Defining Digital Twins
One way that Bentley is helping advance the Digital Twin Consortium’s mission is through defining the terminology used to describe digital twins. Casey Mullen, distinguished architect, strategic technologies at Bentley Systems, has contributed his expertise as a lead author of the Digital Twin Consortium’s definition of a digital twin. Mullen helped unveil the new definition during a panel discussion at the IOT Solutions World Congress on December 3, 2020.
The consortium’s digital twin definition is:
A digital twin is a virtual representation of real-world entities and processes, synchronized at a specified frequency and fidelity.
Digital twin systems transform business by accelerating holistic understanding, optimal decision-making, and effective action.
Digital twins use real-time and historical data to represent the past and present and simulate predicted futures.
Digital twins are motivated by outcomes, tailored to use cases, powered by integration, built on data, guided by domain knowledge, and implemented in IT/OT systems.
“I’ve enjoyed collaborating with representatives from diverse industries in the consortium’s Technology, Terminology, and Taxonomy Working Group to develop a set of practical definitions to inform those who are acquiring or implementing digital twins,” said Mullen.
Steering the Way
As a founding member, Bentley is also contributing its advice and technology expertise to the Digital Twin Consortium’s steering committee. Adam Klatzkin, vice president, iTwin Platform, at Bentley Systems, and Mullen are helping advance the Digital Twin Consortium’s strategic roadmap, working groups, and governance as members of the consortium’s steering committee.
“We are delighted that Bentley is a founding member of Digital Twin Consortium and is also a member of our steering committee,” said Dr. Richard Soley, executive director, Digital Twin Consortium. “The consortium looks forward to high-level guidance on digital twin technologies and continued contributions based on Bentley’s experience and knowledge of the infrastructure industry.”
An Open Platform for Digital Twins
Bentley’s collaboration with Digital Twin Consortium and its global ecosystem of digital twin users underscores its commitment to advancing open solutions for digital twins. Bentley provides iTwin.js, an open-source, software developer library for creating digital twin solutions for infrastructure. Bentley is also a member of buildingSMART International’s Digital Twin Working Group.
Bentley recently expanded its digital twin offerings with the iTwin Platform, a new platform-as-a-service offering for developers with openness as a guiding principle. The platform supports a broad range of design tools—Bentley and third-party—and file interchange formats including IFC. Klatzkin said, “The iTwin platform provides an open foundation for creating digital twin capabilities for modeling, simulation, project delivery, asset performance, and much more.”
To jump-start awareness and adoption of the iTwin digital twin platform, Bentley recently launched the iTwin Partner Program, the iTwin Ventures Fund, and hosted the inaugural iTwin Developer Conference.
