Bluebeam Software, acquired by the Nemetschek Group October 2014, continues on its course of international expansion. The leading developer of PDF-based annotation and collaboration solutions for the AEC (architectural, engineering and construction) industry recently announced that they have extended their solution lines, acquired exclusive Swedish distributor Bluebeam AB, and entered into new reseller and technology partnerships.
In July 2015 the Bluebeam eXtreme Conference was held in the US under the theme “Innovation through Expansion”. It is reflected not only geographically, but also with the introduction of a new concurrent Open License option. Additionally, Bluebeam’s collaboration technology, Bluebeam Studio, will expand into a family of offerings, including Bluebeam Studio Prime, a new cloud-based subscription solution. The adoption of Bluebeam Studio has grown exponentially year over year since the cloud-based collaboration solution was introduced in 2010. Over 225,000 global users to date have generated over 2 billion posts.
With the purchase of Bluebeam AB, which formally establishes the company’s European headquarters, Bluebeam expands its global reach into key European markets. The move allows Bluebeam to directly serve the strong European market and existing customer base of the Nemetschek Group, accelerate European growth and scale infrastructure more quickly. The European headquarters will provide more support opportunities for local resellers and customers and capitalize on regional market expertise.
In addition to the Bluebeam AB acquisition, Bluebeam strengthened the company’s presence in Switzerland last February by signing Allplan Schweiz AG as a Bluebeam reseller. Bluebeam’s flagship solution, Bluebeam Revu, complements Allplan’s family of CAD and BIM software, resulting in a portfolio of end-to-end solutions that enable Swiss AEC professionals to digitally manage and collaborate on project files globally throughout the entire project life cycle.
The company’s annual US eXtreme Conference also highlighted expansion through technology partnerships with Microsoft, CMiC and FieldLens, which improve interoperability across design and building processes. The aim of Bluebeam’s partnership with Microsoft is to create a better mobile experience for users requiring more power in the form of tablet-based project document management solutions. Leveraging the Bluebeam Studio API, FieldLens has created an integration with Revu that allows users to overlay real-time daily reported data in the field with drawings from an iPhone or Android, while CMiC’s enterprise-level solution integration allows users to more seamlessly facilitate collaboration workflows.
