Dear FormSys Community
We are delighted to inform you that FormSys has been acquired by Bentley Systems, Inc. You probably know Bentley for their MicroStation CAD software, but they actually have a comprehensive portfolio of software products covering most engineering disciplines and data management requirements for the full spectrum of infrastructure projects and operations.
The FormSys team will become a part of the Integrated Engineering Group within Bentley which includes structural and offshore offerings, and now with us, includes marine. We will be working closely with the SACS team in New Orleans who were acquired by Bentley in February 2011. SACS is an industry leader in the analysis of offshore structures.
As a part of Bentley we will now have additional resources to support our ongoing and very active development program for Maxsurf and Multiframe. The acquisition of FormSys represents a significant additional step by the company to strengthen its software solutions in the marine, structural and offshore sectors.
Below is an FAQ document which should help answer some of your initial questions. For further questions you are welcome to contact me at philc@formsys.com.
Sincerely
Philip Christensen
P.S. You can learn more about Bentley at http://www.bentley.com/. You can learn more about SACS at www.sacs-edi.com
Bentley Acquisition of FormSys – FAQ
Bentley develops MicroStation, does this mean Maxsurf and Multiframe will require MicroStation in the future?
No. We will add capabilities to make it easier to exchange information with relevant Bentley products, but none will be required to run Maxsurf or Multiframe.
How about our use of AutoCAD, isn’t Bentley an Autodesk competitor?
Actually Bentley is the largest AutoCAD developer in the world. Many of the Bentley products are based on AutoCAD. You can rest assured that Maxsurf and Multiframe will continue to work well with AutoCAD.
Will we still be dealing with the same people at FormSys?
Yes. All of the FormSys staff are becoming employees of Bentley Systems. You will still have the same team developing Maxsurf and Multiframe and providing you with support.
Will you be continuing with the same development plans?
Both Maxsurf and Multiframe will continue their very active development program that we have followed over the past couple of years. We are currently working on improved stability, structural modelling and reporting in Maxsurf and on additional load cases and plate analysis options in Multiframe. We will also be commencing development on a tighter integration between Maxsurf and SACS and we will be moving quickly to bring to our users the benefits of Bentley’s global software licensing system – SELECT.
Will you still support ShipConstructor?
Yes. We will continue to actively partner with SSI to sell and support ShipConstructor in Australasia.
Will the software licencing change?
We will quickly be moving to use the Bentley software licensing system which will mean a) no more requirements for dongles! and b) more flexibility in managing and moving licences. This should be very helpful for occasional off-site work.
Bentley has other structural products that are Multiframe competitors, how will that work?
The Bentley structural products are not as competitive to Multiframe as they may appear. Staad.Pro is used by larger organisations requiring comprehensive design code coverage. RAM Steel is used for high-rise structures, SACS is for offshore structures and ProSteel is for steel detailing. We will be supporting Bentley’s ISM (Integrated Structural Modeling), open structural interchange format, to allow you to transfer structural models to and from Multiframe. This will mean Multiframe users would get access to concrete products and automated drawing production software that supports several international design codes including those for Australasia and Japan.
Bentley has a large direct sales force and global reach. What will happen to the FormSys resellers?
Bentley has a very active and successful network of partners and resellers (Channel Partners) that work closely with their direct sales force. Bentley’s Channel Partner managers will work proactively with FormSys’s resellers to bring them into this community if this is what the reseller wants. SACS too is sold via resellers and since the acquisition the combined selling strengths of Bentley’s direct sales force with the SACS resellers has significantly grown SACS market share.
