Event Recap: Zionex at ACE2025 Boston

4/24/2024

Zionex offers DTM（Dynamic Task Manager) as an add-on solution for Aras Innovator, a leading PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) platform. Earlier this month, our team had the incredible opportunity to attend ACE2025—Aras Corporation’s global conference held from March 31 to April 3 at the elegant Hilton Boston Park Plaza. With this year’s theme being “Connected Intelligence,” the event brought together innovators, partners, and customers from around the world.

Zionex joined with a delegation of four, including Mr. Ito, our Executive Officer and Head of the DTM Division. We were excited to engage with the global Aras community and explore the future of project management technology.

Our Objectives at ACE2025

We had four clear goals in mind when heading to Boston:

• Understand Aras Corporation’s upcoming strategy and product roadmap

• Exchange insights with Japanese partners and customers overseas

• Confirm technical compatibility for DTM with Aras Innovator SaaS

• Explore potential business opportunities in the US and European markets

 Key Highlights from the Event

One of the major concepts introduced was “Aras InnovatorEdge”—a new approach emphasizing system expansion via APIs for the Product Data Platform, Application Library, and Low Code Development tools. As Aras moves toward a more API-centric architecture, we see this as a significant shift from traditional file-based customizations. It’s a direction we at Zionex are closely following to ensure DTM stays aligned with Aras’s evolution.

During his keynote, Roque Martin, CEO of Aras, celebrated 25 years of the Aras Community, tracing its origins back to the Y2K era. It was both nostalgic and inspiring to see how far the company—and technology as a whole—has come in just two and a half decades.

CTO Rob McAveney reflected on Aras’s technical journey through a session titled “What If”, connecting the dots between past innovations and future possibilities. His talk reminded us just how rapidly the tech landscape continues to evolve.

Reconnecting with the Community

Beyond the sessions, ACE2025 was a fantastic opportunity to reconnect with customers and partners from Japan. Whether it was a first-time greeting or a long-overdue reunion, the exchange of ideas was energizing. We received insightful feedback that we’re eager to incorporate into the continued development of DTM.

Progress Toward SaaS Compatibility

During the event, we resumed discussions around DTM’s compatibility with Aras Innovator SaaS, which had been paused for about a year due to technical constraints. With Aras transitioning to .NET 8 and Linux-based containers, we had productive meetings with the Aras technical team to clarify the path forward.

Once DTM is ready, we’ll integrate it into Aras’s CI/CD pipeline, verify it across UAT and Staging environments, and ultimately deploy it to Production. We’re excited to make DTM SaaS-ready and accessible to a wider range of users soon.

A special thank you to John Sperling, Aihoa Borowicz, Benjamin Chaillon, Grant Killian, and the team at Aras Japan for arranging key meetings and supporting us throughout the event.

DevOps & Project Management Insights

We also attended a DevOps training session, which provided a helpful overview of the development process for Aras SaaS apps. In the ever-popular “Aras in the Round” session, project management capabilities—an area central to DTM—sparked engaging questions and dialogue, reaffirming the importance of robust tools in today’s project-driven environments.

Growing Recognition for DTM

This year, we’ve partnered with Aras in Japan on the campaign theme “Build with Aras,” so we were curious to see how well Zionex and DTM were known among the global community. To our delight, at the reception, Aras leaders including Peter, Roque, Rob, and Leon responded with enthusiasm:

“We know Zionex and DTM!”

That recognition energized us. We’re more committed than ever to continuing DTM’s growth—and to doing so hand-in-hand with feedback from our global users.

Enjoying Boston Between Sessions

Our time in Boston wasn’t all business. We enjoyed morning jogs, delicious meals, and the serene parks where dogs ran happily through the grass. It was a refreshing atmosphere, and we truly appreciated the calm charm of Boston.

Final Thoughts

ACE2025 was more than a tech conference—it was a meaningful moment for reflection, connection, and growth. We’re thankful to everyone who made it possible and are excited to carry the momentum forward as we continue building smarter, more connected project management experiences with DTM.

We’re grateful for the opportunity to take part in ACE2025 and excited for what lies ahead with Aras and DTM.

Thank you for exploring our latest updates. We’re committed to continually improving and look forward to sharing more with you soon. For any inquiries, please contact us at dtm_support@zionex.com.

ーDTM Team