Be Together: The Bentley User Conference – May 24, 2011 – Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading company dedicated to providing comprehensive software solutions for sustaining infrastructure, today announced at this annual gathering of infrastructure professionals that it is extending its ProjectWise V8i synchronized collaboration and Bentley Navigator V8i review and markup capabilities to users of mobile devices, such as iPads. ProjectWise, the world’s leading project team collaboration and work-sharing platform, is used by 71 of the ENRTop 100 Design Firms.
Bentley Navigator is used by infrastructure teams to interactively view, analyze, and augment project information in both individual and collaborative workflows. A ProjectWise Passport constitutes a license for any and all ProjectWise client, desktop, and web applications, as well as for Bentley Navigator. The iPad apps demonstrated at Be Together will be available by August (through the Apple App Store, a Passport holder will be able to download ProjectWise Explorer for the iPad and Bentley Navigator for the iPad) bringing users, respectively, collaboration and review and markup, now anywhere.
Project Collaboration, Now Anywhere
ProjectWise Explorer enables users to work in collaborative workflows, providing managed, synchronized, and secure access to project content such as i-models (containers for open infrastructure information exchange), Microsoft Office documents, PDFs, images, and movies. With the new iPad apps, users can have these capabilities anywhere.
Furthermore, any browser-based user of Windows 7 tablets and laptops can access ProjectWise functionality using ProjectWise Web Parts and use Bentley Navigator, available anywhere. ProjectWise Web Parts can be incorporated into any website and integrate with Microsoft SharePoint. This capability is supported on all the common browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome, and doesn’t require flash.
Immersive “Hands-on” Review and Markup Synchronization, Now Anywhere
Bentley Navigator enables users to dynamically navigate, view, and mark up models for design review and coordination. Bentley Navigator for the iPad uniquely provides panoramic navigation in an immersive environment for hands-on review, as well as markup synchronization in collaborative workflows. Panoramic navigation enables users to navigate models by simply moving an iPad as though it were a window into the model within which they are virtually immersed. Review markups are synchronized through ProjectWise in a variety of workflows, including paper and pen (facilitated by Bentley’s ProjectWise Dynamic Plot V8i, which creates an intelligent link between paper plots and digital models), PDFs, desktop or laptop computer clients – and now for iPads.
These review and markup synchronization capabilities are enabled by i-models, which track the “provenance” of the information they contain. To facilitate the new innovations for mobility, Bentley has expanded the capability of i-models in two ways:
- i-models can now package multiple files of architectural, engineering, construction, and owner-operator content, including models, drawings, Microsoft Office documents, and more. This enables users to have a convenient and well-organized distribution of project information – as might be required in a submission for a design review session. These packages can also serve to ready such information for use in an offline workflow.
- i-models can now be rendered for device-specific use cases, such as the newly introduced i-model for the iPad, to both take advantage of the device’s capabilities and accommodate its limitations. These device-specific i-models suit the typical use activities of the device, such as with panoramic navigation on the iPad.
Device-specific i-model renditions can be created either within design authoring applications, or automatically generated via the ProjectWise Dynamic Composition Server. Therefore, projects can elect to maintain current iPad renditions of relevant models for instant “cloud” access and immersive review – anywhere!
In the near future, Bentley plans to introduce i-model renditions and apps for other mobile devices, such as the Android and Playbook.
About Be Together: The Bentley User Conference
Be Together: The Bentley User Conference, taking place this week at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, enables the architects, engineers, constructors, geospatial and operations professionals, and CAD managers who regularly exchange ideas virtually on the Be Communities professional networking site to connect, communicate, and learn from each other in person. In addition, guided by Bentley product experts, attendees acquire knowledge crucial to the adoption of information-modeling best practices as they earn Bentley Institute Learning Units to maximize return on time invested in professional development. The conference hosts nine tracks: Roads and Bridges, Structural, Water, Geospatial, Utilities and Communications, Building, Plant, AssetWise, and MicroStation and ProjectWise. For additional information about the conference, visit
www.bentley.com/BeTogether.
About Bentley Systems, Incorporated
Bentley is the global leader dedicated to providing architects, engineers, geospatial professionals, constructors, and owner-operators with comprehensive software solutions for sustaining infrastructure. Bentley’s mission is to empower its users to leverage information modeling throughintegrated projects for high-performing intelligent infrastructure. Its solutions encompass the MicroStation platform for infrastructure design and modeling, the ProjectWise platform for infrastructure project team collaboration and work sharing, and the AssetWise platform for infrastructure asset operations – all supporting a broad portfolio of interoperable applications and complemented by worldwide professional services. Founded in 1984, Bentley has grown to nearly 3,000 colleagues in more than 45 countries and $500 million in annual revenues. Since 2001, the company has invested more than $1 billion in research, development, and acquisitions.
Additional information about Bentley is available at
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To view a searchable collection of innovative infrastructure projects from the annual Be Inspired Awards, access Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure publications. To access a professional networking site that enables members of the infrastructure community to connect, communicate, and learn from each other, visit Be Communities.
