Bentley Systems, Incorporated today announced that it has acquired
the global business of ECT International, Inc., the leading provider
of advanced computer-aided engineering design tools for electrical
control systems. The company´s flagship product line, promis*e,
comprises intelligent, easy-to-use software that generates electrical
system schematics and supporting documentation, reducing electrical
design time by more than 30 percent. The software, in combination with
MicroStation, MicroStation PowerDraft, or AutoCAD, also makes the
electrical design process more accurate by virtue of more than 2
million up-to-date parts in its uniquely comprehensive content
repository. Among the diversity of original equipment manufacturers,
electrical systems integrators, engineering/procurement/construction
(EPC) firms, suppliers and vendors of electrical system components,
and facility owners designing with promis*e are ABB, Procter & Gamble,
Eaton, Solar Turbines, Duke Energy, Long Island Rail Road, and
Siemens. Partner companies providing database content include Rockwell
Automation, Schneider Electric, Panduit, and Hoffman, among others.
The acquisition of promis*e complements and further extends Bentley´s
comprehensive portfolio of software for the design and operation of
electrical systems for process plants, factories, power generation,
electric utilities, rail and transit, and more.
With promis*e, Bentley will be better able to respond to a growing
need among building, plant, civil, and geospatial infrastructure
professionals for more comprehensive solutions incorporating
electrical wiring, diagramming, and drawing production. In addition,
promis*e adds to Bentley´s contributions within a vendor category of
rapidly growing significance for infrastructure creation - industrial
solution suppliers. These suppliers are assuming more and more of the
engineering on projects as they design, configure, and fabricate
modules of larger scope for assembly on site, superseding traditional
piecewise specification and construction. By doing so, they help
owner-operators and EPC firms overcome professional, materials, and
crafts resource shortages.
Commenting on this latest Bentley acquisition, Bhupinder Singh,
senior vice president, Bentley Software, said, "Automating the design
of electrical control systems results in important efficiencies,
leading to increased professional productivity. But especially,
Bentley user organizations have wanted automated electrical design to
be fully integrated with other disciplines and workflows across the
infrastructure lifecycle. They know that this advancement would
multiply, many times over, their productivity improvements.
"Bentley´s acquisition of promis*e will result in the solution
they´ve been looking for. It will enable Bentley to integrate
promis*e´s functionality and extensive content repository with our
comprehensive portfolio for infrastructure facility types and
disciplines. So finally, users will benefit from streamlined control
system design workflows intra-operating by way of an intelligent
information model. This will provide increased efficiencies and
accuracies that cut design and construction costs, shave time from
delivery schedules, reduce operations and maintenance costs, and make
it easier to implement ongoing system modifications - all of which
enhance the creation of sustainable infrastructure."
Said Art Sawall, founder of ECT and now Bentley vice president,
"The entire ECT team is excited about becoming Bentley colleagues and
being able to offer our users the tremendous depth and reach of
Bentley´s comprehensive portfolio of software and services. Our two
organizations share the common vision that open data models are the
key to achieving interoperability and maximum value for users. That
foundation sets the stage for significant innovations that could not
be accomplished separately."
Added Rob Whitesell, vice president, Bentley Plant, Building, and
Structural development, "This acquisition is particularly auspicious
for plant owner and creators. Last year, Bentley unveiled solutions
that unprecedentedly span intra-operating from conceptual design
through detailed engineering to lifecycle data management. With this
breakthrough, users benefit from bidirectional workflows that allow
them to iterate from simulation to process and instrumentation
diagrams, to economically near-optimum instrumentation and pipe
routing, to pipe stress analysis, all interactively. Our acquisition
of promis*e enables us to soon add to this workflow electrical control
system design - supporting drawing takeoffs from the promis*e
intelligent database. This will extend our commitment to comprehensive
intra-operations by providing automation for instrumentation and
electrical engineers that works with the other discipline applications
in our portfolio."
Bentley, the leader in Daratech´s plant schematics market rankings
and in integrated, intra-operating FEED workflows, will showcase at
daratechPLANT2008 this week the latest promis*e configuration, with
MicroStation PowerDraft. In addition, it will demonstrate
interoperability between promis*e and Bentley´s plant applications
through the open ISO 15926 data standard, and will discuss plans for
integrating promis*e with Bentley´s newly announced OpenPlant product
range.
About promis*e
promis*e is an intelligent software application that generates
electrical system schematics from spreadsheets and supporting
documentation such as panel layouts, bills of material, wire lists,
terminal plans, cable pull lists, and interconnect diagrams. Combined
with MicroStation, MicroStation PowerDraft, or AutoCAD, or in a
stand-alone environment, promis*e links drawing files to SQL and
Oracle databases to improve the productivity of control system design
and documentation workflows. It incorporates more than 2 million parts
in its uniquely comprehensive and current content repository.
promis*e fully supports both IEC/DIN and ANSI/IEEE/JIC page and
symbol formats for electrical drawings. Additional symbol libraries
are available for hydraulic, pneumatic and process control systems, as
are parts databases from leading component manufacturers. Dialogs and
menus can be configured for languages including Chinese, English,
French, German, Italian, and Spanish.
For more information about Bentley´s promis*e, visit
www.bentley.com/promis*e.
About Bentley
Bentley Systems, Incorporated provides software for the lifecycle
of the world´s infrastructure. The company´s comprehensive portfolio
for the building, plant, civil, and geospatial verticals spans AEC and
operations. With revenues now surpassing $400 million annually, and
more than 2,400 colleagues globally, Bentley is the leading provider
of AEC software to the Engineering News-Record Top Design Firms and
major owner-operators, and was named the world´s No. 2 provider of
GIS/geospatial software solutions in a Daratech research study.
To receive Bentley press releases as they are issued, visit
www.bentley.com/bentleywire. For more information, visit
www.bentley.com. To view a copy of Bentley´s April 2007 Annual Report
online, go to www.bentley.com/April2007annualreport.
Bentley, the "B" logo, MicroStation, MicroStation PowerDraft,
OpenPlant, and promis*e 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.
