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Bentley Acquires promise Product Line to Further Extend Electrical System Design Portfolio

Business Wire, Jan 28, 2008

Software Addresses Need to Automate and Improve Productivity of Control System Design and Documentation Workflows

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HOUSTON -- 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."

Business Services Industry

Bentley Acquires promise Product Line to Further Extend Electrical System Design Portfolio

Business Wire, Jan 28, 2008

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