PTC, WHICH PROVIDES collaborative product development software, has tapped technology from Idiom Technologies to provide content globalization for its worldwide customers, Idiom announced Tuesday. PTC will use Idiom's WorldServer 5.0 to globalize its software, corporate Web sites, and technical support offerings so the company can provide relevant and timely information in various languages and aligned with local business practices, according to PTC officials. Almost 60 percent of PTC's customers operate outside of North America, said Dan Starr, PTC's vice president of e-business. "Most of the companies that we deal with are in multiple countries," Starr said. "They may conceive products in one area but have manufacturing in another. They need to share design information and product development information between those two parts." With WorldServer, PTC plans to translate, localize, and maintain its software, 19 corporate Web sites, its technical support content, and marketing content. PTC plans to have its first phase of globalization -- offering its corporate site in 10 languages -- completed by the second quarter of 2002.