Goal of BIM compliance across the public sector by 2016 and making “intelligence asset management” the norm for engineers moves closer with new Connect Edition global launch.

Infrastructure software business Bentley Systems continued its drive to guide the industry on the road to 2016 BIM compliance and embedding BIM level 2 into public procurement by April next year with the global roll out of its latest cloud based Connect Edition product.

Coinciding with the firm’s 30th anniversary annual report, the launch signals a shift towards placing digital technology at the heart of “intelligent” infrastructure delivery and management.

“The common environment unifies work across the entire project ecosystem and over the full lifecycle of the project. The result is improved performance, with infrastructure projects being delivered on time, on budget, and with less risk.” Bentley Systems

The new so-called “common environment for comprehensive project delivery” is, according to Bentley chief executive Greg Bentley “the result of our thirty years of cumulative BIM advances” that will, he added, “lead to:

• better performing assets through increasing depth of Information Modeling; and
• better performing projects through increasing breadth of Information Mobility.”

The roll out of the new Bentley Connect Edition product kicked off last week in Philadelphia, Chicago, Toronto, Oslo, Amsterdam at a series of specially devised Connection Events designed to help the industry to embrace the new software tools.

The new suite of product utilises cloud-based capability to enable users to draw down and customise the tools needed within the exiting MicroStation, ProjectWise and AssetWise products. 

By giving access to the tools when they are needed to do the job, says Bentley, Connect Edition should drive Building Information Modelling (BIM) into the heart of infrastructure by making the vital software available across infrastructure delivery and management teams “to and from the right contributors, anytime and anywhere”.

The of the event will reach the UK next month starting in Manchester on 29/30 June and will demonstrate its new Connect Edition software and the way that it can assist the industry towards the goal of achieving the 2016 government mandate to embrace BIM.

Meeting the challenge of the government’s mandate to embed BIM level 2 – encompassing 3D design but also a collaborative shared working environment across the supply chain from procurement through to hand over and beyond to operation and maintenance – into all public projects by April 2016 remains a major challenge for the industry.

Bentley Systems CONNECTION Event 

Sign up for free workshops in Manchester to hear about the latest developments in BIM for sustaining infrastructure. 

June 29 – 30, Radisson Blu Hotel Manchester Airport, Chicago Avenue, Manchester M90 3RA

Writing in the Bentley Systems 2014 annual report, Greg Bentley pointed out the challenge and the progress being made in moving the BIM concept from being a static fast way to produce drawings towards a truly interactive tool to drive decisions.

“Advancing from visualization into visibility, we next added analytical modelling for simulation of behaviours, to “optioneer” infrastructure improvements,” he said, highlighting the firm’s recent acquisition of SITEOPS enabling rapid site optimisation analysis to be carried out.

“Our reality modelling breakthrough (led by our new Acute3D acquisition) can now perfect the alignment of the “virtual” with the physical context, continuously throughout the project and asset lifecycle,” he added pointing to the ability to rapidly create accurate 3D models simply by using digital photography.

The annual report also highlighted the growth being seen across the sector in the use and demand for digital and IT-based tools with the firm’s annual revenues up 7% to $625M last year, led by business in the Middle East and Africa, Southeast Asia, Greater China, and India

The use of the subscriptions model to pay for software is also increasing and now accounts for 76% of the firm’s sales – 26% coming from business wide Enterprise Licence agreements. 

The new Connect Edition was launched at Bentley’s annual “Year in Infrastructure Conference” in London last November at which a number of new developments in the use of BIM software were also revealed to the industry.

This creates a so-called “common environment” for BIM users across the infrastructure supply chain using cloud based delivery and its next generation of construction modelling tools.

“The common environment unifies work across the entire project ecosystem and over the full lifecycle of the project,” said Bentley. “The result is improved performance, with infrastructure projects being delivered on time, on budget, and with less risk.”

Utilising the Microsoft Azure cloud, Connect provides an environment that can be delivered using on-premises servers, desktop applications, and mobile apps to provide a common modelling environment, common performance environment for better collaboration and a common data environment to enable seamless sharing of information.

A new “Playlist” personalised for each user, will make applications and apps available to suit specific roles,  enable training and development to be easily accessed and, says Bentley, provide a step change in user experience.

Bentley Systems CONNECTIONS Event - June 29 – 30

Sign up for free workshops in Manchester to hear about the latest developments in BIM for sustaining infrastructure. http://connection.bentley.com/manchester/

Radisson Blu Hotel Manchester Airport, Chicago Avenue, Manchester M90 3RA