So let's set the record straight on the Bentley products:
Bentley may be mostly known as the MicroStation company to some. Bentley
also developed or acquired several products used to design plants (including
piping).
- PlantSpace
Bentley bought a company named "Jacobus" a few years back. The "Bentley
PlantSpace Design Series" was one of the products they gained in the
transaction. . The product offers modules for 3d Piping, Equipment, Raceways
(that's electrical), and HVAC. It is the only 3D piping software that works
with the current versions of MicroStation. Other list members have noted
that PDS also works with MicroStation but the most recent version only
supports MicroStation J (about the same vintage as AutoCAD 14). The current
version is 8.1 but a new version labeled the "2004 Edition" will be
available in about a month.
- AutoPLANT
As was already noted that Bentley bought Rebis a few years ago and in the
transaction added the AutoPLANT products to their list. The products were
not interrupted by this event and neither was the development team. Most of
us former Rebis folks are still here. Bentley remains the world leader in 3D
piping design software as measured by seats of active licenses. There has
been speculation about our intentions with AutoPLANT regarding AutoCAD and
MicroStation. I can officially say that we are committed to the AutoCAD
platform (as we have been thought the years). It would be ridiculous for us
to "pull the plug" in our AutoCAD products. We are working to release the
2004 Edition of this product in the next week or so. This product supports
AutoCAD 2004 as well as 2002, 2000i and 2000. It should also support AutoCAD
2005 when its released next month.
We also are working towards interoperability between our products. We'd stop
just short of the word "merge" as we have two happy user communities and
don't want to loose anything in translation. We can further confirm that a
direct MicroStation port of AutoPLANT is not in the works. Rather we are
focusing on integration of our products with each other instead of replacing
one with another. It would be better for the users if the data were
interchangeable (including catalogs and specs) but each application took
the best advantages of each CAD platform. Beware a least common denominator
solution.
We are also busy developing new interoperability with other formats (this
too was mentioned in a previous post).
- AutoPIPE
Bentley also now owns AutoPIPE for Pipe stress work along with a host of
other piping anaysis products (flow, pulsation, nozzles).
In addition to the products mentioned Bentley also provides products to
manage drawings and data, walkthru and interference detection, other design
applications, civil, roadways, architectural, etc.
Rant over for now.
Regards,
Rich Scotti
Received on Mon Feb 23 18:19:00 2004