Bentley Systems

Infobox Company
company_name = Bentley Systems, Inc.
company_
company_type = Private
foundation = Exton, Pennsylvania (1984)
location = Exton, Pennsylvania
key_people = Keith Bentley, Co-Founder
Barry Bentley, Co-Founder
Greg Bentley, CEO
industry = CAD/CAM Software [http://hoovers.com/bentley-systems/--ID__55628--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml]
products = See below.
revenue = profit $450 million USD (2007)
num_employees = 2600
homepage = [http://www.bentley.com/ bentley.com]

Bentley Systems, Incorporated, provides software for the "Design, construction and operation of the world's infrastructure". The company’s software serves the building, plant, civil, and geospatial vertical markets in the areas of architecture, engineering, construction (AEC) and operations. Their software solutions are used to design, engineer, build and operate large constructed assets such as roadways, railways, bridges, buildings, industrial and power plants and utility networks.

Bentley Systems is based in Exton, Pennsylvania, USA but has development, sales and other departments in 51 countries around the world. The company had revenues exceeding $450 million in 2007 [ [http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/bemagazine/ar2008/ Bentley 2008 annual report] ] .

History

Keith A. Bentley, in conjunction with his brother, Barry J. Bentley, founded Bentley Systems in 1984. They successfully introduced the commercial version of PseudoStation in 1985, which allowed users of Intergraph's VAX systems to use low-cost graphics terminals to view and modify the designs on their Intergraph IGDS (Interactive Graphics Design System) installations. This greatly expanded access to such designs, which could otherwise be accessed only through very expensive special purpose workstations.

The Bentley's PseudoStation experience convinced them that there was a ready market for a stand-alone personal computer-based CAD system compatible with the Intergraph CAD file format. At the time, the IBM AT personal computer, based on Intel's 80286 microprocessor, was just becoming available, and their tests showed that it had enough processing power, disk speed, and graphics capability to do the job. MicroStation Version 1, which allowed users to download files directly from their VAX system to their PC to view and plot them (a very primitive Bentley View), was introduced to the market in 1986.

oftware

Bentley's principal software solution is MicroStation. MicroStation itself is a 2D/3D CAD platform from which Bentley software divisions and third-party software companies can build more specific solutions. For example, GeoGraphics is an extension from Bentley's Geospatial vertical which adds geographic and spatial capabilities to MicroStation. Bentley has a history of buying companies that fit into their four product verticals. For example, in July 2004 Bentley purchased Haestad Methods to add water/wastewater modeling tools and simulation engines to their Geospatial software lineup.

Bentley also has a technical document / project control management solution called ProjectWise.

Bentley is a leading provider of Building Information Modeling (BIM) solutions for the Architecture, Structural, Mechanical and Electrical engineering disciplines. These BIM solutions are used on many of the largest, most complex and most innovative [http://www.be.org/awards building projects] around the world.

Bentley also provides GenerativeComponents a parametric modeling solution used primarily by architects and engineers in building design.

The current versions of Bentley products were published in summer 2006 and are branded "XM Edition" and numbered 8.9.

Bentley Geospatial in the Netherlands is mostly represented by a company formerly known as ISIS Benelux B.V.

ee also

Bentley competes with Intergraph, Autodesk, ESRI and AVEVA in the AEC, GIS and CAD software markets.

References

External links

* [http://www.bentley.com/ Bentley Systems web site]
* [http://communities.bentley.com BE Communities by Bentley]
* [http://www.bentley.com/bim Bentley site for Building Information Modeling]
* [http://www.GenerativeComponents.com GenerativeComponents web site]
* [http://www.bentleyswinningteam.com Bentley Structural solutions web site]
* [http://www.bimsummits.com BIM Executive Summits sponsored by Bentley]
* [http://www.smartgeometry2008.com Advanced Parametric design conference site featuring Bentley software users]
* [http://www.gcuser.com/ Independent help and Forum Group for users of Bentley's GenerativeComponents software]