To begin, I’d like to wish all of you a Happy New Year. At Siemens PLM Software the year got off to an excellent start when Gartner, Inc., a leading technology research and advisory firm, positioned Siemens PLM Software in the leaders quadrant of its “Magic Quadrant for Product Life Cycle Management, 4Q07” report that was published early this month. The “PLM Magic Quadrant” graphically portrays PLM vendors based on an evaluation of a company’s vision and its ability to execute. We are, of course, very gratified by this recognition.

We are entering the year with great momentum and one of the most exciting areas of market interest and growth we are seeing is in digital lifecycle simulation – or Computer Aided Engineering (CAE). Some background on the importance of digital simulation to manufacturing success is detailed in a new report issued by management consulting company Spar Point Research LLC, entitled “Enabling Digital Simulation and Analysis.” The report studied simulation best practices at companies in nearly every vertical industry to determine eight capabilities leading simulation vendors must provide to solve the analysis community’s complex needs.