Introduction
Dassault Systemes spun out in 1981 (as part of Dassault Group.) to develop and market Dassault's 3D surface design software CATI, later renamed CATIA. That same year, 3DS signed a sales and marketing agreement with IBM, allowing IBM to resell the CATIA CAD software. CATIA supports multiple stages of product development from conceptualization, design and engineering to manufacturing, it is considered a CAx-software and is sometimes referred to as a 3D Product Lifecycle Management software suite. Like most of its competition it facilitates collaborative engineering through an integrated cloud service and have support to be used across disciplines including surfacing & shape design, electrical, fluid and electronic systems design, mechanical engineering and systems engineering.