3D/Additive Manufacturing Hardware/Software/Services

[TheCleos]

Materialize ... One of Materialize's key offerings is 3D software. As I understand it the software has the potential to play a significant role in the industrialization of 3D printing. Obviously, this could be a huge space.

That said I am trying to better understand the relationship of 3rd party 3D software (e.g., MTLS) and software provided by the 3D printers themselves.

Things like

1) What is the value add of MTLS software vs. that of the software provided by the hardware company (e.g., Arcam)?

2) Is there evidence to suggest that the hardware players view companies like MTLS as a threat (threat to sources of profits) or do they view MTLS as an important partner that can push forward adoption of their hardware?