IMAN (InfoMANager)
IMAN (InfoMANager) was the PDM system built by EDS Unigraphics in the early 1990s, designed to manage the massive multi-site assembly structures of automotive and aerospace product development. Its 1997 Distributed IMAN (D-IMAN) release introduced local caching of product structures, allowing distributed engineering sites to work without forcing all traffic through a central server. IMAN was rebranded as Teamcenter Engineering in 2001 after the UGS-SDRC merger, and folded into Teamcenter Unified by 2007.
Why it matters
IMAN is the architectural ancestor of every modern PLM system that manages large distributed assemblies. The distributed-cache pattern D-IMAN pioneered is now table stakes for any PLM serving an OEM with tens of thousands of parts across continents, and the configuration management primitives IMAN was built around — variants, effectivity, multi-level BOM rules — define the feature surface buyers still evaluate Teamcenter, Windchill, and 3DEXPERIENCE against.
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Cite this definition
Finocchiaro, Michael. “IMAN (InfoMANager).” DemystifyingPLM PLM Glossary, 2026, https://www.demystifyingplm.com/glossary/iman-infomanager