New Software Advances BIM Objectives of Faster/Earlier Design Decisions and Creation of Better-performing, Intelligent Utility Assets through Information Modeling

EXTON, Pa. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — June 27, 2013 — Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading company dedicated to providing comprehensive software solutions for sustaining infrastructure, today announced the immediate availability of Bentley Utilities Designer, a comprehensive application for the streamlined design and management of electric, gas, water, and wastewater utility networks. The new software advances the building information modeling (BIM) objectives of faster/earlier design decisions and the creation of better-performing, intelligent utility infrastructure through the use of information modeling. It also lowers total cost of ownership by consolidating design and management into a single license and application, simplifying training, deployment, maintenance, and integration with enterprise work management systems. Efficiency gains are even greater for multi-utilities – for example, those providing both electric and gas services or water and wastewater services – that are currently using separate design applications.

Richard Zambuni, Bentley global marketing director, geospatial and utilities, said, “With Bentley Utilities Designer, utility owner-operators can reap the many BIM benefits that provide competitive advantage in the marketplace and result in increased returns on investment. This powerful application, which includes the functionality of both MicroStation and Bentley Map, accelerates brownfield and greenfield layout by enabling designers to more quickly achieve the precision and quality they require, increasing productivity. At the same time, it shortens design cycles and results in faster project deliveries by enabling rapid cost-based refinements during design while minimizing review and approval delays.”

Commenting on the new release, Krist Wong, project director, Global Technology Integrator (GTI), a GIS consultant in Hong Kong, said, “Global Technology Integrator selected Bentley Utilities Designer to replace existing legacy GISs for the Drainage Services Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (DSD). Bentley Utilities Designer proved to be the best choice as it provides a robust and configurable GIS platform with a drafting environment with which DSD MicroStation users are very familiar. GTI anticipates that the tool will improve DSD operations efficiency by increasing productivity and reducing software overhead.”

Juan Miguel, general manager, Aguas de Cádiz, S.A., the water supply utility in Cádiz, Spain, said, “We’ve been looking forward to the release of Bentley Utilities Designer, a product that will help us manage our network in an efficient way. We expect Bentley Utilities Designer to become part of our non-revenue water/leakage reduction program as our central repository of network information, supporting the district metered area definition process and taking advantage of full integration with our water modeling technology, Bentley’s WaterGEMS.”

Ronald J. McLeroy, PE, manager of technical services, Huntsville Utilities, a public utility in Huntsville, Ala., U.S.A., said, “Bentley Utilities Designer will greatly reduce the complexity of our Bentley software installations and investments, allowing us to more cost-effectively and efficiently maintain and administer the capabilities required for electric, gas, and water engineering design, installation, and mapping operations.”

Key advantages and features of Bentley Utilities Designer include:

• the time and cost savings that result from easy integration with commonly deployed enterprise GIS systems;
• more efficient design capability through built-in access to the power, precision, productivity, and intelligence of MicroStation, the unrivaled information modeling environment for infrastructure professionals;
• the elimination of time-consuming, open-loop processes for cost estimation and review through the provision of on-the-fly cost estimation for each design decision and configurable design workflow management;
• the option of consolidating network design and management into a single application for reduced software complexity and costs through the software’s built-in utility-specific GIS based on the industry-proven Bentley Map platform;
• the ability to efficiently manage work requests and designs in stand-alone mode or via seamless integration with a variety of enterprise work management systems through the software’s fully configurable workflow engine;
• increased productivity, accelerated projects, and reduced risk through the software’s intraoperability with ProjectWise, Bentley’s system of collaboration servers and services that enables utility owner-operators to improve the quality, reuse, and auditing of design and construction information;
• rich and reliable information exchange with field personnel through the ability to publish project drawings and utility network maps as i-models that can be reviewed on mobile devices using Bentley Map Mobile .