BE conference focused on BEst Practices for Sustaining Infrastructure was held May 28-30, 2008 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore. At this two-and-half-day event, decision makers and senior practitioners from infrastructure organizations around the globe, including owner-operators and AEC firms shared innovative best practices using Bentley solutions. The highly focused agenda of BE Conference 2008 enabled attendees to explore innovative ways to increase productivity, improve project quality, and reduce the costs and risks associated with sustaining infrastructure.

In the context of Bentley’s new theme, "Sustaining Infrastructure," CEO Greg Bentley reviewed key business developments at Bentley and in the world of infrastructure, as well as new Bentley solutions, products, and acquisitions in 2007. He focused on Bridge Information Modeling (BrIM) as an example of the way Bentley is making its solutions portfolio more comprehensive while advancing interoperability over the asset lifecycle.

The guest keynote was addressed byAndrew Winston, coauthor of the bestseller Green to Gold, which highlights what works – and what doesn’t – when companies go “green.” Winston is a globally recognized expert on green business, and his work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, BusinessWeek, Forbes, The New York Times, ABC News, and CNBC.

There were many announcements made during the conference including the release of its Annual report. The report, which was distributed to more than 2,000 attendees, reviews Bentley’s business priorities and highlights milestones for the past year, including:
• 2007 revenues reached $450 million, reflecting 16 percent growth over 2006,
• Bentley colleagues around the world now exceed 2,800,
• Bentley users work in 169 countries,
• Almost 80 percent of the ENR Top 50 rely on ProjectWise collaboration services,
• Bentley was named the world’s No. 2 provider of geospatial software solutions in a just-completed Daratech research study.

Bentley has been named the world’s No. 2 provider of geospatial software in a second consecutive Daratech research study. Styli Camateros, Bentley vice president, Civil and Geospatial Products said, “The entire geospatial team is proud that Bentley has been named the No. 2 geospatial software vendor in the world in a second consecutive Daratech study. We’ve listened closely to our users in developing our technologies, and the new capabilities in our growing range of advanced geospatial products are all based on that invaluable input.

During the conference Bentley announced Bentley OpenPlant PDx Manager, a new software tool built on ISO 15926 that makes existing plant design system data, such as PDS data, open and interoperable with other applications. With Bentley OpenPlant PDx Manager, engineering/ procurement/construction firms, owneroperators, and suppliers can connect to a live PDS project and open up the entire PDS project database without affecting the underlying PDS model or data.

It was also announced that Bentley has acquired the global business of Common Point, Incorporated. ConstructSim has become widely established in plant projects, has been successfully deployed on building projects, and, along with OpSim, can also be applied in civil infrastructure projects. The integration of Common Point’s technology with Bentley’s ProjectWise Navigator platform and comprehensive portfolio of applications and collaboration servers will enable Bentley to accelerate integrated project delivery for infrastructure projects by closing gaps between design, construction, and operations.

Bentley Systems, Incorporated announced the winners of the 2008 BE Awards of Excellence, which honor the extraordinary work of Bentley users improving and sustaining the world’s infrastructure. Seventeen projects in the professional portion of the program received BE Awards during the BE Conference in Baltimore. These projects set benchmarks
and showcase the imagination and technical mastery of the organizations that created them. In addition, for only the second time, a BE Award was presented for Lifetime Achievement. In the academic portion of the program, BE Awards went to the Educator of the Year and the top four student designs.
www.bentley.com/BEconference.