Thursday, May 29. 2008

Bentley Staking Position as an Advocate for Sustainable Infrastructure

The theme for the 2008 BE Conference, a user's event sponsored by Bentley Systems, is "Best Practices for Sustainable Infrastructure." Citing just the recent catastrophic events in China and Myanmar not to mention the pressures from increased energy demands and rising cost of fuel, Greg Bentley, CEO of Bentley Systems said, "The quality of life is connected to our quality of infrastructure. The financial returns on infrastructure investments will be inexorably forthcoming. I have no doubt of the opportunities that lie before us. The first action we are taking is sharing and learning about best practices." The company is putting is money where its mouth is by setting a goal to reduce its carbon footprint by 15% by 2009 and it started with reducing corporate travel. Bentley said that its annual sales meeting was held virtually.

Keynote speaker Andrew Winston, author of "Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage," had some interesting statistics:
1. Wal-mart comprises 2% of the US GDP. It is now asking its suppliers what its "carbon footprint" is. Suppliers that are reducing their carbon footprint get prefered shelf space.
2. Banks are becoming skeptical about funding the development of new coal-fired power plants as they believe that consumers may look toward more "green" ways of reducing power consumption.
3. China wants 50% of their population to be in their "middle class" by 2020
4. Advertising dollars are driving the media to cover the green movement more aggressively as companies like BP, Wal-mart, GE and others are promoting their investment in green technologies and reducing their power consumption.
5. UPS stopped making left turns to reduce idle time at stop lights. By performing route analysis, the company now modifies its routes to do concentric circles. The result was a savings of three million gallons of gas.

[Disclosure: Bentley covered travel, hotel and food.]

Bentley Offers Company Metrics in Annual Report

In what is an unusual move for a private company but a ritual announcement at the annual BE Conference, Bentley Systems issued an annual report today. Some snippets from the report: Revenue for the year represents a 15% growth over 2006. 2007 GAP revenues are at $450M. In his press conference Greg Bentley stated that in 2008 the run rate is already showing the probability of revenues in excess of $500 Million. The company is prepared for more acquisitions and has established a $200 Million credit facility. Bentley's annual report is viewable online.

[Disclosure: Bentley covered travel, hotel and food.]

Bentley at Standstill with Autodesk Relationship

During a press conference at the BE Conference in Baltimore, Bentley Systems CEO Greg Bentley was asked about the relationship with Autodesk and if it had improved. Citing that Autodesk and Bentley have an obvious stake in interoperability, Bentley stated that the relationship is at a standstill. 

Bentley Wants Leadership Role in Energy Analysis Solutions

Bentley intends to be the market leader in energy analysis and simulation as well as supporting a better means for building efficiency. Citing its reseller agreement with Environmental Design Solutions Ltd for its Tas software, Greg Bentley, CEO of Bentley Systems said at this week's BE Conference in Baltimore that, "the product’s virtue is its enormous scalability. With Taz software [you have] a complete building information model (BIM) with energy standards."

For Bentley, 2007 was a record year for technology acquisitions which will support this vision – LEAP Software (analysis and design for concrete bridges; ProConcrete available at the end of 2009); ECT International Inc (electrical control systems; reducing electrical design time); Hevacomp Ltd. (virtual energy models and software tools for electrical design for promoting low energy solutions; it is the largest UK building services provider and also produces HVAC solutions to improve energy efficiency of buildings.

Bentley Cited as #2 Geospatial Provider by Daratech

Greg Bentley, CEO of Bentley Systems cited a report from Daratech, the market research firm, that had named his company the #2 provider of geospatial software in the world. In the report, Daratech puts ESRI @ ~$540 Million and Bentley at ~$200 Million in revenues for geospatial software. Bentley said, "There is not any avenue of our solutions that is separated from geospatial."