At Realize Live Asia Pacific 2025 in Bengaluru, the DailyCADCAM Editorial team and other leading Indian media outlets met with the Siemens Digital Industries Software leadership team. The discussion included CEO Tony Hemmelgarn, Chief Revenue Officer Robert Jones, PLM Products Executive VP Joe Bohman, Strategy and Marketing SVP Brenda Discher, and VP & MD for India Matthew Thomas.
The conversation covered key industry trends such as cloud adoption, digital transformation, software-defined systems, and the role of AI. The leadership team also discussed simulation, recent acquisitions, and Siemens’ strategic vision for the Indian market. The interview provides valuable insights for design, simulation, and manufacturing professionals.
Q: Cloud has become a critical enabler for digital transformation. How is Siemens leveraging AWS and Azure to deliver cloud-native experiences with Teamcenter X, NX X, and Simcenter X and what adoption are you seeing?
A: Robert Jones:
A major effort by Joe’s team was to re-architect Teamcenter, Simcenter, NX, and other solutions into true cloud products—not just hosted software. By leveraging AWS and Azure, we’re delivering genuine cloud-native experiences.
We now have over 8,000 enterprise cloud accounts and more than 200,000 active users across Teamcenter X and NX X. Importantly, many are net new customers, including those switching from competitor products, attracted by the cost efficiency and advanced capabilities of our SaaS solutions.
Adoption is strong, with customers using these tools daily. Metrics like monthly active users show that engineers and designers are not just buying but actively engaging with our cloud solutions. This is only the tip of the iceberg, as we continue to grow adoption and gain market share.
Q: Siemens has been transitioning its Xcelerator portfolio to the cloud. What does this transformation really mean for customers?
A: Robert Jones: If you think about what Microsoft did with Office 365 or Adobe with Creative Cloud, we’re doing something very similar with Siemens Xcelerator—making our broad portfolio available as a service. This matters because it delivers real value in four important ways. First, every seat of Xcelerator includes built-in data management, helping customers move beyond file-based systems. Second, we’re enabling seamless collaboration with cloud-based tools that allow engineers to work together across teams and locations. Third, with cloud access, customers can leverage lifecycle intelligence and powerful analytics that are often very difficult to achieve on-premises. And fourth, we provide world-class operations—zero security incidents, software that’s always up to date, and cost efficiencies at scale. Ultimately, this transition makes it possible for companies of any size to access advanced capabilities without carrying the heavy burden of managing traditional IT infrastructure.
A: Brenda Discher:
What’s notable is that nearly 87% of customers moving to our X Cloud portfolio are SMEs. This has significantly expanded our market reach, especially in India and Asia, where smaller manufacturers can now adopt advanced digital technologies thanks to our packaging and pricing strategy.
Q: Software-defined systems are reshaping industries from aerospace to automotive. How is Siemens helping customers manage the complexity of faster software cycles alongside traditional hardware development?
A: Joe Bohman:
Software-defined systems are fundamentally transforming industries—you can see this in areas like reusable launch vehicles where software plays a central role. The real challenge is that software and hardware evolve at very different speeds, which makes integration more complex. Designing these systems requires close collaboration between hardware engineers and software developers, moving beyond traditional product design to true systems engineering with a cross-disciplinary approach. With the increasing autonomy of smart, connected products, rigorous traceability throughout the design process—from requirements definition to verification and validation—becomes absolutely critical.
Our solution is Polarion ALM, which is actually Siemens’ fastest-growing product. Polarion provides end-to-end traceability, linking requirements directly to agile stories, and helps orchestrate the entire software development process. When integrated with Teamcenter, it aligns hardware and software lifecycles, ensuring both compatibility and collaboration. This unified approach empowers industries such as automotive, aerospace, medical, and manufacturing to effectively manage the complexity of modern systems while maintaining real-time collaboration, compliance, and complete traceability.
Q: Siemens also highlighted an industrial foundation model trained on engineering and manufacturing data. How does this bring AI into the Comprehensive Digital Twin?
A: Joe Bohman:
Unlike general-purpose AI models trained on internet data, our industrial foundation model is trained on Siemens’ own engineering and manufacturing data—spanning 150 petabytes from our products and factories.
This model speaks the language of engineering and manufacturing. Instead of just analyzing data lakes, we’re embedding AI directly into the Comprehensive Digital Twin.
For example, instead of designing a single turbine blade, engineers could use AI to generate and evaluate 1,000 blade variations, selecting the best-performing design. This is about reimagining engineering workflows—and those who adopt it early will gain a competitive edge.
Q: Siemens is strengthening its leadership in both industrial AI and simulation—through capabilities like RapidMiner integrated with the digital twin, and with the expanded simulation portfolio following the Altair acquisition. How do these advancements go beyond traditional data lake approaches and standalone tools to create a stronger value proposition for customers?
A: Tony Hemmelgarn:
Many companies believe a large data lake alone will solve their problems, but that often fails. Data must be reliable, structured, and validated. That’s why for Siemens, the digital twin is the foundation. By combining RapidMiner’s data science capabilities with our digital twin, we give customers the ability to not only analyze data but also validate and understand it in context. That combination is what truly delivers value.
A: Robert Jones:
Before acquiring Altair, Siemens already had strong simulation solutions—Simcenter Amesim for 1D behavioral modeling, CD-adapco for CFD, and simulation embedded within NX. But there were gaps, which gave competitors like Ansys a chance to position themselves as a one-stop shop.
The Altair acquisition changed that landscape. Together, our portfolios now cover the full spectrum—linear, non-linear, CFD, and more. What sets Siemens apart is not just completeness, but the ability to integrate simulation into the digital thread. This ensures simulations are always tied to the right configuration of the product being built, delivering unmatched traceability and accuracy.
The result? We’re now the number two simulation provider globally, and number one in India and China. In Asia Pacific, we’ve achieved leadership not only through technology but by consistently delivering customer value. That’s why I’m confident we can compete head-to-head with anyone and win.
Q: Siemens often talks about empowering both large enterprises and small to medium-sized businesses. With solutions like Teamcenter X in the cloud, how are you making advanced digital thread capabilities accessible to SMBs and startups that previously lacked the resources to deploy such systems?
A: Tony Hemmelgarn, CEO:
Digital complexity isn’t limited to big companies. Small and medium businesses face the same challenges, just without the resources of a large IT team. Traditionally, deploying a system like Teamcenter required database experts and administrators—something a startup could rarely afford.
With Teamcenter X in the cloud, we remove that barrier. Customers don’t need to worry about infrastructure or administration; they simply use the solution. This makes it possible for SMBs and startups to adopt the same digital thread capabilities as large enterprises, helping them move faster and compete more effectively.
Q: The automotive sector is undergoing massive disruption with electrification, autonomous driving, and the rise of software-defined vehicles. What opportunities and challenges do you see, and how is Siemens positioned to support this transformation?
A: Tony Hemmelgarn:
Two mega-trends—software-defined vehicles (SDVs) and AI—are reshaping the industry. Batteries are a prime example. Siemens is uniquely positioned because we can design, test, validate, and plan manufacturing for batteries, while our colleagues in automation power the factories. That’s why nine of the top ten battery manufacturers use Siemens solutions.
For automakers, the race is on. Traditional OEMs must master software; startups must master manufacturing. We help both. Startups need support with quality manufacturing, while legacy OEMs need help accelerating their transition to software-defined vehicles.
Speed is critical. Many traditional OEMs take 45–48 months to develop a vehicle. BYD, using Siemens solutions end-to-end, is doing it in 18–20 months. That’s the new benchmark—and our digital thread is what enables it.
Q: With SMEs contributing a significant share of cloud adoption and emerging as a major growth driver, how is Siemens enabling smaller companies to leverage advanced solutions like Teamcenter and simulation in the same way as large enterprises?
A: Brenda Discher:
I recently visited Sansera Engineering, a small machine manufacturer. They’ve adopted Siemens solutions across design, manufacturing, and lifecycle management with Teamcenter, while also integrating data from multiple CAD tools. They told us their growth wouldn’t have been possible without Siemens. That’s the kind of impact we’re seeing with SMBs.
A: Robert Jones:
Eighty-seven percent of our cloud adoption globally is coming from SMBs. And India is our fastest-growing country worldwide. This success can’t be manufactured—it only happens if customers are truly adopting and finding value.
Here in India, adoption is strong across both SMBs and enterprises, and Siemens is the undisputed leader in simulation. That’s why we’re so optimistic about growth in India and Asia Pacific—it’s a market where innovation is happening rapidly, and Siemens is right at the center of it.
Q: Siemens is strengthening its leadership in both Industrial AI and simulation through capabilities like RapidMiner and the expanded simulation portfolio following the Altair acquisition. How do these advancements move beyond traditional data lake approaches and standalone simulation tools, and together create a stronger value proposition and competitive edge for your customers?
A: Tony Hemmelgarn:
You see so many companies today talking about a data lake and how it will solve all their problems. I’ve said before, I’ve seen so many companies fail with that approach. A data lake by itself isn’t sufficient. The data has to be reliable, you have to know its structure, and it has to be something you can trust.
We believe that data is very, very important, but it must be backed up by something—and for us, that ‘something’ is the digital twin. The digital twin allows you to validate, prove, and truly understand what’s happening. This marriage of AI and the digital twin is what’s truly important for us.
A: Robert Jones:
To be candid, prior to acquiring Altair, we had a very strong simulation portfolio in specific areas. We had Simcenter Amesim for 1D behavioural models and CD-adapco, a market leader in computational fluid dynamics. But when we wanted to be a customer’s simulation partner across their entire portfolio, there were gaps. This gave a company like Ansys a ‘free run’ to be a one-stop-shop.
Acquiring Altair was a perfect match. Where we had a gap, they were strong. Now, we have an entire portfolio of simulation tools. But more importantly, our portfolio doesn’t stand on its own. We can deliver the digital thread. This means we can perform simulation in the context of a configured digital thread, ensuring we’re simulating the correct configuration of a product that will eventually be built and sold.
This is a huge advantage. When we go into a head-to-head benchmark with our competitors, we’re not only confident we’re better, but we can also layer on the value proposition of the digital thread—something they can’t even talk about. We are now number two globally in the simulation market, and in India, we are the undisputed number one. You don’t get that market leadership position just with good technology; you get it by delivering value to your customers.
Q: Siemens often talks about empowering both large enterprises and small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). With solutions like Teamcenter X delivered via the cloud, how are you making advanced digital thread capabilities accessible to SMBs and startups that previously lacked the resources to deploy such systems?
A: Tony Hemmelgarn:
The challenges and complexity for a small-to-medium business are the same as for the big guys working on rockets, ships, and cars. What we’ve done is scale our solutions. We can now take them to a small-to-medium company in a way we couldn’t before. For a startup, putting in Teamcenter was difficult because they needed a database expert and an administrator. With the cloud, we take care of that problem. You just have to use it. Our Teamcenter X solution is now being adopted by many SMBs and startups.
A: Matthew Thomas:
The startup ecosystem focuses on its core competency. Solutions like Teamcenter X, Polarion, and NX X allow our clients—SMBs and startups—to focus on their core business, whether it’s building a scooter or a rocket, while we manage the complexity for them. Many founders from the younger generation believe that technology can be a competitive advantage, and we’re seeing a lot of adoption here.
A: Robert Jones:
The best part of my job is knowing we are growing our business by delivering value. Globally, 87% of our cloud business comes from SMEs. While I can’t give the exact number for India, I can tell you that India is our fastest-growing country globally. We’re seeing strong adoption in both the SME and enterprise markets in India.
Q: How do you see this combination of cloud, AI, and digital thread accelerating competitiveness for smaller companies?
A: Matthew Thomas:
I think the adoption of technology is critical for SMEs and startups. They can now focus on their core competency, while solutions like Teamcenter X, Simcenter X, Polarion, and NX X allow us to manage the complexity for them. Many founders see technology as a competitive advantage. We’re proud to play a role in this adoption in the SME market.
A: Joe Bohman:
You have to be faster than the next guy, or you’ll be disrupted. You’re not going to get that speed by just putting in a data lake. There is value in a data lake, but we are very excited about our ability to put PLM data together with RapidMiner and Mendix. We’ll be able to add AI and predictive AI into those predictive analytics, and we think that’s very exciting for our customers.
Q: India is emerging as a global hub for simulation. How is Siemens combining AI with physics-based simulation to accelerate design exploration and deliver greater value for customers here?
A: Robert Jones:
A lot of people don’t realize that India is the true center of the universe for the simulation business. For example, at GE’s Innovation Center in Bengaluru, the entire global simulation business is run from here. The same is true for the thousands of people at the Airbus Innovation Center.
Tony mentioned our portfolio, but other elements are also important, like Altair SimSolid. This is a game-changing simulation technology that eliminates geometry preparation and meshing—the two most time-consuming and error-prone tasks. We initially thought it would be just for SMEs, but even Airbus is using it now.
AI and physics-based simulation also complement each other perfectly. You can use physics-based simulation to train the AI model, and then you can use AI to explore thousands of alternatives versus the hundred you might normally do. We’re seeing a lot of interest in this approach in India.
Q: How do you see India’s growing role in not just software development, but also in contributing to business-critical solution development for Siemens globally?
A: Tony Hemmelgarn:
The problems are the same everywhere in the world. What has changed for us in India is that we’ve gone from delegating components of software or quality checks to giving our teams here full ownership of entire business chunks. For example, our team here in India is leading the work on our AI solutions. We have 5,800 employees in nine cities in India, and we’ve hired over 2,000 in the last three years. India plays a tremendous role in developing our solutions.
A: Joe Bohman:
Our product group in India has tremendous leadership and ownership of our products. For example, our configurator—which is a crucial part of our business—is completely run out of our team in India. We have innovations being driven top-to-bottom out of the team here.
Q: Siemens recently announced a joint business group with Accenture to co-develop solutions, including for software-defined vehicles (SDVs). How does this partnership strengthen your digital thread strategy and accelerate value creation for customers?
A: Robert Jones:
We’ve made a big investment in our digital thread approach. Now, we’re taking the next step by making joint investments with partners. We launched the Accenture Siemens Business Group at the 2025 Hannover Messe. It’s not just about selling together; we are jointly developing solutions. This partnership brings together 7,000 professionals and combines our industrial AI and software with Accenture’s data and AI capabilities.
Together, we have a solution for software-defined vehicles that leverages Accenture’s expertise and our technology. We’re engaged with several OEMs on this initiative. We’re not just developing software; we’re working with partners to create tailored solutions so customers can adopt them quickly, leverage best practices, and get immediate value from our technology.
Q: Engineering tools are evolving rapidly, but many engineers still prefer using the same CAE tools they learned in engineering college. What is Siemens doing to help customers adopt modern simulation technologies and stay competitive in this fast-changing landscape?
A: Joe Bohman:
It’s a great question. We’re infusing modern capabilities into our tools to meet engineers where they are. For example, we’re building in new design optimization capabilities that go beyond traditional design-of-experiments. We’re also doing a lot of work on change management with intelligent ‘agents’ that understand a product’s bill of materials, which helps companies accelerate their development cycles.
At the technical level, this is a different kind of challenge. The ‘language of engineering’ is different from natural language. We have to build our own neural networks and tokenization processes to properly understand engineering and manufacturing data. Our goal is to make these advanced capabilities accessible and intuitive.
A: Tony Hemmelgarn:
I’ve often said that engineers, especially those in CAE and FEA, get comfortable using the tools they learned in school. The good news is they’re comfortable. The bad news is a competitor in another part of the world might be a thousand times faster because they’ve adopted newer tools. If you’re a CAE capital of the world, you can’t afford to be comfortable. The challenge is to be willing to leverage these new tools and processes rapidly enough to stay competitive.
Q: With AI increasingly taking over routine tasks in design and simulation, what skills should young graduates and experienced engineers focus on to remain relevant in the future workforce?
A: Tony Hemmelgarn:
I’m not sure anyone has the perfect answer to this. It’s a debate we have all the time. I’m not sure what I’d tell a young person to major in today. However, my personal opinion is that the future belongs to the person who can orchestrate and bring things together. If you’re just going to stay at the entry-level of coding, I don’t think there’s a future there. The key is to rise above and be the person who leverages and uses these new tools to validate, prove, and test ideas in a higher-level thought process.
A: Robert Jones:
I’ll jump in on that. A consultant named Geoff Woods has a great podcast called ‘The AI Driven Leader’ that I recommend. He makes a very clear statement: AI is not the thought leader; you are. AI is like a library with all the information in the world right next to you. You still have to be the one asking the right questions and being the thought leader. Your dialogue with AI will help you innovate something new and exciting.
Q: How do the integrations with Altair strengthen the digital thread within Siemens solutions and help customers address challenges such as optimization, complex simulations, and regulatory compliance?
A: Joe Bohman:
There are a few key integration points. First, we are adding AI capabilities to our existing HEEDS product for optimization, and we think it’s incredibly exciting to apply that to the Altair assets.
Second, we’re integrating with NX to combine our leading design capabilities with Altair’s non-linear simulation capabilities. Our customers are very excited about the ability to drive from NX directly into Hypermesh.
Third, the integration with Teamcenter is crucial. We’re seeing more and more regulations, and companies need to be able to show that a requirement was met through verification management. By connecting that digital thread directly to Altair’s products, we can help customers with the challenges of regulatory compliance.
Q: With every new technological wave, there are concerns about job reductions, but history shows innovation often creates new opportunities. How do you see AI reshaping roles within Siemens and the wider industry—will it replace jobs, or simply shift how people work and add new opportunities?
A: Tony Hemmelgarn:
Things are absolutely changing. We don’t need people for tasks like translating anymore. However, we have a lot of work to do to run faster and develop more AI applications. This frees up people to do other things within the company. I’m a bit old-school, but I always remember when the computer came out, everyone said it would eliminate paper—and it did the opposite. Every innovation you’ve ever heard of that was supposed to reduce jobs has never actually done so. AI is just another example of this.
A: Robert Jones:
The discussion we have is that yes, AI will do many things in customer support, but we’re taking all that savings and reinvesting it into other areas, like customer success. We’re also hiring people who can help us drive AI. So, yes, there will be a shift, but I believe there will not be a reduction in jobs.
Q: With growing concerns around cyber-attacks and data breaches, how is Siemens ensuring the highest level of security in its solutions, and what steps are being taken to address the cybersecurity skill gap in the industry?
A: Joe Bohman:
Our foundation is what we’ve done with Teamcenter, which is our most scalable and secure solution. We handle some of the world’s most sensitive data within Teamcenter, and we’ve spent a tremendous amount of time making it secure from attack. An example of our world-class operations is our use of CrowdStrike. When many companies went down during a recent cyber-attack, we didn’t. This comes from a combination of the security built into our products and our world-class operations.
A: Tony Hemmelgarn:
When we first started the cloud discussion, people were worried about cyber-attacks. My response was always: Do you really think your own IT organization is better at protecting your data than Amazon or Microsoft Azure? They simply don’t have the scale. Sometimes people have a false sense of security thinking they are better protected by their own team than by the cloud.
Q: In the Indian market, which top three verticals are showing the strongest adoption of Siemens’ digital solutions, and what are the key challenges CIOs and CTOs face in their digital transformation journey?
A: Matthew Thomas:
The challenges CIOs and CTOs face are also opportunities. They’re trying to figure out how to modernize and innovate. From a vertical standpoint, automotive is obviously big for us. We’re also seeing growth in the process industries and across different sectors, both private and government. I wouldn’t pick just three, because everyone is looking at what digital transformation can do. India’s growth in this area is immense, and we’re uniquely positioned to help with our comprehensive digital twin solutions.
Q: MSMEs form a significant part of your customer base, especially in India where many are just beginning their digital manufacturing journey. What leadership qualities would you recommend for MSME owners as they take their first steps in digital transformation?
A: Joe Bohman:
Startups and small businesses often have a unique advantage in digital transformation because they are not constrained by legacy practices or the mindset of “this is how we’ve always done it.” This openness allows them to adopt new ways of working more easily and focus on their core strengths while relying on us to help manage the complexities. For MSME leaders in India, the most important qualities include visionary thinking to align digital tools with long-term business goals, an openness to change and the ability to learn quickly, and a practical approach to innovation by adopting cost-effective technologies and creatively upskilling employees. Collaboration also plays a critical role—working closely with technology providers and taking advantage of government initiatives can accelerate progress. Finally, developing a data-driven mindset, even starting with basic analytics, enables better decision-making and creates a strong foundation for future growth. Together, these qualities can help MSME owners unlock the full potential of digital manufacturing and remain agile in an increasingly competitive market.
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The conversation with Siemens Digital Industries Software leadership at Realize Live Asia Pacific 2025 highlighted the company’s vision for the future of design, simulation, and manufacturing. From cloud adoption and AI-driven digital twins to simulation leadership and support for MSMEs, Siemens is clearly positioning itself at the forefront of industrial digital transformation. The leadership team’s insights underscored how cloud-native solutions, integrated simulation, and AI are not just reshaping large enterprises but also empowering small and medium-sized businesses to compete on a global stage.
We sincerely thank Mr. Tony Hemmelgarn, Mr. Robert Jones, Mr. Joe Bohman, Brenda Discher, and Mr. Matthew Thomas for sharing their perspectives with DailyCADCAM. Their inputs will be invaluable for design engineers, simulation specialists, manufacturers, and business leaders in India and beyond who are navigating the fast-evolving digital landscape.
