Acquisition Results in New Initiative
February 10, 2010
Consolidation continues in the construction technology market, and in some cases leads to new products and initiatives being created. Bentley Systems, www.bentley.com, Exton, Pa., announced acquisitions of Enterprise Informatics Inc., www.enterpriseinformatics.com, San Diego, Calif., and Exor Corp., www.exorcorp.com, Bristol, U.K., and as a result of these acquisitions the creation of a new AssetWise initiative.
The Enterprise Informatics eB Insight software provides change management capabilities for mission-critical infrastructure asset operations in energy, nuclear, rail, and government, while the Exor information modeling software allows for the management of railway and road infrastructure. Both technologies enable operations and maintenance of infrastructure assets.
Bentley’s new AssetWise platform will combine information modeling services to improve operational performance, safety, and compliance of infrastructure assets. According to the company, the new platform will allow owners and operators to leverage information modeling throughout maintenance of infrastructure.
The existing ProjectWise product from Bentley has already been adopted by a number of owners and operators for large capital projects, as a means to improve project team collaboration. The software includes a suite of solutions for content management, content publishing, and design review. With AssetWise, Bentley’s new objective is to empower owner-operators to leverage the value of information modeling throughout operations of infrastructure.
According to Andy Chatha, president and founder, ARC Advisory Group, www.arcweb.com, Boston, Mass., the announcement of AssetWise fits with the changing economic trends in the industry, meaning owners and operators have moved their focus from new capital projects to improved lifecycle management of existing infrastructure, which will require an IT (information technology) strategy to quickly assess and visualize information related to infrastructure asset operations.
According to Bentley, existing users of Enterprise Informatics eB and Exor will continue to receive support, as the support specialists from both companies have joined Bentley.
The infrastructure construction industry has seen a number of changes in the past year. This acquisition will allow Bentley to offer a new platform to owners and operators. It will be interesting to see how these acquisitions will impact infrastructure management in the year ahead.