Bentley Systems Accelerates Its Digital Twin Strategy To Take Advantage Of Growth Opportunities

Bentley Systems Accelerates Its Digital Twin Strategy To Take Advantage Of Growth Opportunities

Over the past 24 months digital twins have evolved from being a marketing buzzword to a technology that industrial firms are investing in as they deliver added value across the asset lifecycle. However, digital twins are not a standalone category of technology and include a wide range of capabilities covering analytics, visualisation, simulation and data management. This is driving multiple vendor strategies with some suppliers focussing on providing point solutions for enhanced visualisation or analytics, some entering into partnerships, while others are undertaking acquisitions to offer the depth as well as breadth of capabilities.

Bentley Systems in order to take advantage of the $1 billion and growing industrial facility digital twin market opportunity has accelerated its strategy over the past 12 months. In November 2020, it launched the Bentley iTwin Ventures, a $100 million venture capital fund focused on co-investing in start-ups and emerging companies developing digital twin solutions and as part of this has invested in FutureOn, the Norwegian provider of visualisation software for oil and gas subsea installations. Bentley Systems has already engaged in multiple acquisitions and partnerships in the first five months of 2021. It acquired sensemetrics and Vista Data Vision to bring in real-time data from sensors and other devices for geological, geotechnical and environmental monitoring into the iTwin platform in April 2021, while it entered into an agreement to acquire Seequent, the 3D modelling software provider for geosciences in March 2021. These two acquisitions will boost Bentley Systems’ capabilities for subsurface digital twins.

In parallel, it has also enhanced its capabilities to provide consulting, integration and implementation services as depending on the use case as well as sophistication level of the digital twin, complexity of implementation can differ substantially. It launched The Cohesive Companies in July 2020 following the acquisition of Cohesive Solutions, the North American reseller of IBM Maximo EAM software to provide integration and consulting services for industrial asset performance digital twins. The Cohesive Companies acquired Ontracks Consulting, the Canadian-headquartered implementer of IBM Maximo in March 2021 and UK-based Maximo solutions provider SRO Solutions in November 2020 to expand its capabilities for marine and industrial.

For more research on digital twins and industrial asset performance management technologies visit the Verdantix Operational Excellence research website.