CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
2 March 2011
Product News
Bentley Launches New iWare Apps Site Providing Fast, Easy Access to No-Cost Software for Interoperability
Bentley Systems, Incorporated announced, during its first Annual Corporate Update conference call, the launch of its iWare Apps site at http://www.bentley.com/iware. The new site provides fast and easy access to Bentley’s no-cost iWare Apps for enhanced interoperability, along with links to free training in their use and in-depth reference documentation. It also provides iWare Links to additional no-cost apps developed by other organizations that also facilitate interoperability.
Bentley has demonstrated that interoperability is not only good for AECO practitioners, but is also good business for vendors. And where other software vendors haven’t yet responded in kind, Bentley has worked to make it possible for users to apply “self-help” to achieve interoperations across even these vendors’ applications. Now Bentley is making universally available, at no charge, the iWare Apps it has developed for this purpose – Bentley’s contribution for infrastructure professionals to wield the interoperability benefits they deserve.
Throughout 2010, Bentley advanced the adoption of i-models, containers for open infrastructure information exchange that are a strong underlying enabler of interoperability, encapsulating provenance, precision, portability, and self-description. Now, in 2011, Bentley is accelerating the value of i-models by providing apps and plug-ins (iWare) – including for competitive products – that share information required for interoperations.
The development of i-models, and now iWare Apps, reflects Bentley’s long-standing zeal for interoperability, which was reflected in the company’s early support for multiple file formats, and then reinforced through the company’s milestone interoperability agreement with Autodesk. The i-model innovation was underscored in 2010 by Bentley’s introduction of its Integrated Structural Modeling (ISM) methodology for creators and consumers of structural project information across multiple vendors’ applications. Most recently, Bentley released its OpenPlant offerings based on ISO 15926, which share and meet the primary goals of the iRING user community, for real-time sharing of plant lifecycle data and information across organizations.
The iWare Apps site offers interoperability software for AECO professionals, and is organized to highlight apps specifically for users of Revit, Bentley, and Microsoft Windows. iWare Apps available today include:
•Bentley View (to interact with DWG, DGN, and i-models as well as many other raster and vector formats used by infrastructure professionals);
•Structural Synchronizer (to synchronize data, obtain revision history, and view models);
•Structural Dashboard (to manage structural workflows and information exchange);
•i-model Plug-in for Revit (to publish i-models from Autodesk Revit for open infrastructure information exchange);
•ISM Revit Plug-in (to coordinate, change, and synchronize structural data with Structural Synchronizer);
•RAM Structural System – Revit Link (to achieve direct interoperability between RAM Structural System and Revit Structure);
•Bentley DGN IFilter (allowing textual information within DGNs to become searchable within Windows Search and Google Desktop);
•Bentley DGN Thumbnail Provider (which embeds thumbnails in DGNs so they are viewable within applications like Windows Explorer).
Additional iWare Apps already in development include:
•i-model Plug-in for AutoCAD,
•OpenPlant Specification Generator,
•Bentley AutoPLANT Object Enabler,
•gINT AGS to Excel Converter (for GeoStructural users).
Recognizing that even the most intuitive software can be more effectively applied with proper instruction, Bentley has included links on the new website to free training and documentation for many of its iWare Apps. This makes it easier for users to realize the value of these offerings.
Additional “iWare Links” on the iWare Apps site connect visitors to sites of other organizations that provide no-cost software tools for interoperability.
To access Bentley’s new iWare Apps site, visit http://www.bentley.com/iWare.
To read Bentley’s white paper on interoperability, visit http://ftp2.bentley.com/dist/collateral/Web/Platform/WP_Interop_Platform.pdf.
To learn more about Bentley’s agreement with Autodesk to advance AEC software interoperability, visit http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Corporate/News/Interoperability%20Agreement/Autodesk%20Bentley%20Agreement/.
To learn about Bentley’s Interoperability Report Card, an industry tool to help infrastructure professionals develop strategies to achieve software interoperability in their AECO enterprises, visit http://ftp2.bentley.com/dist/collateral/docs/buildings/Interoperability-Report-Card_S_US.pdf.
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