ThingWorx parent PTC partners with Rockwell Automation ($ attached); Bulotta back in corporate fold at Microsoft
Tom Paine
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After seemingly getting close to GE, which is obviously dealing with its own share of problems lately, over the past few years, ThingWorx parent PTC found a new strategic partner last week; Rockwell Automation , which invested $1 billion in PTC for less than 1/10th ownership. And starting Monday, PTC will hold its annual IoT-oriented LiveWorx conference in Boston that is expected to attract about 6,000 attendees.
Where this will leave ThingWorx as a brand name and organization is hard to say; its center of gravity has been gradually moving north for some time, and now only 40 ThingWorx employees are still in Pennsylvania per LinkedIn.
PTC was a shrinking CAD/CAM software firm ( originally Parametric Technologies ) left over from the 1980s when it bought ThingWorx at the end of 2013 for $100 million plus. PTC's share price has more than doubled since then, perhaps more of a result of PTC's growing mindshare of industrial IoT rather than actual results. PTC is moving its headquarters from suburban Needham to Boston.
The Boston Globe has a piece on PTC's rebirth ( "How Boston software maker PTC came back from the brink") .
In related news, ThingWorx cofounder Rick Bulotta, who has been mostly freelancing since leaving PTC, has shown up in a new uniform: Microsoft's (H/T Technical.ly Philly). Microsoft has partnered with PTC in a number of IoT initiatives.
Its a small world.
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