Cambridge, UK. 6 July, 2010. New figures from Cambashi, an independent IT industry analysis and marketing firm, put European developed software in the lead in helping companies in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry to remain competitive in a difficult economic environment [see figure. 1 below].

Of the top six specialist AEC software suppliers to the European market in 2009, three were Europe based, with 38% of the market, and two more are US based but with substantial development resources in Europe.

Cambashi’s latest Market Observatories, released in the second quarter of 2010, put Nemetschek, Aveva and Tekla in the top six AEC software suppliers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, together with Autodesk, Bentley and Intergraph. Cambashi’s Market Observatories have tracked activity in the AEC, engineering and design software space for over ten years.

Looking forward
Cambashi’s 2010 forecast shows positive movement among the top three with Nemetschek growing by 3% and Bentley by 2%. Autodesk has estimated growth of 8% as they build on the acquisition of Navisworks more widely. The forecast is based on estimates of revenues for the first half of 2010.

Tony Christian, director of sales and marketing at Cambashi, said, “From the early days of the use of CAD in AEC the European software suppliers have been strong in developing solutions to the complex modelling requirements of that sector and, as the market data show, continue to maintain a major presence in the market for AEC design technologies”.

Specialist software
According to Cambashi, users in the AEC industry increasingly choose specialist AEC applications over more general-purpose drafting tools that provide an electronic drawing board. These specialist software tools support higher productivity and better integration between the varied set of design and operational tasks found in the different businesses contributing to the architectural design and construction industry. All the software suppliers promote Building Information Modelling (BIM) as a means to add intelligence to designs. However the use of general-purpose drafting tools continues, especially in smaller architects. For example, if the use in the AEC sector of general-purpose tools such as AutoCAD was included here, then the Autodesk revenues would increase significantly putting them into a leadership position in 2009.

European development
Cambashi also points out that it is not often recognized that US-based Autodesk and Bentley both have significant software development sites in Europe. Autodesk develops its core modeller in Cambridge, UK and its Navisworks visualization software in Sheffield, UK. Bentley develops building services software, road and rail design software and transportation planning software in the UK. These are important components of these companies’ European revenues.

These results are available in the latest version of the Cambashi Product Observatory, which merges company data with original research to estimate market size and activity for the top 25 suppliers of technical and design software worldwide.

About Cambashi
Cambashi, based in Massachusetts USA and Cambridge UK, provides independent research and analysis of the business reasons for use of IT in industry, world-wide. Its specialist fields include engineering and enterprise applications and the infrastructure to enable industrial firms to use IT effectively. Market information is published in the Cambashi Country Observatory, a component of Cambashi’s Market Observatory, which also includes views on industry, employment and products in the technical application software market. Cambashi’s clients vary in size from small to large and include most of the leading software vendors and many pioneering IT users. More information at: www.cambashi.com

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Note to Editors
This is one in a series of market observations from the team at Cambashi that combine to give a worldwide view of the status of the technical applications software market by region.


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Sally Bennett, Tel: +44 (0)1223 460439, e-mail: Email Contact
or
Neil McLeod, Tel: +44 (0)1666 504293, e-mail: Email Contact