Bentley Recommends a 'Smart Plan' for PDS Users

HOUSTON, March 1 /PRNewswire/ -- DIGITAL PLANT Conference 2010 -- Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading company dedicated to providing comprehensive software solutions for the infrastructure that sustains our world, today demonstrated to PDS users a path to broad interoperability for reuse and choice, to a comprehensive portfolio encompassing all infrastructure disciplines for all plant projects, and to sustained return on existing equity in PDS, all while minimizing project and business risk. In light of the compelling new Bentley OpenPlant offerings unveiled today (www.bentley.com/openminds), PDS users now should consider Bentley's recommended "Smart Plan."

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PDS has apparently remained the leading plant design application, measured by expenditures, long after its proprietor has declared an imminent end to its life – while declining to provide a migration plan. Instead, users are being forced to start over with yet another proprietary system. Even more unfortunately, that "new" system has taken so long to become barely viable that its fundamental design premise (rigidly enforcing centralized, monolithic, and static project structures) has arguably already become functionally obsolete, by virtue of changes in the plant creation marketplace that economically favor globally-sourced, loosely-coupled project environments.

Bentley's response to PDS users facing this predicament culminates in today's announcement of this recommended alternative "Smart Plan":

1. Continue to leverage MicroStation and ProjectWise platforms.

Bentley's MicroStation is the market-leading platform for plant creation applications and provides intrinsic interoperability with second-place Autodesk's DWG platform, assuring universal accessibility for dispersed project teams and for lifecycle data reuse. MicroStation robustly supports applications for every infrastructure discipline and will always proactively evolve to incorporate new data types, such as 3D PDF and point clouds.

Bentley's ProjectWise collaboration servers are used by the vast majority of PDS user organizations (even to manage PDS' DGN deliverables) and are mission critical to managing distributed enterprise workflows across other disciplines and project types.

2. Natively access all PDS data for reference outside of PDS.

The ProjectWise PDx Dynamic Review Service natively references and extracts all PDS model and file data with full fidelity directly from PDS' existing Oracle or SQL Server databases without requiring PDS software. Unlike the traditional DGN/DRV file route, ProjectWise PDx Dynamic Review Service opens up the entire PDS project database and provides read access to anyone using Bentley's MicroStation, ProjectWise Navigator, or ConstructSim.

3. Publish PDS models, piping catalogs, and specifications by way of ISO 15926 for other applications.

Bentley's OpenPlant ModelServer V8i automates the migration of full PDS models, as well as piping catalogs and specifications, to ISO 15926 protocols so that PDS data can be readily shared across enterprise lifecycle applications.

4. Adopt OpenPlant applications to modify existing PDS projects or to start new ones.

PDS models that have been automatically migrated to OpenPlant ModelServer are available to be edited and reused by any OpenPlant application, such as Bentley OpenPlant Modeler V8i – with changes and new models being maintained by OpenPlant ModelServer. This enables the secure management of both components and files, and prevents ever writing back to PDS. So while the integrity of any existing PDS database can never be jeopardized, owner-operators can generate increasing returns on the investment it represents.

Bentley Systems CEO Greg Bentley said, "It is gratifying for us to now fully enable PDS users – whom of course are also long-standing users of our MicroStation platform – to move beyond the PDS 'stalemate.' In fact, eliciting greater return from existing investment by providing continuous innovation has always been Bentley's hallmark.

"PDS users can now leapfrog into a modern, agile, open software environment that assures them data reuse and interoperable choices among multiple toolsets for integrated projects across all aspects and all types of plant creation, operations, and adaptation. Our new OpenPlant offerings uniquely combine the most robust platform and dynamic collaboration servers for accessibility, concurrent component- and file-based workflows, and comprehensive applications and services. At the same time, we've made the unwarranted overpricing of current proprietary 3D piping applications as obsolete as the expensive UNIX workstations that 'shading cylinders' very long ago required – so users can save while advancing. However, it's because these gains can be compounded with continued returns on PDS 'equity' that we're so confident about recommending to PDS users this 'Smart Plan'!"

Mr. Bentley continued, "Assuring forward interoperability takes determined work, but beyond being always worthwhile for the sake of users, we at Bentley Systems have consistently proven that such 'succession' strategies – for instance, with DGN and DWG, previously – offer compelling business opportunities, so we're enthusiastically committed to investing in PDS continuity. Despite the dead end its proprietor self-servingly declared, we have absolutely established the viability of natively referencing complete PDS models, and of bringing forward their value through ISO 15926-based interoperable accessibility. We're pleased that so many PDS users have taken the first steps in their 'Smart Plan.'"

Introduced last year, ProjectWise PDx Dynamic Review Service is already being used by 48 organizations around the world, including Bechtel, Petrobras, WorleyParsons, CH2M HILL, and Praxair.

Commenting on their results to date, Ken Adamson, Bentley vice president, Electrical, Pipe, and Plant Products, said, "We have users piloting ProjectWise PDx Dynamic Review Service with all scales and complexity of PDS models, from small to very, very large. For example, the very first ISO 15926 model in Brazil was delivered using ProjectWise PDx Dynamic Review Service from a Petrobras PDS model. To date, we have not come across a PDS model that ProjectWise PDx Dynamic Review Service cannot handle and successfully extract."

Bentley's demonstrations this week at DIGITAL PLANT illustrate the full "Smart Plan" in action. In one demonstration, a PDS model is published through ISO 15926 into an iRING environment for diverse applications to access. Next, the model is directly imported into OpenPlant Modeler, where the PDS piping lines are edited and new lines are created. Finally, new isometrics are generated using OpenPlant Isometrics Manager V8i. In another demonstration, a PDS model is brought into ConstructSim V8i, Bentley's construction simulation software that optimizes projects through the planning, sequencing, execution, and monitoring of construction activities.

For a copy of Bentley's white paper "Making PDS Interoperable," to view the press release announcing Bentley's new OpenPlant products, and/or for additional information about OpenPlant and PDS users, visit www.bentley.com/SmartPlan.

About Bentley Systems, Incorporated

Bentley is the global leader dedicated to providing architects, engineers, constructors, and owner-operators with comprehensive software solutions for sustaining infrastructure. Founded in 1984, Bentley has more than 2,700 colleagues and offices in more than 45 countries, achieved in 2008 the milestone of $500 million in revenues, and, since 1995, has invested more than $1 billion in research, development, and acquisitions.

For additional information about Bentley, visit www.bentley.com. To subscribe to an RSS feed of Bentley press releases and news alerts, visit www.bentley.com/rss/news. To view a searchable collection of innovative projects from the annual Be Inspired Awards, visit www.bentley.com/yearininfrastructure. For information about Be Communities, a professional networking site that enables members of the infrastructure community to connect, communicate, and learn from each other, visit http://communities.bentley.com.

Bentley, the "B" Bentley logo, Be, MicroStation, ConstructSim, and ProjectWise are either registered or unregistered trademarks or service marks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or one of its direct or indirect wholly owned subsidiaries. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE Bentley Systems, Incorporated