Bentley Systems : geoinformační křižovatka

Bentley Systems Incorporated, the leading global provider of comprehensive software solutions for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, today announced the acquisition of ACE enterprise Slovakia, provider of innovative technology solutions to interface with enterprise resource planning (ERP), enterprise asset management (EAM), and geographical information systems (GIS). ACE enterprise has been a technology partner of Bentley Systems, and the ACE Enterprise Platform is used for the Bentley AssetWise connector that is certified for both SAP ERP and SAP HANA.

Alexander Cimbalak, founder of ACE enterprise, said, “We have enjoyed our partnership with Bentley to provide enterprise connectors and are very excited to be part of Bentley and also now to enable Bentley’s digital twin cloud services to uniquely synchronize with infrastructure assets’ enterprise IT, OT, and ET data sources.”

Alan Kiraly, senior vice president, asset performance for Bentley Systems, said, “ACE enterprise has consistently overcome IT interoperability challenges for us at Bentley. Now, as colleagues, this talented team will enable us to continue to expand the scope and breadth of information that can be accessed through AssetWise and digitally aligned within infrastructure digital twins.”

About ACE enterprise Slovakia
ACE enterprise Slovakia is an innovative provider of interoperability and mobile solutions for industrial users. They have developed the ACE Enterprise Platform, which enables quick, visual development and configuration of interoperability solutions. ACE enterprise Slovakia has provided solutions to interface with ERP and EAM systems for automotive, manufacturing, mining, oil and gas, and utilities. The company was established in 2003 and is headquartered in Bratislava, Slovakia.www.ace-eprise.com

About Bentley Systems
Bentley Systems is the leading global provider of software solutions to engineers, architects, geospatial professionals, constructors, and owner-operators for the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure. Bentley’s MicroStation-based engineering and BIM applications, and its digital twin cloud services, advance the project delivery (ProjectWise) and the asset performance (AssetWise) of transportation and other public works, utilities, industrial and resources plants, and commercial and institutional facilities.

Bentley Systems employs more than 3,500 colleagues, generates annual revenues of $700 million in 170 countries, and has invested more than $1 billion in research, development, and acquisitions since 2012. From inception in 1984, the company has remained majority-owned by its five founding Bentley brothers. Bentley shares transact by invitation on the NASDAQ Private Market; strategic partner Siemens AG has accumulated a non-voting minority stake. www.bentley.com

Image and caption:
Greg Bentley, CEO, Bentley Systems announced the acquisition of ACE enterprise Slovakia, provider of enterprise software interoperability.

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Bentley, the Bentley logo, AssetWise, MicroStation, and ProjectWise 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.

Bentley Systems Announces the Acquisition of ACE enterprise Slovakia, Provider of Enterprise Software Interoperability

12.11.2018 17:19

Extends scope of infrastructure engineering digital twins beyond IoT, to include IT

Bentley Systems Incorporated, the leading global provider of comprehensive software solutions for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, today announced the acquisition of ACE enterprise Slovakia, provider of innovative technology solutions to interface with enterprise resource planning (ERP), enterprise asset management (EAM), and geographical information systems (GIS). ACE enterprise has been a technology partner of Bentley Systems, and the ACE Enterprise Platform is used for the Bentley AssetWise connector that is certified for both SAP ERP and SAP HANA.

Alexander Cimbalak, founder of ACE enterprise, said, “We have enjoyed our partnership with Bentley to provide enterprise connectors and are very excited to be part of Bentley and also now to enable Bentley’s digital twin cloud services to uniquely synchronize with infrastructure assets’ enterprise IT, OT, and ET data sources.”

Alan Kiraly, senior vice president, asset performance for Bentley Systems, said, “ACE enterprise has consistently overcome IT interoperability challenges for us at Bentley. Now, as colleagues, this talented team will enable us to continue to expand the scope and breadth of information that can be accessed through AssetWise and digitally aligned within infrastructure digital twins.”

About ACE enterprise Slovakia
ACE enterprise Slovakia is an innovative provider of interoperability and mobile solutions for industrial users. They have developed the ACE Enterprise Platform, which enables quick, visual development and configuration of interoperability solutions. ACE enterprise Slovakia has provided solutions to interface with ERP and EAM systems for automotive, manufacturing, mining, oil and gas, and utilities. The company was established in 2003 and is headquartered in Bratislava, Slovakia. www.ace-eprise.com

About Bentley Systems
Bentley Systems is the leading global provider of software solutions to engineers, architects, geospatial professionals, constructors, and owner-operators for the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure. Bentley’s MicroStation-based engineering and BIM applications, and its digital twin cloud services, advance the project delivery (ProjectWise) and the asset performance (AssetWise) of transportation and other public works, utilities, industrial and resources plants, and commercial and institutional facilities.

Bentley Systems employs more than 3,500 colleagues, generates annual revenues of $700 million in 170 countries, and has invested more than $1 billion in research, development, and acquisitions since 2012. From inception in 1984, the company has remained majority-owned by its five founding Bentley brothers. Bentley shares transact by invitation on the NASDAQ Private Market; strategic partner Siemens AG has accumulated a non-voting minority stake. www.bentley.com

Image and caption:
Greg Bentley, CEO, Bentley Systems announced the acquisition of ACE enterprise Slovakia, provider of enterprise software interoperability.

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Bentley, the Bentley logo, AssetWise, MicroStation, and ProjectWise 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.

Bentley Systems Announces Agreement to Acquire AIworx, Specialists in Machine Learning and IoT Technologies

12.11.2018 16:35

Leveraging digital twins’ analytics visibility for infrastructure asset performance

Bentley Systems Incorporated, the leading global provider of comprehensive software solutions for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, today announced it has entered an agreement to acquire Quebec City-based AIworx, Inc., provider of machine learning and internet of things (IoT) technologies and services. The addition of AIworx brings advancements in data collection and analysis to leverage infrastructure engineering digital twins, continuously updated with real-time contextual information, to optimize productivity, operations, and maintenance.

Andre Villemaire, co-founder and president of AIworx, said, “AIworx has been providing machine learning and IoT technologies and services to help organizations generate, understand, and act on data so they can make better business decisions. The biggest opportunities we’ve worked on have to do with improving infrastructure asset performance on an industrial scale, by way of the data from connected machines, instrumentation, sensors, and communications systems—and we’re excited to dedicate ourselves to that advancement. Now, by incorporating our tools into Bentley’s services for digital twins, we enable infrastructure operators to multiply the potential benefits of machine learning and IoT.”

Francois Valois, vice president of portfolio development for Bentley Systems, said, “Machine learning and IoT technologies have created the opportunity for profound improvements in productivity and efficiency of infrastructure. Our new colleagues from AIworx have already been delivering on this potential, and now, leveraging the analytics visibility, which Bentley’s digital twin cloud services uniquely provide, these advancements from going digital will accelerate exponentially!”

About AIworx
Since 2011, AIworx has been simplifying innovation by providing artificial intelligence and sensor technologies and services for the industrial, aerospace, and defense sectors. www.aiworx.com

About Bentley Systems
Bentley Systems is the leading global provider of software solutions to engineers, architects, geospatial professionals, constructors, and owner-operators for the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure. Bentley’s MicroStation-based engineering and BIM applications, and its digital twin cloud services, advance the project delivery (ProjectWise) and the asset performance (AssetWise) of transportation and other public works, utilities, industrial and resources plants, and commercial and institutional facilities.

Bentley Systems employs more than 3,500 colleagues, generates annual revenues of $700 million in 170 countries, and has invested more than $1 billion in research, development, and acquisitions since 2012. From inception in 1984, the company has remained majority-owned by its five founding Bentley brothers. Bentley shares transact by invitation on the NASDAQ Private Market; strategic partner Siemens AG has accumulated a non-voting minority stake. www.bentley.com

Image and Caption:
AIworx machine learning and IoT technologies leverage digital twins’ analytics visibility for infrastructure asset performance.

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Bentley, the Bentley logo, AssetWise, MicroStation, and ProjectWise 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.

Digital Twin Support and Open Source Promised at Bentley Conference

12.11.2018 15:40

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ENR, USA

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A tale of BIM4D and two iconic buildings in the heart of London's financial district

12.11.2018 15:26

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Between the Poles, USA

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Bentley goes open source for its digital twin products

12.11.2018 15:24

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Between the Poles, USA

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Mind the Gap: BIM Bridges the Divide Between Old Tunnels and New Trains

12.11.2018 15:08

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Bentley goes open source to enable build-your-own digital twin solutions

8.11.2018 15:41

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Spar 3D, USA

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Bentley announcements herald era of the digital twin

8.11.2018 15:34

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Power Engineering, USA

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Bentley Systems Releases Open-Source Library: iModel.js

8.11.2018 15:32

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ARC Advisory Group, USA

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Atos and Bentley Systems Announce Strategic Partnership

8.11.2018 15:30

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Bentley Advances Industrialization of Infrastructure Project Delivery

8.11.2018 15:28

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Siemens and Bentley Systems Make Two Announcements

8.11.2018 15:23

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Bentley Year in Infrastructure 2018 Conference Features Year in Infrastructure Finalists’ Best Practices, Real-World Implementations, and State-of-the-Art Technologies

7.11.2018 15:42

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AECCafe, USA

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Toward the Digital Power Plant: Siemens and Bentley Close the Gap on Design, Build, Operate, and Maintain

7.11.2018 15:39

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Renewable Energy World, USA

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Siemens Bentley Systems Announce Digitalization Effort

7.11.2018 15:36

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Diesel Gas Turbine, USA

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Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure Conference kicks off

7.11.2018 15:29

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Hydrocarbon Processing, USA

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Siemens, Bentley design digitized power plant

7.11.2018 15:22

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Electric Light & Power Online, USA

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Bentley acquires Agency9

7.11.2018 15:10

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Railway Age, USA

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Bentley going digital (twins)

6.11.2018 15:39

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Railway Age, USA

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Bentley Teams Up with Microsoft to "Industrialize" BIM Workflow

6.11.2018 15:34

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Engineering.com, USA

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Bentley Adds Pedestrian Simulator to Workflow

6.11.2018 15:28

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Engineering.com, USA

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Bentley Gives Birth to Twins

5.11.2018 15:21

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Engineering.com, USA

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Bentley iTwin Services connect your 3D and engineering data to create flexible digital twins

5.11.2018 15:18

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Spar3D, USA

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Bentley Acquires Agency9 to Help Them Realize 'Digital Twin' for Every City

5.11.2018 15:11

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Architosh, USA

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Bentley acquires LEGION, launches OpenBuildings

5.11.2018 15:02

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Railway Age, USA

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Publicly Shared Data is Called the Key to Better Infrastructure Decisions

5.11.2018 14:53

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ENR, USA

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Digital Evolution Moves on at Bentley Year in Infrastructure 2019 in London

2.11.2018 20:10

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GISCafe, USA

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Going Digital is Theme of Bentley’s YII 2018 Conference

2.11.2018 20:05

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Lidar News, USA

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iModel.js Library Released by Bentley to Open-Source

2.11.2018 20:00

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Lidar News, USA

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Digital Twin – The Key Concept from YII 2018

2.11.2018 19:55

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Lidar News, USA

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Year in Infrastructure Awards 2018 in London

2.11.2018 19:48

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Lidar News, USA

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Topcon Announces Release of Next Generation All-In-One Mass Data Processing Software

2.11.2018 19:43

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Bentley Systems Acquires LEGION, Leading Pedestrian Simulation Software

1.11.2018 15:14

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NIC chair labels UK construction industry as 'laggards'

1.11.2018 14:38

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New Civil Engineer, UK

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Bentley Systems awards winners announced

1.11.2018 14:33

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World Highways, UK

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New campaign launched to help firms embrace digital change

1.11.2018 14:30

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Infrastructure Intelligence, UK

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Bentley Systems Launches New ‘Open’ Applications

1.11.2018 14:23

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Cadventure, UK

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Bentley promises geotechnical data sharing revolution

1.11.2018 14:17

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Ground Engineering, UK

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Atos and Bentley Systems team up to create and operate infrastructure digital twins

31.10.2018 19:17

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Infrastructure Intelligence, UK

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Bentley Systems expanding product range and operations

31.10.2018 19:12

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World Highways, UK

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Atos and Bentley Systems Announce Strategic Partnership to Create Digital Twins for Owner-Operators of Industrial and Infrastructure Assets

31.10.2018 19:07

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Global Banking & Finance Review, UK

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Siemens and Bentley Systems introduce PlantSight digital twin solution

31.10.2018 19:04

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International Mining, UK

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Bentley Systems announces Year in Infrastructure 2018 Awards winners

31.10.2018 19:00

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Roads & Infrastructure Australia, Australia/New Zealand

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Bentley Systems acquires pedestrian simulation software

31.10.2018 18:44

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Bentley Systems launches new suite of modeling software applications

30.10.2018 18:47

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Siemens and Bentley Systems announce PlantSight digital twin cloud services

30.10.2018 18:45

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Oil & Gas Australia, Australia/New Zealand

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Siemens and Bentley announce integrated APM for power plants

30.10.2018 18:42

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Process Technology Online, Australia/New Zealand

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Bentley launches YII 2018 with barrage of new products, acquisitions

30.10.2018 18:40

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Bentley Systems’ New Open Design Applications Advance Comprehensive Modeling Environment

30.10.2018 18:38

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City scale digital twins to go global

30.10.2018 18:34

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New Civil Engineer, UK

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Bentley Systems Announces Year in Infrastructure 2018 Awards Winners

21.10.2018 16:30

Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading global provider of comprehensive software solutions for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, has announced the winners of the Year in Infrastructure 2018 Awards. The annual awards program honors the extraordinary work of Bentley users advancing design, construction, and operations of infrastructure throughout the world.

Twelve independent jury panels of distinguished industry experts selected the 57 finalists from 420 nominations submitted by more than 340 user organizations around the world.

At a ceremony and gala at the conclusion of Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure 2018 Conference, Bentley acknowledged 19 Year in Infrastructure Awards winners and nine Special Recognition Awards winners.

Year in Infrastructure 2018 Special Recognition Awards winners:

Advancing Collaborative Digital Workflows in Rail and Transit
China Railway Engineering Consulting Group Co., Ltd. – BIM Project for the Beijing-Zhangjiakou High-speed Railway – Beijing, China

Advancing Digital Twins for Airports
Infraero Empresa Brasileira de Infraestrutura Aeroportuária – Digital Airport-Londrina – Paraná, Brazil

Advancing Digital Twins for Bridges
Composite Structures Lab, Chung-Ang University – Innovative Bridge Maintenance System Using Digital Twin Model – Seoul, South Korea

Advancing Digital Twins for Roads and Highways
Guangxi Communications Design Group Co., Ltd. – BIM-based Collaborative Design and Construction Management of All Elements and Objects in the Lipu-Yulin Expressway Project – Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China

Advancing Digital Twins for Tunnels
AECOM – Tideway Tunnels C410 Central Contract – London, United Kingdom

Advancing Digital Twins for Utilities Transmission and Distribution
POWERCHINA Hubei Electric Engineering Corporation Limited – Cha’anling-Xiaojiazhou
220-kV Electric Transmission Line Project – Xianning City, Hubei, China

Advancing Industrialization through Digital Components for Urban Infrastructure
CCCC Water Transportation Consultants Co., Ltd. – BIM Technology Application in the Municipal Infrastructure Phase 1 Project of Zhong-Guan-Cun Science and Technology Town – Baodi District, Tianjin City, China

Advancing Digital Workflows for Asset Performance Modeling of Transit Systems
Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. – Nagpur Metro Asset Information Management System – Nagpur, Maharashtra, India

Continuous Surveying in Constructioneering
Shell Chemical Appalachia LLC and Eye-bot Aerial Solutions – Pennsylvania Chemicals Project – Monaca, Pennsylvania, United States

The winners of Year in Infrastructure 2018 Awards for going digital advancements in infrastructure are:

Bridges
PT. WIJAYA KARYA (Persero) Tbk – Design and Build of Road Bridge at Teluk Lamong Port Project – Gresik-Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia

Buildings and Campuses
Shalom Baranes Associates – Cannon House Office Building Renewal – Washington, District of Columbia, United States

Communications Networks
iForte Solusi Infotek – iForte Fiber Management System – Jakarta, Indonesia

Construction
AAEngineering Group, LLP – Phase II of Pustynnoe Gold Plant: Modernization and Capacity Increase – Balkhash, Karaganda region, Kazakhstan

Digital Cities
Yunnan Yunling Engineering Cost Consultation Co., Ltd. – New Municipal Road Construction PPP Project of the Municipal Public Facility Construction Project of Guandu Culture New City – Kunming, Yunnan, China

Environmental Engineering
PT. WIJAYA KARYA (Persero) Tbk – Landslide Disaster Protection Project on the National Road Network – Cianjur, West Java, Indonesia

Manufacturing
Digital Engineering (BIM) Center of Shenyang Aluminum & Magnesium Engineering & Research Institute Co., Ltd. – Alumina Refinery Project Cooperated between CHALCO and Indonesia – Bukit Batu, West Kalimantan, Indonesia

Mining and Offshore Engineering
Northern Engineering & Technology Corporation, MCC – SINO Iron Ore Mine – Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Power Generation
Sacyr Somague – Hydroelectric Use of the Foz Tua Dam – Foz Tua, Alijó- Vila Real, Portugal

Project Delivery
AECOM – Gaining New Perspective through ProjectWise Project Insights – United Kingdom

Rail and Transit
Skanska Costain STRABAG Joint Venture (SCS) – HS2 Main Works Lots S1 and S2 – London, United Kingdom

Reality Modeling
Skand Pty Ltd – Building Envelope Inspection Powered by Machine Learning and Reality Modeling for RMIT University Brunswick Campus – Victoria, Australia

Road and Rail Asset Performance
CSX Transportation – Annual Patch Rail Capital Planning – Jacksonville, Florida, United States

Roads and Highways
Lebuhraya Borneo Utara – Pan Borneo Highway Sarawak – Sarawak, Malaysia

Structural Engineering
Shilp Consulting Engineers – Alambagh Bus Terminal – Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

Utilities and Industrial Asset Performance
Oman Gas Company S.A.O.C. – Asset Performance Solution for Reliability Management – Al-Khuwair, Muscat, Oman

Utilities Transmission and Distribution
Pestech International Berhad – Substation Design & Automation for Olak Lempit Substation Project – Banting, Selangor, Malaysia

Water and Wastewater Treatment Plants
MCC Capital Engineering & Research Incorporation Limited – 400,000 ton/day Water Supply Project of Wenjiang District, Chengdu City – Chengdu, Sichuan, China

Water, Wastewater, and Stormwater Networks
DTK Hydronet Solutions – Conceptioneering and Master Planning of Bankura Multi Village Bulk Water Supply Scheme – Bankura, West Bengal, India

Bentley Systems has posted highlights of this year’s winning projects on its website. Detailed descriptions of all nominated projects are in the print and digital versions of its 2018 Infrastructure Yearbook, which will be published in early 2019. To review the past editions of this publication, which together feature more than 3,500 world-class projects recognized in the Year in Infrastructure Awards program since 2004, access Bentley’s Infrastructure Yearbooks.

Image and caption:
Winners of Bentley Systems Year in Infrastructure 2018 Awards

About the Year in Infrastructure Conference and Awards Program
Since 2004, the Year in Infrastructure Awards program has showcased excellence and innovation in the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure projects around the world. The awards program is the only competition of its kind that is global in scope and comprehensive in categories covered, encompassing all types of infrastructure projects. The awards program is open to all users of Bentley software. Independent panels of industry experts select finalists for each category. Learn more.

Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure Conference features a series of presentations and interactive workshops exploring the intersection of technology and business drivers, and how they are shaping the future of infrastructure project delivery and asset performance.

Shell Chemicals Project in Pennsylvania Wins Special Recognition Award for Continuous Surveying in Constructioneering

19.10.2018 2:00

Shell Chemical Appalachia LLC and Eye-bot Aerial Solutions were recognized by Bentley Systems with the Special Recognition Award for Continuous Surveying in Constructioneering at Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure Conference, held in London this week.

Shell Chemical Appalachia is constructing a multi-billion dollar, world-scale ethane cracking plant to create polyethylene in the western Pennsylvania region. To help monitor and manage construction of the facility, the organization used unmanned aerial vehicles to capture real-time, accurate data of the entire site and the surrounding areas, close to 450 acres total, and processed the data into a high-resolution orthophoto and 3D reality mesh model. The 3D data provided a strategic perspective of the existing site conditions and served as a single source of truth for both future and retrospective progress analysis, optimizing collaboration and decision making between the client and the EPC contractors, with over 500 multidiscipline end users across 10 companies.

On a weekly basis, the project team captured more than 8,000 images and processed the images as 2D and 3D deliverables within the required 72-hour window using Bentley’s ContextCapture software. The high-speed processing engines of ContextCapture produced a dimensionally accurate 3D reality mesh, enabling the identification and resolution of potential construction problems before they impact operations on site. The 3D reality mesh models are expected to facilitate inventory control and improve emergency response management.

Phil Christensen, senior vice president, reality modeling for Bentley Systems, said, “It is our pleasure to present Shell Chemical Appalachia and Eye-bot Aerial Solutions with a Special Recognition award for the pioneering work they are doing in constructioneering. Using drone imagery and our ContextCapture, the team continuously surveys and creates 3D reality meshes of the entire construction site, supporting weekly inspections and monitoring of construction progress. To do this for the entire site on a regular schedule, the team leverages Bentley’s cloud services, and we are working together to further streamline automated work flows and improve processing time.”

Jacob Lydick, President Eye-Bot Aerial Solutions, said, “Organizing the vast amount of data into an easily consumable format has proven to be one of the most difficult challenges in the UAS industry. However, with the variety of output formats available in ContextCapture, this task has become much more manageable.”

Dmitry Gurevich, Shell’s Information Technology Manager, said, “Constructing the plant of the future means embracing digitalisation. In construction, Digital is about advancing the technology that helps us staying on top of progress and assure quality, while keeping people safe. In that respect, the 3D reality mesh modelling technology has made a profound impact on ways of working on the Project, rendering benefits above and beyond of what we had imagined when starting the modelling program 18 months ago.”

New Open Applications Advance Comprehensive Modeling Environment for Multidiscipline Collaboration

18.10.2018 2:00

OpenSite Designer, OpenBuildings Designer, OpenBridge Designer, and OpenFlows FLOOD further extend Bentley’s design engineering and analysis portfolio

LONDON, U.K. – The Year in Infrastructure 2018 Conference – 18 October 2018 – Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading global provider of comprehensive software solutions for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, today launched OpenSite Designer, a built-for-purpose application for the design and construction of civil site projects. It also launched OpenBuildings, bringing together its AECOsim building design and Speedikon factory and industrial design applications; and announced the availability of OpenBuildings Station Designer, a specialized application for designing rail and metro stations. At the same time, Bentley announced the availability of OpenBridge Designer, which combines Bentley’s bridge modeling, analysis and design capabilities into one comprehensive package, and OpenFlows FLOOD, a flood analysis and early warning system.

In addition, in pursuit of its ‘industrialization’ strategy, Bentley announced it has rebranded under its Open portfolio several of its applications based on MicroStation technology which collectively accelerate the advancement of its comprehensive modeling environment by connecting digital workflows across disciplines and sharing digital components in its Connected Data Environment (CDE).

Bhupinder Singh, chief product officer, Bentley Systems, said, “Open has three meanings. First, it signifies open to multiple disciplines. Second, it means open to analysis and simulation. Using different applications, two different disciplines, for example, a geotechnical engineer and a structural engineer, can iterate on the same dataset in our comprehensive modeling environment, providing a ‘digital feedback loop’ and enhancing their collaboration across BIM workflows. And third, because MicroStation technology underpins Open applications, users can produce multidiscipline deliverables and accomplish multidiscipline clash resolution from any Open application. Bentley’s comprehensive modeling environment is ‘Open’ for collaborative digital workflows.”

Fully 49 of the 62 finalists and awardees of this year’s Year in Infrastructure Awards credited collaborative digital workflows in their successful outcomes. For example, OpenRoads, Bentley’s civil design applications for road networks, is credited by 22 awards finalists’ projects in 12 categories, and OpenPlant, Bentley’s plant design project management applications, is credited by 10 finalists’ projects in 9 different categories. ProjectWise and/or AssetWise were credited by finalists’ projects in 16 of 19 awards categories this year.

OpenSite Designer
The collaborative nature of digital workflows connecting analysis and simulation with design and modeling is exemplified in OpenSite, Bentley’s new solution for the design and construction of civil site projects. OpenSite provides rapid site modeling and analysis, earthwork optimization and quantification, drainage and underground utilities, and automated project deliverables.

OpenSite Designer provides the most comprehensive site design workflow available including reality modeling, geotechnical, underground utilities, stormwater drainage, terrain modeling, detailed drawing production, and visualization. OpenSite Designer optimizes design outcomes with multidiscipline information modeling and analysis. Interoperating with PLAXIS, Bentley’s newly acquired geotechnical engineering solution, site plans can be enhanced with new information about the active properties of soil including bearing capacity, stresses, and displacement.

OpenBuildings Designer
The newly launched OpenBuildings Designer incorporates all of the capabilities of AECOsim Building Designer as well as Components Center and a range of new capabilities and standards including EnergyPlus, a building energy model to help users comply with ASHRAE standards in the US, and UK energy requirements; support of international standards including IFC 2x3, IFC4 Reference View, COBie, and Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority; new capabilities to design curtain wall systems; and OpenBuildings Speedikon, a leading application for industrialized design and construction. OpenBuildings Designer takes advantage of collaborative digital workflows with other applications in Bentley’s Open portfolio, for example templates in OpenBuildings Station Designer for tunnel segments created through GenerativeComponents based on linear alignment from OpenRail. Showcasing their robustness and versatility, OpenBuildings applications were credited by 32 of 62 of the Year in Infrastructure Awards finalists projects in 15 of 19 categories.

OpenBridge Designer
OpenBridge Designer is a new, all-encompassing application that integrates the modeling capabilities of OpenBridge Modeler and the analysis and design features of RM Bridge, LEAP Bridge Concrete, and LEAP Bridge Steel to meet the design and construction needs of both concrete and steel bridges. OpenBridge Designer enables bridge designers to rapidly create an intelligent, parametric bridge model, fully integrated with analysis and design, as well as drawings. It enables seamless synchronization of various disciplines for analysis, design, detailing, documentation, construction engineering and load-rating.

OpenFlows FLOOD
Bentley also announced the rebranding of its Haestad water modeling and ACTION Modulers flood analysis product lines to form OpenFlows for water districts, sewer utilities and flood plain managers. OpenFlows extends smart water networks capabilities with GIS-based asset-centric information for water loss reduction, water operations, flood prediction and prevention. OpenFlows FLOOD continuously monitors watersheds, integrating data from real-time monitoring stations and numerical models to calculate risk levels. OpenFlows FLOOD mitigates flood risk, improving understanding of the processes involved in flood generation, and transmitting early alerts to reduce the impact caused by floods.

Connecting Digital Workflows Across Disciplines
Applications for analysis and simulation, on the one hand, can collaboratively and iteratively work with applications for design and modeling, and on the other, connect operational workflows and converge the work of different disciplines. Collaborative digital workflows are characterized by data captured or created for one purpose being accessed and used by other applications for other purposes thereby saving time, minimizing rework, and improving data quality over the asset lifecycle.

An example of multidiscipline collaboration with OpenFlows involves workflows that use ContextCapture to create a 3D reality mesh, feeding into OpenFlows FLOOD modeling and using the terrain as input to various analyses in a single review environment for visualization and presentation to stakeholders using LumenRT.

Connecting analysis with modeling in another Open collaborative digital workflow involves the layout of road geometry, and hydraulic analysis and design using storm analysis tools including the determination of the size of storm inlets, pipes, depth of pipes, and manholes. The collaborative nature of the workflow enables clash detection in the subsurface environment, and iteration and adjustment as needed, to confirm functional and physical characteristics.

Other instances of Open collaborative digital workflows connecting design and analysis include OpenUtilities with Siemens’ PSS©SINCAL, which helps utilities improve resilience and deal with weak spots in the grid; and OpenBuildings Station Designer with LEGION pedestrian simulation, to enable designers to design, test, and validate simulations of scenarios for pedestrian traffic.

Rebranding
Completing its announcement about Open applications, Bentley said that Bentley Map will be rebranded as OpenCities Map; and OpenComms, aimed primarily at multisystem operators, will incorporate Bentley Fiber and Bentley Coax.

About Bentley Systems
Bentley Systems is the leading global provider of software solutions to engineers, architects, geospatial professionals, constructors, and owner-operators for the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure. Bentley’s MicroStation-based engineering and BIM applications, and its digital twin cloud services, advance the project delivery (ProjectWise) and the asset performance (AssetWise) of transportation and other public works, utilities, industrial and resources plants, and commercial and institutional facilities.

Bentley Systems employs more than 3,500 colleagues, generates annual revenues of $700 million in 170 countries, and has invested more than $1 billion in research, development, and acquisitions since 2012. From inception in 1984, the company has remained majority-owned by its five founding Bentley brothers. Bentley shares transact by invitation on the NASDAQ Private Market; strategic partner Siemens AG has accumulated a non-voting minority stake.

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Bentley, the Bentley logo, AECOsim Building Designer, AssetWise, ContextCapture, LEGION, LumenRT, MicroStation, OpenBridge, OpenBuildings, OpenCities, OpenCities Map, OpenComms, OpenFlows, OpenRoads, OpenUtilities, and ProjectWise 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.

Bentley Systems Releases Open-Source Library: iModel.js

17.10.2018 2:00

Open-source JavaScript library for creating immersive connections to
infrastructure digital twins

LONDON, U.K. – The Year in Infrastructure 2018 Conference – 17 October 2018 – Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading global provider of comprehensive software solutions for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, today announced the initial release of its iModel.js library, an open-source initiative to improve the accessibility, for both visualization and analytical visibility, of infrastructure digital twins. iModel.js can be used by developers and IT professionals to quickly and easily create immersive applications that connect their infrastructure digital twins with the rest of their digital world. iModel.js is the cornerstone of Bentley’s just-announced iTwin™ Services that combine iModelHub, reality modeling, and web-enabling software technologies within a Connected Data Environment (CDE) for infrastructure engineering.

Bentley’s iModels have become a de facto standard for visibility into digital engineering models. iModelHub manages an iModel as a distributed database with an intrinsic ledger of changes—enabling alignment, accountability, and accessibility of its digital components—to form the backbone of an infrastructure digital twin.

The iModel.js library is a comprehensive collection of JavaScript packages that build on the most open, popular, and flexible standards for modern cloud and web development. It is written in TypeScript, and leverages open technologies including SQLite, Node.js, NPM, WebGL, Electron, Docker, Kubernetes, and of course HTML5 and CSS. The same codebase can produce cloud services and web, mobile, and desktop applications. The source code is hosted on GitHub and is distributed under the MIT license.

With iModel.js, it is simple to create a web-based experience that shows interactive “nD” views (1D, 2D, 3D, 4D, etc.) of iModels that are assembled and synchronized from BIM files and other digital engineering models, and from data created directly with iModel.js. Those same views can also include digital (reality) context, real-time sensor data, and other data from enterprise sources and analytics. Since the iModel is synchronized by iModelHub, it always reflects the most recent updates from all project participants, who are thus able to visualize and analyze changes between points in time or between versions. Importantly, only users and applications authorized by the iModel owner, through iModelHub, are granted access through iModel.js.

Johan Palm, program manager – Digital Project Delivery at Hatch, said, “iModel.js gives Hatch the ability to implement a stakeholder engagement technology that extends the iModelHub visionary technology. We can expose complex project information to a level that is accessible, consumable, and extendable via the cloud and in context to the 3D model. Most importantly we can do so in a manner that embraces change as the project progresses. iModel.js aligns with Hatch’s internal development strategies as it is built on modern, highly portable web technology. Bentley is a key software technology partner on Hatch projects globally where our main objective is to provide a positive impact to our client’s assets and operations.”

Cai Chengguo, chair and general manager, Shenzhen Expressway Consulting Group, said, “The digital twin powered by iModelHub is efficiently improving project management, substantially reducing the waste of resources caused by site problems and will achieve digital handover after completion of the project for visual operations and maintenance.”

Keith Bentley, Bentley Systems’ founder and CTO, said, “We firmly believe that iModel.js, and of course the foundation upon which it is built, is the most open, productive, intuitive, and powerful development environment for capital projects and infrastructure assets, ever. We’re excited to work with user organizations, strategic partners, and third-party developers to build an open ecosystem around iModels to tap the vast potential of infrastructure digital twins. With iModel.js, the well-refined techniques of mainstream cloud and web development can leverage the physical and virtual reality in digital twins with near-zero impedance. By open-sourcing the libraries we use to create our iTwin™ cloud services, we expect to foster a substantial and vibrant ecosystem of innovation.”

More about iModel.js: iModeljs.org

More about iModels and iModelHub: iModelHub.com

About Bentley Systems
Bentley Systems is the leading global provider of software solutions to engineers, architects, geospatial professionals, constructors, and owner-operators for the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure. Bentley’s MicroStation-based engineering and BIM applications, and its digital twin cloud services, advance the project delivery (ProjectWise) and the asset performance (AssetWise) of transportation and other public works, utilities, industrial and resources plants, and commercial and institutional facilities.

Bentley Systems employs more than 3,500 colleagues, generates annual revenues of $700 million in 170 countries, and has invested more than $1 billion in research, development, and acquisitions since 2012. From inception in 1984, the company has remained majority-owned by its five founding Bentley brothers. Bentley shares transact by invitation on the NASDAQ Private Market; strategic partner Siemens AG has accumulated a non-voting minority stake.

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Bentley, the Bentley logo, AssetWise, Connected Data Environment, iTwin, MicroStation, and ProjectWise 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.

Going Digital (Twins):<br> Bentley Inaugurates iTwin™ Services!

16.10.2018 2:00

Confluence of technologies enables project digital twins and performance digital twins for infrastructure engineering

LONDON, U.K. – The Year in Infrastructure 2018 Conference - 16 October 2018 – Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading global provider of comprehensive software solutions for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, today announced the forthcoming availability of iTwin™ Services, digital twin cloud services for infrastructure projects (project digital twins) and assets (performance digital twins). iTwin™ Services can be transparently provisioned within Bentley’s Connected Data Environment (CDE) for ProjectWise and AssetWise users.

Requirements for Realizing the Potential of Infrastructure Digital Twins
Infrastructure asset owners and their teams have recognized the potential for leveraging digital twins in many ambitious use cases including the application of analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in simulations and decision support throughout the lifecycle of design, construction, and operations. To realize this potential, representations of assets need obviously to be digital—but to be safely relied upon as a twin there must be practical solutions for their synchronization to changing actual conditions in the real world. Moreover, merely capturing and representing physical conditions, including IoT inputs, can never be sufficient to understand, analyze, or model intended improvements, without also comprehending the “digital DNA” captured in the project or asset’s engineering specifications.

To actually be worthwhile, therefore, would-be digital twins for existing infrastructure must reliably synchronize reflections of both an asset’s physical reality, and its “virtuality” (engineering data). A digital twin can meet this requirement by geospatially converging the digital context (representing the physical) and digital components (representing the virtual), naturally resulting in an immersive environment for both visualization and analytics visibility.

To date, however, the evolving 3D physical reality of an as-operated asset has been too formidably difficult to capture digitally, let alone to keep up-to-date. Meanwhile, corresponding, as-operated engineering information tends to be unavailable or at best, dated, as typically an assortment of effectively inaccessible “dark data” in either opaque engineering files or unintelligent document formats. Bentley has now surmounted both of these challenges, with the confluence of its reality modeling, iModelHub, CDE, and web-visibility technologies.

Reality Modeling
A representation of any infrastructure asset’s physical reality can now be reliably captured and maintained through increasingly continuous surveys and Bentley’s reality modeling software, providing digital context in the form of “reality meshes”. Overlapping photographs and (as needed) supplemental laser scans, largely from drones and ground-level imagery, are processed to generate spatially-classified and engineering-ready reality meshes at any desired level of accuracy—within which each digital component can be automatically recognized and/or geospatially referenced. The reality mesh can provide an efficient and immersive visual “twin” to intuitively navigate for finding, viewing, and querying the associated information within, or related to, the asset’s digital engineering models.

Adding iModelHub within CDE
The challenge in comparably capturing and maintaining these engineering counterparts of the physical asset— its digital components—is the opacity of their existing representations, compounded by continuous changes. Bentley’s iModelHub, introduced in 2017, overcomes these hurdles through automated digital alignment (to achieve semantic consistency from otherwise dark data in known formats), and synchronization, based on change ledgers, corresponding to the CDE’s project workflows (ProjectWise) or configuration management (AssetWise).

Web Visibility
Once populated and synchronized by way of digital context and digital components, iTwin™ Services deliver their benefits through Bentley’s new (separately announced) open-source iModel.js library (iModeljs.org) for web-based immersive visualization. Infrastructure teams can easily develop custom applications that connect their digital twin for specific use cases by leveraging a vast open source ecosystem. In addition, a geospatially immersive environment for city-scale digital twins is now available through Bentley’s new OpenCities Planner services.

Introducing Project Digital Twins
ProjectWiseCONNECT Edition users of Bentley’s CDE can instantiate cloud-provisioned iTwin™ Services for any project without disruption to their existing ProjectWise workflows. iModelHub will then transparently create and maintain the project’s comprehensive iModel: a distributed database, with its intrinsic change ledger updated at each deliverable-in-progress check-in state. For each such update to engineering information, application-specific “information bridge” processing effectuates digital alignment of the iModel’s digital components.

To the extent of available reality modeling for the physical site, the CDE’s corresponding ContextShare service maintains updated digital context. The iModel’s digital components and ContextShare digital context are immersively merged through Navigator Web and iModel.js visualization, as authorized and secured by iModelHub.

Accordingly, iTwin™ Services enable comprehensive project status reviews to be continuously available, synchronized to any requested project state on the iModel change ledger timeline, and/or for visualization and analytics visibility into changes between any project timeline states. iTwin™ Services will also integrate Bentley’s SYNCHRO 4D construction modeling.

iTwin™ Services for project digital twins will be available early in 2019, with quarterly base subscription charges for each iTwin™ based upon its scale, in terms of digital components and digital context, and inclusive of cloud provisioning and web accessibility.

Adding Performance Digital Twins
The iModel.js library supports functionality to create and curate iTwins fit for particular asset performance purposes, including “agent” updating of “data lakes” for analytics visibility. This enables emerging AI and mixed reality technologies to be advantageously applied throughout an asset’s lifecycle, and across assets—relying, for assured fidelity spanning physical reality and engineering data, upon the necessary digital alignment, change synchronization, and immersive visualization uniquely provided by iTwin™Services.

Also at the Conference, Siemens and Bentley unveiled PlantSight™, a new range of cloud services to be jointly offered for as-operated digital twins of any process plants. PlantSight will provide increasingly comprehensive as-operated digital twin services, to incorporate Bentley’s AssetWise APM with Siemens’ operational technologies, MindSphere, and Teamcenter, for industrial plants’ asset performance modeling. And to accelerate owners going digital, Atos and Bentley announced a new strategic partnership to create and curate performance digital twins.

Keith Bentley, Bentley Systems founder and CTO, said “Our work with early adopters of iModelHub over the past year has confirmed to me that its unique strengths for alignment, accountability, and accessibility find their highest and best use, in conjunction with our reality modeling technologies, for enabling project digital twins and performance digital twins. I look forward to actively working with users and external developers to create an open ecosystem of innovation for iTwin™Services, leveraging the iModel.js library. I expect Bentley Systems to lead the infrastructure engineering community, as the ‘infrastructure digital twin’ company!” Learn More.

About Bentley Systems
Bentley Systems is the leading global provider of software solutions to engineers, architects, geospatial professionals, constructors, and owner-operators for the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure. Bentley’s MicroStation-based engineering and BIM applications, and its digital twin cloud services, advance the project delivery (ProjectWise) and the asset performance (AssetWise) of transportation and other public works, utilities, industrial and resources plants, and commercial and institutional facilities.

Bentley Systems employs more than 3,500 colleagues, generates annual revenues of $700 million in 170 countries, and has invested more than $1 billion in research, development, and acquisitions since 2012. From inception in 1984, the company has remained majority-owned by its five founding Bentley brothers. Bentley shares transact by invitation on the NASDAQ Private Market; strategic partner Siemens AG has accumulated a non-voting minority stake.

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Bentley, the Bentley logo, AssetWise, Connected Data Environment, ContextCapture, iModel, iModelHub, iTwin, MicroStation, Navigator Web, OpenCities Planner, ProjectWise, and SYNCHRO are either registered or unregistered trademarks or service marks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or one of its direct or indirect wholly owned subsidiaries. PlantSight is a trademark of Siemens AG and Siemens PLMS Inc. All other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

Topcon and Bentley strengthen constructioneering initiatives and programs

15.10.2018 2:00

Constructioneering Academies expand insights, create change

LONDON – The Year in Infrastructure 2018 Conference – October 15, 2018 – Topcon Positioning Group, a world leader in positioning technology for the survey and construction industries, and Bentley Systems, the leading global provider of comprehensive software solutions for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, announce new developments in the constructioneering workflow initiative.

Constructioneering Academy
The Bentley Year in Infrastructure Conference 2018 (YII) marks the first anniversary of the launch of the Constructioneering Academy initiative of Topcon and the Bentley Institute. The program has been held in multiple locations across North America and Australia throughout the first year and now expands into Europe with the first London-based Constructioneering Academy, part of the YII.

“The Constructioneering Academies are filled with a mix of professionals from companies, governmental agencies and organizations who are involved in putting important infrastructure projects into motion and seeing them through to completion. The uniqueness of the dialogue taking place among participants, representing more than 80 organizations in the first year, cannot be overstated,” said Ewout Korpershoek, executive vice president of Topcon Positioning Group. “The program’s educational and collaborative atmosphere is creating awareness of potential productivity gaps that can be encountered on a project, and how those gaps can be filled, resulting in a paradigm shift in how work can be accomplished.”

Alan Lamont, Bentley Systems’ vice president for Digital Advancement Academies, said, “The active participation and feedback that we have experienced during the various Constructioneering Academy events have been very informative and encouraging. The level of interest and feedback demonstrate that there is a clear need for automated digital workflows between design and construction to help project teams be more efficient and avoid mistakes. We look forward to expanding the reach of Constructioneering Academies to other geographic locations.”

“We are looking forward to building upon the success of the inaugural year of the Constructioneering Academy,” said Ron Oberlander, vice president of Global Professional Services for Topcon Positioning Group. “The industry needs these types of programs as a catalyst to drive digital automation adoption. A key part of the initiative is the interaction of field and office professionals from the ‘front lines’ and we are excited to provide this opportunity to professionals around the world.

“We believe the Constructioneering Academies are truly fostering progress. For the industry to be successful in meeting future infrastructure demands, we have to change the mindsets and processes on how we approach construction. What Topcon and Bentley have initiated and will continue to evolve is an exciting journey to help shape that change,” Oberlander said.

As additional dates and locations for the Constructioneering Academy become available, they will be provided at constructioneering.com/academy.

Integration agreement
As part of the ongoing constructioneering initiative, the companies have signed an agreement that will integrate the Topcon point cloud and 3D mesh service, MAGNET Collage Web, with the Bentley ContextCapture Cloud Processing Service. The Bentley cloud service enables operators to upload UAV imagery direct-to-web without the need for high-end hardware requirements or IT constraints. Topcon instrument, control systems and software users will benefit from an industry-leading, cloud-based photogrammetric engine for fast generation of 3D engineering-ready reality meshes and digital surface models.

Ted Lamboo, senior vice president of Bentley’s strategic partnerships, said, “We are very pleased with Topcon’s expanded commitment, through MAGNET Collage Web integration, to Bentley’s ContextCapture reality modeling cloud services. Now, all of Topcon’s positioning technologies can help to continuously survey a site’s digital context, synchronizing project digital twins to make constructioneering even more compelling.”

“The agreement for a web-based integrated workflow solution is an excellent example of the ongoing collaboration of Topcon and Bentley to simplify and speed up digital construction workflows,” Korpershoek said. “Through our partnership, we are continuously working together to create new solutions to improve survey, engineering, and construction processes.”

About Topcon Positioning Group
Topcon Positioning Group is headquartered in Livermore, California, U.S. (topconpositioning.com). Its European head office is in Capelle a/d IJssel, the Netherlands. Topcon Positioning Group designs, manufactures and distributes precision measurement and workflow solutions for the global construction, geospatial and agriculture markets. Its brands include Topcon, Sokkia, Tierra, Digi-Star, RDS Technology, and NORAC. Topcon Corporation (topcon.com), founded in 1932, is traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (7732).

About Bentley Systems
Bentley Systems is the leading global provider of software solutions to engineers, architects, geospatial professionals, constructors, and owner-operators for the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure. Bentley’s MicroStation-based engineering and BIM applications, and its digital twin cloud services, advance the project delivery (ProjectWise) and the asset performance (AssetWise) of transportation and other public works, utilities, industrial and resources plants, and commercial and institutional facilities.

Bentley Systems employs more than 3,500 colleagues, generates annual revenues of $700 million in 170 countries, and has invested more than $1 billion in research, development, and acquisitions since 2012. From inception in 1984, the company has remained majority-owned by its five founding Bentley brothers. Bentley shares transact by invitation on the NASDAQ Private Market; strategic partner Siemens AG has accumulated a non-voting minority stake.

About Constructioneering
Constructioneering automates digital construction processes through surveying, engineering design, constructible model development, and as-built data collection within a connected data environment to improve construction execution and reduce project costs.

About Constructioneering Academy
The Constructioneering Academy is designed to educate civil design build professionals on the digital construction process. Attendees will learn how they can leverage mass data, digital cameras, design models, and automated machine control to win more work and execute their next project more efficiently.

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Press Contact:
Topcon Positioning Group
CorpComm@topcon.com
Staci Fitzgerald, +1 925-245-8610

Suez Water Technologies & Solutions Leverages Digital DNA to Meet India’s Energy Production Requirements

15.10.2018 2:00

Greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants have been a critical challenge for India and it is a challenge that needs to be addressed head on given the country’s increasing demand for electricity. For example, electricity consumption grew from 375.39 billion kilowatt hours in 2000 to 1.108 trillion kilowatt hours in 2018. Additionally, electric power generation grew from 529.12 billion kilowatt hours in 2000 to 1.311 trillion kilowatt hours in 2018. The aspiration for rapid economic growth leading to industrialization, accelerated urbanization, and mechanization of agriculture is responsible for this growth in demand.

As part of India’s growth in solar energy, Adani Mundra Solar PV Limited manufactures solar cells for the Indian market. To obtain successful operational and financial performance, Adani Mundra Solar PV’s 1-gigawatt solar PV cell manufacturing project requires the continuous and reliable production of ultra-pure water 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. Ultra-pure water (UPW) systems are often referred to as the “life blood” of modern solar cell production facilities. The cell products will encounter UPW on many occasions during their production cycle, and any disruption of service and/or “out-of-spec” water can seriously compromise their yield, costing perhaps millions of dollars in lost production.

Suez Water Technologies & Solutions (SWTS) is the worldwide industry leader in the UPW systems business to both the semiconductor and solar industries. SWTS’ patented UPW generation using membranes and filters produces 1-gigawatt-capacity PV cells and modules for solar power plants, enabling the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. Adani Mundra Solar PV contracted SWTS to design, engineer, procure, supply, erect, commission, and performance test a new solar PV manufacturing facility. The facility was required to produce 1,560 cubic meters per day in UPW production, plus 2,280 cubic meters per day in the UPW loop. This was made more complicated for SWTS because of the need to take influent flow from an existing 20 milliliters-per-day seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plant, which has a high total-organic-carbon (TOC) -5.9 ppm, very high chlorides (380 ppm), and very low hardness/alkalinity, which would cause severe corrosion in carbon-steel and stainless-steel materials. As a result, this project required innovative, one-of-a-kind thinking in both materials, manufacturing techniques, and in new, improved design modeling and project delivery methodologies.

Using a variety of Bentley applications, including OpenPlant, AutoPIPE, Navigator, ProSteel, and STAAD, SWTS created and implemented a digital model for managing this project. From performing structural analysis of polypropylene (PP) tanks to performing stress analysis, performing detailed civil, concrete, and tank design, managing multidiscipline design reviews, and producing detailed bills of materials directly from the digital model, SWTS was able to revolutionize their digital workflows and leverage the digital DNA they have created. Moreover, remote offices were connected via Bentley’s Connected Data Environment (CDE), based on ProjectWise, to ensure that the latest version of drawings and deliverables were always shared by the customer and site teams.

SWTS realized significant ROI by implementing these technologies and techniques. Savings include approximately USD 70,000 through optimized pipe routings and reduced field rework and 30-percent savings in resource hours during the design modeling phase (USD 35,000).
Utilizing Bentley software also lessened the civil, structural, piping, and cable tray site execution time by 60 days, resulting in a flawless construction of civil foundations, concrete and steel structures, equipment, piping plus allied supports, cable tray, and instrumentation within the stipulated project schedule.

A Suez Water Technologies & Solutions Engineering spokesperson said, “Bentley as a single solution provider successfully paved the way for analysis, modeling, designing, detailing, and documenting in a more prudent way, which met SWTS’s patented ultra-pure water generation using membranes and filters for solar power plant execution, on time and with high quality. SWTS’ efforts to industrialize their project delivery have enabled the company to reinforce its position as one of the world’s leading providers of UPW systems.”

Bentley’s Connected Data Environment Improves Collaboration on Thames Tideway Project

15.10.2018 2:00

The London sewerage system was designed in the Victorian era to serve a population of 4 million people. There are now more than 8 million people in London, and this growth has put significant strain on the system, causing it to spill millions of tons of sewage into the tidal section of the River Thames each year. This happens about 50 times during a year. The Thames Tideway Project will reduce these occurrences to about four a year. The project has been divided into three contracts, East, Central, and West with a total value exceeding GBP 4 billion. There are many challenges facing a project of this scale, from marine construction works in the River Thames, creating a new profile to the river walls, to solving design issues where large gas mains are present in proximity to the existing rivers walls. Therefore, it is critical that such services are protected during construction works.

AECOM, part of a joint venture consisting of Ferrovial Agroman and Laing O’Rourke (‘Flo’), is the main designer on the Central Contract to the Main Works Contractor. AECOM undertook to host the Central Contract on behalf of Flo using Bentley Systems’ Connected Data Environment based on ProjectWise for its ability to manage engineering data and its scalability from small to large projects. Using workflows, defined document coding, and managed workspaces, AECOM has delivered a controlled and secure CDE to manage this highly complex project. ProjectWise, as the hub of the CDE and leveraging the established project standards, provides a central repository for all project data produced by each stakeholder involved on this contract. This ensures that they are working to a common standard, including temporary and permanent works.

MicroStation and OpenBuildings Designer act as the deliverables format for drawings and models, as defined by the main client. AECOM adopted these applications because of their compatibility with each other and with ProjectWise. AECOM also used Bentley Rebar, Navigator, Pointools, Descartes, gINT, Bentley Facilities Manager, and ContextCapture. Using these interoperable applications ensured limited risk and avoided the need for additional processes.

AECOM has already realized numerous benefits and savings through the adoption of a digital twin and a CDE. iModels were produced from the Design Master Model on a weekly and monthly basis and available for all stakeholders to see the development of each site as it progressed. The project team used the iModels to carry out multidiscipline clash checks that were sent to the design and modeling teams to resolve. The project team also used iModels during the internal design review process. Using the project digital twin and CDE also resulted in “non-engineering” savings, including increased IT security and reliability, better access and editing control, improved automatic PDF generation, and reduced travel costs for project members by enabling real-time access anywhere, at any time.

Barry Jones, associate director and BIM manager with AECOM, said, “Bentley ProjectWise provided the controlled environment in which to build a virtual representation of the assets of eight individual sites, comprising multiple disciplines, producing more than 140,000 documents from more than 40 stakeholders, consisting of more than 1,000 users in a coordinated fashion through the design phase and into construction and as-constructed in preparation for a handback to the client.”

Innovative Bridge Maintenance System Uses Digital Twins on Hannam Bridge Rehabilitation Project

15.10.2018 2:00

The Hannam Bridge was commission in 1976 and, at the time, it was considered the foundation of the infrastructure system in South Korea. After more than 40 years of operation, the bridge, as well as hundreds of other same-generation bridges, are aged and deteriorating and reaching the end of their design life. As a result, there is an urgent demand for bridge maintenance or rehabilitation across the country’s infrastructure while also ensuring that construction does not impede the flow of transportation. To ensure that there is a strict monitoring and inspection system and efficient rehabilitation, the Korean government developed a new bridge maintenance system (BMS).

The ongoing deterioration of bridges is a serious concern for transportation agencies and emphasizes the need for a cost-effective, proactive strategy to provide preventive maintenance. Therefore, the establishment of a new generation BMS provides a more reliable decision-making process for bridge maintenance. Object-oriented 3D models were utilized to provide the level of detail, analysis, evaluation, and collaborative workflows needed during the design process and support BIM methodologies required for the new BMS system.

The bridge maintenance team created a digital twin to be paired with a physical entity and then represent its existence to help with monitoring and data analysis. First, a 3D geometry model was generated using the as-built document of the existing bridge using OpenBridge Modeler. Next, a “reversed” 3D surface model was created using ContextCapture and a 3D scanning procedure. Noteworthy in this 3D model is the combination of photo scanning using drones for the lateral and top surface model, and laser scanning cloud data for the bottom surface model. At the end of this task, the 3D models are overlapped based on predefined marks, which are included within the digital twin and attached to the real bridge before 3D scanning procedure. The overlapped model can be considered as the performance digital twin of the physical bridge, including damage records, and represents the as-is model at the beginning of the maintenance project.

Lastly, RM Bridge was used to derive an analysis model from the digital twin for assessing the future behavior of the bridge. Using the digital twin, inspection work can be implemented automatically with a camera and the aid of a damage detection framework, which uses image processing and image tracing methodology. Once the damage is detected, cracks, material degradation, corrosion of steel elements, or other issues are assessed to determine reduction of structural parameters. A chain of analysis cases is conducted according to different combined load cases. The results are then compared and discussed, and the future behavior of the bridge is analyzed. Using digital twins helps the bridge management team determine required repair/strengthening measures in the new bridge maintenance system to better manage the monitoring and inspection system for all Korean bridges.

ChangSu Shim, a professor at Chung-Ang University, said, “Modeling, specifically mesh partitioning, is the most time-consuming task related to the analysis procedure. However, [Bentley’s bridge applications] help engineers to directly achieve and optimize the 3D mesh, which significantly reduces modeling time on the project.”

Voyants Solutions Industrializes BIM Workflows to Design Iconic Station for Indian Railways

15.10.2018 2:00

Voyants Solutions Private Limited was selected to design an iconic new Gwalior Railway Station that would complement the existing station and attract tourism. The firm used BIM models and workflows to optimize building design and incorporate existing structures. Voyants Solutions designed a structure and development plan that specifically accommodated the challenging requirement of keeping the existing station fully operational during construction.

Like the city of Gwalior, the railway station will be a combination of new and old. The station sits between the old city of Gwalior to the west and the new settlement to the east. The proposed design embraces the old heritage station, which remains a focal point, and adds a light-weight shell structure based on the arch of the existing building. These new modular three-dimensional arches will bring light and new life to the complex. The project designers faced unique constraints to their design since the station will remain fully operational with all platforms open during construction. Voyants Solutions determined that it could meet these specifications with a framed structure, where multiple components could be fabricated off-site and placed in position with the help of cranes. The construction team would cast the pile foundations in-situ, using auger boring and self-compacting concrete.

Voyants Solutions constructed a complete BIM model using Bentley software. They designed the structure in MicroStation and STAAD.Pro, then created a digital engineering model in OpenBuildings Designer. The design required parametric modeling, 3D modeling, and animation. Given the parametrically controlled model, a base component was generated and informed based on site constraints. The complete BIM model made it easy to understand design requirements and optimize project results. Sustainability was a key feature of the design. The team used building energy modeling technology to optimize natural light and minimize the heat gain of the building. By incorporating large overhangs, shading features, and natural ventilation, the firm reduced the heat gain of the building by 40 percent.

A team of five designers at Voyants Solutions prepared the plan set and 3D model for this project in one month. Voyants Solutions estimated labor-hour savings of 30 percent for this proposal and a 500 percent ROI for the project. Bentley software helped the organization industrialize its BIM workflows to quickly deliver a high-quality design with a cohesive scheme.

Upendar Rao Kollu, managing director at Voyants Solutions, said, “Innovative designs need innovative applications. Bentley applications have allowed the multidiscipline team to work on a single platform and create iconic designs.” The Voyants Solutions team succeeded in creating a visually stunning and functional design for the Gwalior Railway Station that will improve passenger-related amenities, serve as a community hub, and contribute to the economic development of the local community.

Siemens and Bentley Systems announce PlantSight digital twin cloud services

15.10.2018 2:00

Solution enables up-to-date, as-operated digital twins − synchronizing the real plant and its engineering representations − for more efficient process plant operations
Integration of different kinds of data sources to create holistic digital context for aligned digital components

LONDON, U.K. – The Year in Infrastructure 2018 Conference – 15 October 2018 – Siemens and Bentley Systems announced today the introduction of PlantSight, resulting from development together based on their highly complementary software portfolios. PlantSight is a digital solution to benefit customers through more efficient plant operations. PlantSight enables as-operated and up-to-date digital twins which synchronize with both physical reality and engineering data, creating a holistic digital context for consistently understood digital components across disparate data sources, for any operating plant. Plant operators benefit from high trustworthiness and quality of information for continuous operational readiness and more reliability.

Every real-world operating plant is characterized by cumulative evolution, both to its brownfield physical condition and to the varied types and formats of theoretically corresponding engineering data. Accordingly, as-operated digital twins must reliably synchronize reflections of both the physical reality and its virtual engineering representations, comprehensively and accurately. Moreover, further frequent changes are inevitable. With PlantSight, every process plant owner-operator can realize the benefits of as-operated digital twins – without disruption to their existing physical or virtual environment.

For process industries, characterized by ongoing capital projects, the effectiveness of digital twins depends upon the integrity and accessibility of as-operated information presented and continuously updated in trusted 2D schematic and 3D model formats. PlantSight provides all stakeholders with cloud/web-enabled visibility and access into existing data and tool interfaces, assuring that changes are timely and accurately captured and managed.

With PlantSight as-operated digital twin cloud services, operational and project-related engineering data is aligned seamlessly. All disciplines and stakeholders have immediate access to consistent representations. Especially for brownfield installations, the time and effort to federate and complete asset information will be significantly reduced, with plant documentation kept up to date, and its quality accordingly improved.

Greg Bentley, CEO for Bentley Systems, said, “From the start of Bentley Systems’ strategic alliance with Siemens, we have together seen our development of PlantSight as having perhaps the most significance for our marketplace. Siemens’ announced combination of its digital offerings for discrete and process plants enables our bringing together, through a cloud service, the complementary elements of COMOS, OpenPlant, MindSphere, and Teamcenter. PlantSight can now realize the process industries’ top priority in ‘going digital’— the digital twin enablement of their operating plant engineering!”

“With PlantSight, we’re stepping up our cooperation with Bentley and extending the possibilities offered by data utilization for the process industry. This joint solution based on the complementary know-how of Bentley and Siemens represents a key step towards making digital twins even more efficient and creating a digitally integrated value chain, which offers even greater consistency. In this way, we’re continuously enlarging our Digital Enterprise portfolio by embracing future technologies,” said Klaus Helmrich, Member of the Management Board of Siemens AG.

Valentijn de Leeuw, Vice President ARC Advisory Group, said, “I believe that Siemens’ and Bentley’s newly-developed PlantSight services will establish a foundation for next-generation asset information and performance management. For as-operated digital twins, this augments the actual plant by integrating operational data with operational intelligence dashboards, immersive operator training simulation, and links with applications such as process simulation, asset strategy, and reliability. The benefits of the environment will increase with the number of microservices provided.”

Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for 170 years. The company is active around the globe, focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitization. One of the world's largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is a leading supplier of efficient power generation and power transmission solutions and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions as well as automation, drive and software solutions for industry. The company with its listed subsidiary Siemens Healthineers AG is also a leading provider of medical imaging equipment – such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging systems – and a leader in laboratory diagnostics as well as clinical IT. In fiscal 2017, which ended on September 30, 2017, Siemens generated revenue of €83.0 billion and net income of €6.2 billion. At the end of September 2017, Siemens had around 377,000 employees worldwide. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com.

About Bentley Systems
Bentley Systems is the leading global provider of software solutions to engineers, architects, geospatial professionals, constructors, and owner-operators for the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure. Bentley’s MicroStation-based engineering and BIM applications, and its digital twin cloud services, advance the project delivery (ProjectWise) and the asset performance (AssetWise) of transportation and other public works, utilities, industrial and resources plants, and commercial and institutional facilities.

Bentley Systems employs more than 3,500 colleagues, generates annual revenues of $700 million in 170 countries, and has invested more than $1 billion in research, development, and acquisitions since 2012. From inception in 1984, the company has remained majority-owned by its five founding Bentley brothers. Bentley shares transact by invitation on the NASDAQ Private Market; strategic partner Siemens AG has accumulated a non-voting minority stake.

About the PlantSight Vision
PlantSight coalesces project digital twins, and control systems digital twins, and will soon extend to performance digital twins, and component product digital twins.

PlantSight mirrors the physical plant through “continuous” surveys and reality modeling cloud services. Overlapping photographs and (as needed) supplemental laser scans, from UAVs and ground-level imagery, are processed to generate spatially-classified and engineering-ready reality meshes—the plant’s digital context, within which can be geospatially located each tagged component.

To synchronize with the plant’s evolving engineering data, Bentley and Siemens COMOS teams worked together to create PlantSight’sConnected Data Environment (CDE). It includes information bridges from engineering models and an integration hub to accomplish the required semantic alignment for digital components (including their tag designations). PlantSight’s CDE is also populated by pertinent data from other sources, such as project deliverables and control systems inputs, to the degree referenced through digital component tags.

For engineers in operating plants, the value of an as-operated digital twin is determined by the accessibility and integrity of information that can be presented, and edited, in trusted formats of schematics and 3D models. PlantSight, through its new cloud service and web interface, takes advantage of the complementarity, proven engineering robustness and intelligence of COMOS and OpenPlant, fully integrating functional and spatial modeling. For the first time, engineers on site can have both accessible existing data, and accessible tool interfaces, to assure that as-operated changes are timely and accurately captured and managed through PlantSight’s ledger of changes, for assured fidelity.

Just as significantly, the as-operated digital twin, through the cloud accessibility and securely open architecture of its CDE, provides immersive visibility throughout the operating plant lifecycle, including mixed-reality visualization of all information, and even more importantly, digital visibility for machine learning and analytics.

PlantSight digital twin cloud services will be marketed separately by both Siemens and Bentley, and early adopters are now being selected. The companies are now working to add to PlantSight state-of-the-art asset performance modeling (APM) capabilities, to make the most of services based on Siemens’ MindSphere IoT operating system. For manufactured digital components, Siemens’ Teamcenter PLM will provide immersive access to product digital twins for simulation and remediation.

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Bentley, the Bentley logo, AssetWise, MicroStation, OpenPlant, and ProjectWise are either registered or unregistered trademarks or service marks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or one of its direct or indirect wholly owned subsidiaries. PlantSight is a trademark of Siemens AG and Siemens PLMS Inc. All other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.