AECCafe Today 
Susan Smith
Susan Smith has worked as an editor and writer in the technology industry for over 16 years. As an editor she has been responsible for the launch of a number of technology trade publications, both in print and online. Currently, Susan is the Editor of GISCafe and AECCafe, as well as those sites’ … More » Be Inspired 2011 Press ConferenceNovember 8th, 2011 by Susan Smith
A press conference held at the Be Inspired Leadership Conference in Amsterdam yesterday provided an opportunity to showcase upcoming announcements from Bentley Systems. The Leadership Conference drew finalists from 42 countries this year, according to CEO Greg Bentley. Notable is the fact that Bentley achieved its initial public rating and has regained revenue momentum after the downturn. Bentley said that Autodesk is ahead of Bentley but not out of reach, and that since the downturn, Bentley has regained revenue faster than Autodesk. Bentley also pointed out that they have a collaborative relationship with Autodesk, shipping in every Bentley product are libraries to read and write their formats. ProjectWise collaboration systems equally support Autodesk products, and there is an i-model plug in for Autodesk products, as well as the fact that Autodesk includes capability to read/write Bentley products as well.
In spite of the obvious advantage of Autodesk the competitor, Bentley claims his company leads the world in software for road and rail, generative design, construction simulation, 3D City GIS, infrastructure asset operations and maintenance.
The 2011 Bentley Infrastructure 500, an elite status added last year, now represent $14.1 trillion value in infrastructure. Bentley has 48 partners now worldwide. Looking at a “Utilization index,” the industry areas building and plant took the biggest hit but have come back, according to Bentley. The Americas dipped in revenue in 2011 but are coming out of it. Europe, the Middle East and Africa also are doing okay. Asia never had much downturn.
Bentley made a number of announcements including the following:
1) The announcement that Bentley’s i-models which are containers for open infrastructure information exchange will now be able to deliver AECO information mobility in PDF workflows – this accomplished via agreements with Adobe Systems and Bluebeam Software. 2) Bentley acquired Pointools Ltd. In order to integrate point cloud processing into its entire product portfolio. Bentley plans to merge their code streams with those of Pointools to create a new fundamental data type. Up until now, Bentley has embedded the Pointools Vortex engine into MicroStation, but now they plan to incorporate point cloud processing in ProjectWise and AssetWise platforms. 3) Bentley acquired FormSys to expand their SACS offerings which extends their influence in the offshore market. SACS is an integrated finite element structural analysis suite of programs. 4) Bentley made available commercially their new AECOsim Energy Simulator software and in early Q1 2012 the new AECOsim Building Designer Software will be available. 5) A relationship with Microsoft for the Microsoft Azure Platform partner program will make it possible for Bentley to bring a range of Azure-based cloud services to AECO worldwide. One of the key offerings on Azure will be Bentley Transmittal Services, which will allow the tracking and delivery of transmittals through a dashboard portal. 6) Structural Synchronizer for iPad Workflow for the iPad available at iTunes for free at the end of the month – users can export out a very intelligent model to the iPad and see all bracing, beams, concrete and click on the model to pull in more information. Anything that might be needed in an AEC setting onsite such as section type, placement point, even complex elements can be added, layers turned on and off, and viewed in the new app. Be Inspired Bentley Thought Leadership Conference starts Monday in AmsterdamNovember 4th, 2011 by Susan Smith
On Saturday, I fly to Amsterdam to attend the Be Inspired Bentley Thought Leadership Conference held at the Hotel Okura.
Read the rest of Be Inspired Bentley Thought Leadership Conference starts Monday in Amsterdam Autodesk acquires technology assets from Alice LabsOctober 20th, 2011 by Susan Smith
Warning: Undefined array key 3 in /www/www10/htdocs/blogs/wp-content/plugins/embedded-video-with-link/embedded-video.php on line 176 Warning: Undefined array key 3 in /www/www10/htdocs/blogs/wp-content/plugins/embedded-video-with-link/embedded-video.php on line 218 Autodesk has acquired technology assets and hired individuals associated with the Alice Labs technology, according to Michael Oldenburg, manager, Corporate Communications, Autodesk. What those assets are we don’t know yet, and this statement is all that is being said at this time by Autodesk. Alice Labs is known for its Studio Clouds 3D Point Cloud editing software. They currently have a plugin for Maya and Max and are developing new features all the time. Autodesk BIM for Infrastructure: Sustainable CitiesOctober 18th, 2011 by Susan Smith
Sustainable infrastructure is needed to replace the $41 trillion worth of infrastructure that needs to be replaced or retrofitted around the world. According to Paul McRoberts , vice president of the Infrastructure Product Line Group AEC Solutions at Autodesk, there is only about $22 trillion available to remedy this situation. How is this to be accomplished?
Autodesk’s Infrastructure Design Suite 2012, Autodesk’s BIM for Infrastructure solution, combines the tools needed to plan, design, build and manage infrastructure. Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler, a new product, represents the expansion of Autodesk’s BIM portfolio and is geared around the idea of being able to leverage existing information such as GIS data and any kind of disparate data: lidar data, raster and photogrammetry; and being able to layer this information in and to create a representation of existing conditions. Infrastructure Modeler can compare conceptual models that can be used for new proposals to help customers and stakeholders understand what the future infrastructure is going to look like. Detailed models can be imported from AutoCAD Map 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D, Autodesk Revit, and other software to create an infrastructure model. Surface data in raster form, road center lines, land use, parcels and building footprints can be used to create an infrastructure model. Raster data or AutoCAD 3D surfaces can be used to create terrain and make the terrains more realistic and informative by tracing aerial photography, site plans or topographic maps on top of them. CAD and GIS data can be used to display 3D representations grown from 3D data both above and below the ground. These different data formats can then be configured to become different feature types such as buildings, trees or roads, and some land coverages. AutoCAD Map 3D can be implemented during the initial acquisition of existing conditions for planning, and for managing the infrastructure once the project is complete. AutoCAD Civil 3D is used for transportation and land development design and Autodesk Navisworks during the construction phase. Those not familiar with the design and construction world can access the model and understand the proposed project very early in the design process. Architecture 2030 keynote focuses on building’s contribution to global warmingOctober 6th, 2011 by Susan Smith
As part of the recent AIA New Mexico convention, Edward Mazria, founder of the Architecture 2030 Challenge, delivered a keynote on “Architecture on the Brink.” Mazria said in working backward from the 2030 date, which was a data set by the scientific community, coal energy production will peak and phase out, then the world will get to where it needs to be to stabilize climate. On an even more hopeful note, nearly 3/4 of the top 30 architecture and engineering firms in the world have adopted the 2030 targets, as have 41 percent of U.S. architecture firms. In citing what would make design move forward with carbon neutral, Mazria offered changes in glazing, use of air conditioners, good construction, more efficient lighting, appliances, passive solar systems and photovoltaics. It was not clear in his talk how this would take place, as currently building in the U.S. is not very active. Perhaps he was directing this toward retrofits and building in other nations. The convention featured more than a dozen seminars on topics including Google SketchUp, innovative building systems and sustainable water systems. Tom Kundig, principal and co-owner of Olson Kundig Architects of Seattle, spoke about “kinetic architecture,” which he says refers to “architecture that can respond to whatever the existing conditions are, cultural or environmental.” |
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