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August
At a joint press conference, Autodesk, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADSK) and Bentley Systems, Incorporated, two of the leading providers of design and infrastructure software, today announced an agreement to expand interoperability between their portfolios of architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) software. Autodesk and Bentley will exchange software libraries, including Autodesk RealDWG, to improve the ability to read and write the companies' respective DWG and DGN formats in mixed environments with greater fidelity. In addition, the two companies will facilitate work process interoperability between their AEC applications through supporting the reciprocal use of available Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). With this agreement, the companies aim to improve AEC workflows by enabling broader reuse of information generated during the design, construction, and operation of buildings and infrastructure, and by enhancing the ability of project teams to choose among multiple software sources.
Interoperability has emerged as a critical issue for users of design and engineering software. A 2004 study by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology found that users bear direct costs of almost $16 billion annually from time wasted due to inadequate AEC software interoperability. By virtue of this agreement, and the interoperable offerings that it will enable, AEC firms will be free to employ software tools of choice from either Autodesk or Bentley to accept or submit either DWG or DGN files. By improving fidelity of work shared between the two file formats, users will be able to focus on being creative and getting work done, rather than being constrained by file-compatibility considerations.
Through supporting the reciprocal use of their available APIs, Autodesk and Bentley will enable AEC project teams to combine products from both providers within integrated workflows. For instance, a design team could use a mixture of Autodesk and Bentley software, such as Autodesk's Revit platform and Bentley's STAAD and RAM structural products, and simulate and analyze their designs or manage project information using Autodesk NavisWorks software or Bentley's ProjectWise.
Norbert Young, FAIA, president of McGraw-Hill Construction and former chairman of the International Alliance for Interoperability in North America, said, "This groundbreaking agreement directly addresses many of the critical issues detailed in the October 2007 McGraw-Hill Construction study on interoperability in the construction industry (http://construction.ecnext.com/mcgraw_hill/includes/SMRI.pdf). I applaud both companies for their foresight and leadership."
Added Patrick MacLeamy, FAIA, CEO of global architectural firm HOK and a founder and current chairman of the International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI), "As a longtime advocate of interoperability, I welcome this agreement as an important step toward enabling AEC information to be more broadly shared, increasing the value of BIM to our clients."
"Autodesk recognizes that many customers use our products in mixed environments, and this agreement will help to better support these firms," said Jay Bhatt, senior vice president, Autodesk AEC Solutions. "As part of our commitment to provide technology that improves productivity and efficiency across the AEC industry, we're pleased to enter into this agreement with Bentley Systems -- Autodesk's largest development partner -- and together help customers design, build, operate, and maintain the world's infrastructure."
"Bentley and Autodesk share a goal of enabling the creation and operations of better-performing infrastructure," said Greg Bentley, CEO of Bentley Systems. "Realizing that our mutual users bear unnecessary costs resulting from lack of interoperability, we came together to finally make information reuse the norm. By raising its sights beyond file format issues, the resource- constrained AEC community can better serve us all."
By enabling detailed 3D design models to be reliably shared, combined, reviewed, and perfected between all project stakeholders, Autodesk® NavisWorks® solutions are at theheart of your BIM workflow. Autodesk NavisWorks software applications combine vital digital project information into a single building information model that gives all stakeholders a whole-project view for improving design decision making, construction documentation, and performance prediction and planning, straight through to management and operation of the facility.
This course is broken into three 1-day sections (NavisWorks Manage, Simulate, and Review). Using hands-on exercises students learn how to open, review, and run object-interference checks on 3D models. Students also learn how to link to task-scheduling files and create 4D construction simulations. Using the Animator and Scripter tools, students create interactive animations. In addition, students learn how the Presenter tools can help them to create photorealistic images and animations. This course provides students with the skills and knowledge to use NavisWorks 2009 effectively.
Training Dates:
San Diego – Sep 22-24, Nov 24-26
LA – Aug 13-15, Oct 27-29, Dec 8-10
For details on the Naviswork’s Suite of products or training dates please click here or call 800-578-2457 today.
Introducing Prolog 2008 – the latest upgrade to Prolog® software from Meridian Systems
Prolog is the industry standard for successful construction project delivery. In fact, Meridian solutions continue to be ranked as the market share leader for project management software by Constructech magazine, and by the CFMA among general contractors larger than $101 million in revenue. Meridian customers on active customer support and maintenance agreements receive Prolog upgrades free of charge.
This ‘What’s New’ document details some of the notable enhancements in the Prolog 2008 release, including improved usability, new features and customer driven enhancements that allow Prolog users to:
> Optimize company performance
> Reduce paperwork and review cycles on all project related documents
> Manage escalating project complexity and program risk
> Improve communication and collaboration
Performance, Usability & Security
The first thing you’ll notice is the refreshed and modern user interface that closely mimics one of the most universally-used programs – Microsoft Outlook. You will also see many additional customer driven enhancements that are designed to improve performance, usability and security.
By upgrading to Prolog 2008, you will also benefit from many other enhancements, including:
> RFI ‘drag & drop’ file attachments
> User-friendly duplicate Company Manager features
> Default Crystal XI® reporting
> Contract centric Potential Change Orders (PCO)
> Improved List Group and Lookup Group data export
> Enhanced security level attributes
> Easy-to-access Contact and Company Lookup buttons
> Ability to limit revisions to PCOs that are linked to other documents
> Greater Quick Print reporting capability
> Master Format 2004 expanded CSI code file format support
> Advanced database performance and simplified archiving capability
> More than 40 other customer driven enhancements
Prolog 2008 has an updated user interface with an expandable and collapsible menu design, and new navigation bar with larger, easier-to-understand icons.
Updated User Interface
The Prolog user interface has been updated with many new features. The traditional switchboard has been replaced with an expandable and collapsible menu that mimics Microsoft Outlook. The Prolog navigation bar has also been updated with larger, easier-to-understand icons. And, users continue to have the ability to organize the interface to best suit their business needs.
Drag & Drop RFIs
New drag & drop functionality allows users to effortlessly attach one or more files directly onto an RFI form. As a result, the attachments are stored directly in the project database, making the files easily accessible without relying on hyperlinks.
Contract Centric PCOs
Benefit from more detailed cost and budget controls with the added ability to link PCO line items to specific contracts. Then, view the effect PCOs have on specific contracts with new financial summary fields available in Prolog 2008.
Efficient Database Management & Simplified Archiving
The addition of new database types in Prolog 2008 has improved the efficiency of the Prolog Database. The new data types produce smaller sized data tables, reducing space requirements and improving the overall performance of Prolog.
Prolog 2008 also features project archiving enhancements. The Prolog Administrator now has the ability to easily archive projects directly into a SQL Server 2005 database rather than using MS Access. In addition to eliminating the MS Access size limitations, this new option removes the need to import, Prolog can simply attach to an archive database.
Directly link PCO line items to specific contracts.
Quickly and easily attach files to RFIs with drag & drop functionality.
Support for Updated Software Releases
Prolog 2008 has been upgraded to support the latest formats and encryption technology.
> Crystal Reports XI — for greater reporting capability and stability Prolog Manager and Prolog WebSite now ship with Crystal Reports XI (version 11).
> Master Format 2004 — Support for Master Format 2004, as well as the existing Master Format 1995 is included with Prolog 2008. Users have the ability to choose which format (or both) they wish to use on a project specific basis. Prolog 2008 contains Master Format 2004 CSI codes. Additionally, CSI Codes can now be updated by administrators even if they are already linked to existing records.
> Rasterex Version 9 — Prolog WebSite now includes the enhanced view and redline capabilities available in Rasterex Version 9. The Rasterex viewer supports the most common file types, and has native markup, robust redlining and 3D file viewing.
> SHA-1 Encryption — to maintain the highest level of security, Prolog 2008 includes industry standard, SHA-1 encryption protocol making login credentials and project data inaccessible to unauthorized users.
Because our award winning web-based project management solution, ProjectTalk, is based on Prolog, all of the updated features and functionality that is available in Prolog 2008 will also be available in ProjectTalk.
For details on Prolog 2008 please click here or call 800-578-2457 today.
Starting July 8, qualified AutoCAD® Land Desktop software customers can take advantage of the AutoCAD Land Desktop Customer Transition Program. Eligible AutoCAD Land Desktop software customers can crossgrade to AutoCAD® Map 3D, AutoCAD® Civil, or AutoCAD® Civil 3D® software for a special promotional price of $245 if they have a current subscription contract or $495 without subscription.
This promotion runs July 8, 2008, through April 17, 2009, and is available to the following categories of customers who have licenses of Autodesk® Land Desktop 2006 or 2007 software, or AutoCAD Land Desktop 2008 or 2009 software products. (AutoCAD Land Desktop 2009 customers who purchase their product after July 7, 2008 are not eligible):
• Commercial customers in the United States and Canada
• Autodesk Strategic Accounts in the United States and Canada
• U.S. Government (Federal/State/Local) accounts purchasing via DLT
• Canadian Government (Federal/Provincial/Local) accounts purchasing directly from Autodesk
Education customers, Education to Commercial migrations, and Autodesk Store purchases, are not eligible to participate in this promotion.
Customers must provide a valid AutoCAD Land Desktop serial number for each AutoCAD Land Desktop Customer Transition Program product purchased.
For information on the Autodesk suite of products including Land Desktop, AutoCAD Civil, Civil 3D, or for details on training and consulting, please email marketing@kelar.com or call 800-578-2457. |
Autodesk and Bentley to Advance AEC Software Interoperability
Design Software