'Interoperability' the buzzword behind Autodesk, Bentley partnership
Sharing of design and engineering data will benefit manufacturing operations
By Plant Engineering Staff -- Plant Engineering, 7/9/2008 10:26:00 AM
‘Interoperability’ is a key buzzword in manufacturing today. Silos are disappearing and connectivity between such diverse elements as plant design and operation, and production and finance, are quickly disappearing. Evidence of that was apparent again this week as Autodesk and Bentley Systems expanded their interoperability offerings with announcement of a joint venture.
Autodesk and Bentley will exchange software libraries to enabling a broader reuse of information generated during the design, construction, and operation of buildings and plants.
A 2004 study by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology found that users bear direct costs of almost $16 billion annually from time wasted due to inadequate software interoperability. Now design firms can use software tools from either Autodesk or Bentley.
Norbert Young, FAIA, president of McGraw-Hill Construction and former chairman of the International Alliance for Interoperability in North America, said, “This groundbreaking agreement directly addresses many of the critical issues detailed in the October 2007 McGraw-Hill Construction study on interoperability in the construction industry. I applaud both companies for their foresight and leadership.”
“As a longtime advocate of interoperability, I welcome this agreement as an important step toward enabling AEC information to be more broadly shared, increasing the value of BIM to our clients,” said Patrick MacLeamy, FAIA, CEO of global architectural firm HOK and a founder and current chairman of the International Alliance for Interoperability.
“Autodesk recognizes that many customers use our products in mixed environments, and this agreement will help to better support these firms,” said Autodesk senior vice president Jay Bhatt. “As part of our commitment to provide technology that improves productivity and efficiency across the AEC industry, we’re pleased to enter into this agreement with Bentley Systems – Autodesk’s largest development partner – and together help customers design, build, operate, and maintain the world’s infrastructure.”
“Bentley and Autodesk share a goal of enabling the creation and operations of better-performing infrastructure,” said Greg Bentley, CEO of Bentley Systems. “Realizing that our mutual users bear unnecessary costs resulting from lack of interoperability, we came together to finally make information reuse the norm. By raising its sights beyond file format issues, the resource-constrained AEC community can better serve us all.”
