New Addition Has Twenty-year Track Record of Advancing Marine-related Analysis Software
AMSTERDAM — (BUSINESS WIRE) — November 8, 2011 — Be Inspired: Thought Leadership in Infrastructure – Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading company dedicated to providing comprehensive software solutions for sustaining infrastructure, today announced the acquisition of FormSys, based in Perth, Australia. This software development company has a proven, twenty-year track record in 3D design, analysis, and construction software for structural engineering, offshore engineering, and naval architecture. The acquisition will expand Bentley’s SACS offerings for the design and analysis of floating structures, further extending the company’s reach in the offshore energy market. SACS is an integrated finite element structural analysis suite of programs that uniquely supports the design, fabrication, installation, operations, and maintenance of offshore structures, including oil platforms and wind farms. Thirty-eight years of focus on these specialized requirements have made SACS the analysis mainstay for most of the world’s offshore engineers. FormSys brings complementary capabilities to this market leader.
CEO Greg Bentley said, “I’m pleased that we are further expanding our leadership role in deeper offshore opportunities with this acquisition. We are nowhere near the point of diminishing returns in engineering software for better-performing offshore structures – ranging from shallow water fixed oil platforms to deep water tethered wind farms – particularly as to their safety and resilience. We are mindful that ‘offshore’ makes up seventy percent of the Earth’s surface, and we would like to contribute even more toward its vital role in sustaining infrastructure.”
FormSys software, like SACS, is employed around the globe. Among the many committed users of its products are leading consulting engineering companies in the offshore sector, including Aker Solutions, DOF Subsea, and Noble Denton, and classification societies Lloyds Register, DNV, and ABS. FormSys users, as well as the users of SACS, will benefit both technically and commercially from this acquisition. FormSys software is particularly strong in the analysis of offshore vessels and structures such as offshore supply vessels, FPSOs, and drillships, as well as spars and semi-submersibles. This complements the industry-leading capabilities of the SACS product line in the design and analysis of fixed offshore structures, making the combined technology strengths a compelling fit for offshore structures of all types.
Said Santanu Das, Bentley vice president, Integrated Engineering, “On behalf of my colleagues at Bentley, I welcome our new team members from FormSys, many of whom are seasoned structural engineers and naval architects. In providing advanced tools for intact and damage stability as well as motions prediction for ships like FPSOs, Maxsurf from FormSys augments the powerful functionality of our SACS offerings, particularly for floating offshore structures. The acquired software adds to our broad range of flexible and scalable integrated structural analysis and design offerings, including STAAD, RAM, ProSteel, and Structural Modeler, and the strong presence of FormSys in the Japanese and Australian markets presents us with new opportunities for additional growth in these regions. Most importantly, our ongoing integration work, using the Integrated Structural Modeling methodology, will soon deliver uniquely comprehensive solutions across the fuller breadth of offshore structures.”
Said Philip Christensen, founder of FormSys, “My FormSys colleagues and I are extremely happy to be a part of the Bentley team. Our organizations share design priorities in the key areas of intuitive user interfaces, information modeling incorporating parametric design capabilities and advanced algorithms, and industry standards to promote interoperability among our own and other suppliers’ software and systems. Together we will enable more complete information modeling for all marine conditions, leading to offshore structures that are safer and more efficient to deliver and operate.”
The two primary products in Bentley’s FormSys portfolio are Multiframe and Maxsurf. Engineers use Multiframe for general structural analysis, lifting analysis, calculation of motion induced loads, wind loads, hydrostatic loads, stiffened plate analysis, and steel code checking. Naval architects use the Maxsurf suite of software to model vessels and floating structures, assess stability and strength, and predict motions and power requirements.
For additional information about Bentley’s FormSys software, visit www.Bentley.com/FormSys.
For additional information about news announced at Be Inspired, visit www.bentley.com/PressKits.
About Be Inspired: Thought Leadership in Infrastructure
The world’s leading practitioners have gathered this week at Be Inspired, Bentley’s premier thought leadership and networking event, in Amsterdam, Netherlands. They will share the best practices behind the successful realization of their current projects and explore new ways to respond to the challenges driving today’s business. Also in attendance are 80 journalists from around the world, who additionally participated in a special media briefing on November 7.
Be Inspired is an intimate, invitation-only event featuring presentations by the Be Inspired Awards finalists as well as executive roundtables focusing on critical issues in business, technology, and practice facing infrastructure professionals around the world. It culminates with an awards ceremony recognizing outstanding achievement and innovation in infrastructure design, construction, and operations by winners selected from 57 project finalists by five independent panels of jurors. In total, nominations from 270 organizations in 42 countries were submitted in this year’s awards program.
This annual event provides a unique forum for senior-level executives to learn about the innovations driving the development and operations of the world’s top infrastructure projects. It also enables them to engage with other industry leaders in interactive discussions on topics of importance to the business of sustaining infrastructure. For additional information about the Be Inspired: Thought Leadership in Infrastructure event, visit www.bentley.com/BeInspired.
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About Bentley Systems, Incorporated
Bentley is the global leader dedicated to providing architects, engineers, geospatial professionals, constructors, and owner-operators with comprehensive software solutions for sustaining infrastructure. Bentley’s mission is to empower its users to leverage information modeling through integrated projects for high-performing intelligent infrastructure. Its solutions encompass the MicroStation platform for infrastructure design and modeling, the ProjectWise platform for infrastructure project team collaboration and work sharing, and the AssetWise platform for infrastructure asset operations – all supporting a broad portfolio of interoperable applications and complemented by worldwide professional services. Founded in 1984, Bentley has grown to nearly 3,000 colleagues in more than 45 countries and $500 million in annual revenues. Since 2001, the company has invested more than $1 billion in research, development, and acquisitions.
Additional information about Bentley is available at www.bentley.com and in Bentley’s annual report. For Bentley news as it happens, subscribe to an RSS feed of Bentley press releases and news alerts. To view a searchable collection of innovative infrastructure projects from the annual Be Inspired Awards, access Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure publications. To access a professional networking site that enables members of the infrastructure community to connect, communicate, and learn from each other, visit Be Communities.
To download the Bentley Infrastructure 500 Top Owners ranking, a unique global compendium of the top public- and private-sector owners of infrastructure based on the value of their cumulative infrastructure investments, visit www.bentley.com/500.
Bentley, the “B” Bentley logo, Be, ProjectWise, MicroStation, STAAD, RAM, Structural Modeler, and ProSteel are either registered or unregistered trademarks or service marks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or one of its direct or indirect wholly owned subsidiaries. All other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.
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