Altair Engineering Expands solidThinking Subsidiary Leadership Team in Europe

TROY, Mich., Sept. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Altair Engineering, Inc., a leading global provider of simulation technology and engineering services today announced that it has appointed Cosimo Panetta to European Managing Director of its wholly owned subsidiary, solidThinking, Inc.  In this newly created role, Cosimo Panetta will oversee the EMEA market strategy and channel development of its conceptual design and styling software product offerings, solidThinking and solidThinking Inspired.

"In his previous position as head of Altair Italy, Cosimo Panetta has contributed to the growth of the Italian market for our solidThinking products in an outstanding way," said Dr. Michael Hoffman, VP European Operations, Altair Engineering. "Cosimo Panetta's appointment to managing director reflects his success and will give him the opportunity to position solidThinking as the product of choice for designers throughout Europe and beyond."

Cosimo Panetta will work closely with Altair's European country offices to manage and grow the solidThinking reseller community. He will also support the educational market with helpful material and projects such as the solidThinking Design Contest, a global design contest in which students of all types can enter designs created with solidThinking or solidThinking Inspired for recognition and prizes. The deadline for the solidThinking Design Contest is November 30, 2011.

"I'm looking forward to extending solidThinking's success in Italy to markets throughout the EMEA regions," said Cosimo Panetta, European managing director for solidThinking. "solidThinking already has a strong reputation and standing within the Italian design community, one of the largest and most influential design markets globally. This new position provides me with the unique opportunity and privilege to connect with the many renowned design communities throughout Europe to further our technology and build upon solidThinking's success."

Cosimo Panetta was previously managing director of Altair Italy. He joined Altair in 2001 and was responsible for the Italian market until July of this year. Prior to Altair, he co-founded Seprind s.r.l, a company offering engineering services for composite components.

Cosimo Panetta's previous responsibilities as managing director of Altair Italy will be assumed by Mauro Guglielminotti. A 15 year Altair veteran, Mario Guglielminotti will assume a new role as Altair's managing director for southern Europe and Africa, also a newly created position.  Currently, Mario Guglielminotti serves as the managing director of Altair France, a role which he has held since the 2001 founding of the country office. He originally joined Altair in 1996 as sales director for Altair Italy. Before his time at Altair, Mario Guglielminotti worked at several companies of the FIAT Group and at IBM. Mauro Guglielminotti will split his monthly working time between the Turin, Italy, and Paris offices of Altair Engineering.

For more information or to connect with solidThinking, click on:

• Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/solidThinking
• Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/solidThinking
• YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/solidThinking

About solidThinking

solidThinking, Inc. develops and markets industrial design/styling software that helps designers invent, explore and evaluate new ideas easily, rapidly and cost-effectively, without the limitations of traditional software. Using solidThinking's conceptual 3D modeling capabilities, visualization interface and fast real-time rendering, designers can model, render and share their projects on the fly, from architecture and automobiles to electronic devices, jewelry, product packaging and yachts. solidThinking is a wholly owned subsidiary of Troy, Mich. (USA)-based Altair Engineering, Inc. (http://www.solidthinking.com).

solidThinking software is available in Europe directly from the local Altair offices and via a well established reseller base. Since version 11.0 solidThinking is also available under the HyperWorks licenses and can be accessed by HyperWorks customers with their existing license units.

About Altair

Altair Engineering, Inc. empowers client innovation and decision-making through technology that optimizes the value of business and engineering information. Privately held, with more than 1,500 employees, Altair has offices throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia/Pacific. With a 26-year track record for high-end software and consulting services for engineering, computing and enterprise analytics, Altair consistently delivers a competitive advantage to customers in a broad range of industries. To learn more, please visit www.altair.com.

SOURCE Altair Engineering, Inc.