI. As of 2017, JMI had invested in over 130 businesses in its target markets, successfully completed over 85 exits, and raised more than $3 billion of committed capital. This acquisition results in Arena’s accelerated growth.

Arena surpasses the 1,000-customer mark

May 1, 2018

The company achieves a 35% growth in new accounts at the close of 2017. More than one-third of new customers are in the life sciences and medical device industry. Customers include Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., IMRIS, Sena Technologies, and Humatics.

Arena introduces Requirements Management

July 1, 2018

New PLM/QMS functionality enables companies to link requirements directly to the product record for greater team alignment throughout the entire product development process.

Arena acquires Omnify Software

September 30, 2018

With the acquisition of Omnify Software, Arena expands its customer base in the electronics, medical device, aerospace and defense, and telecommunications markets and strengthens its position as a PLM market leader.

Arena extends product lifecycle and quality management capabilities to ITAR/EAR-registered companies

April 1, 2019

The introduction of Arena PLM for AWS GovCloud provides aerospace and defense companies with a secure platform to safeguard export-controlled data and comply with ITAR and EAR regulations while accelerating product development.

Arena partners with Acumatica, a leading Cloud ERP provider

October 1, 2019

Through the partnership, customers can easily integrate Arena PLM with Acumatica Cloud ERP to design, produce, and deliver products faster. This partnership is one of many that Arena developed to enable business-ready integrations. Arena integrates with customers’ preferred enterprise solutions including ERP, mCAD, EDA, MES, and CRM.

Arena partners with MEDICept, a leading medical and in vitro diagnostic device consulting firm

December 1, 2020

Partnership provides Arena customers additional industry expertise and best practices surrounding software validation, regulatory compliance and strategy, quality assurance, and more.

Arena partners with Rimsys, a leading provider of regulatory information management (RIM) software

January 1, 2021

RIM software seamlessly integrates with Arena QMS and PLM, thereby accelerating the notification of regulatory updates to critical quality records. Medical device customers can address regulatory affairs, product registration, and standards management processes more efficiently.

PTC acquires Arena Solutions

January 15, 2021

PTC, a leading provider of digital technologies that transform the way companies design, manufacture, and service physical products, acquires Arena. The acquisition establishes PTC as the market leader in pure SaaS product development solutions. PTC’s endorsement and investments in Arena set the stage for continued innovations and further system differentiation.

Arena, a PTC Business increases global reach with expanded EMEA operations

September 1, 2021

Cloud-native Arena solutions are hosted in Europe and localized in several languages to support growing EMEA customer base. Increased Arena sales and customer support staff are dispersed across the EU to help companies maximize their PLM and QMS investments.

PTC launches Onshape-Arena Connection to enhance supply chain collaboration and drive agile product development

September 1, 2022

Designed to make the product development process faster, easier, and more agile, the Onshape-Arena Connection provides a seamless synchronization of product information across the cloud-native CAD and PLM/QMS systems. Ultimately, engineers, downstream product teams, and partners can collaborate and iterate on product designs earlier and more often in the development process.

Arena-NetSuite integration surpasses the 100-customer mark

January 1, 2023

More than 125 customers rely on the integration, making it the industry’s most widely used cloud-native PLM to ERP connection. Customers benefit from more efficient production planning and manufacturing processes.

Arena Marketplace offers hassle-free PLM and QMS integrations

April 1, 2023

A new partner marketplace provides customers convenient access to prebuilt apps and no-code integrations that streamline the connection between their design and manufacturing systems. Through fast and easy integrations with systems like CAD, ERP, CRM, MES, and electronic component databases, customers can extend the value of Arena PLM and QMS and get products to market faster.

Arena 3D CAD Viewer is introduced

April 15, 2023

Powered by PTC technology, the 3D viewer enables extended product teams and partners to easily access, view, and validate 3D designs that are stored in Arena without any additional downloads or installs. This capability further streamlines critical product and quality processes including change orders, CAPAs, complaints, and supplier collaboration.

Arena participates at PTC LiveWorx

May 1, 2023

Arena makes its first-ever live appearance at LiveWorx, PTC’s premier digital transformation event aimed at helping manufacturing companies improve efficiencies and deliver better products and services. Arena’s domain experts provide trainings and best practices on how to get the most value from its cloud-native PLM and QMS solutions.

Arena software validation package expands to support performance qualification (PQ)

August 1, 2023

Validate, Arena’s validation package, expands beyond installation and operational qualification (IQ and OQ) to support PQ through templates and related services. This complete industry-standard offering enables customers to ensure the proper installation, operation, and performance of PLM/QMS software according to FDA requirements.

PTC announces availability of Arena PLM and QMS in China to meet growing demand for SaaS solutions

September 1, 2023

PTC partners with VST ECS and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to make Arena PLM and QMS available in China and meet the growing market demand for SaaS solutions.

Arena serves 1,400+ customers worldwide

October 15, 2023

Global manufacturing companies of all sizes rely on Arena PLM and QMS to optimize efficiencies, speed innovation, and deliver high-quality, compliant products on time and under budget. Arena’s solutions support many industries including high tech, consumer electronics, medical devices, biotechnology, aerospace and defense, robotics, clean tech, and electric transportation.

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A Bright Future Ahead

PTC continues to invest in R&D, resourcing, and global expansion to further Arena’s leadership in the cloud-native PLM and QMS markets. With PTC’s backing and increasing technology advances—Arena’s solutions revolutionize how companies design, produce, and deliver innovative products. With real-time collaborative processes and an agile approach to product development, we empower dispersed teams and supply chains to accelerate the transformation of digital designs into physical products.

Interested to learn how Arena can transform your business?

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