Bentley Systems 2013 annual revenues announced

On April 16, Bentley Systems announced its 2013 annual results in a press call. Bentley is a private company and uses the opportunity to highlight its annual accomplishments such as its involvement in trends and new products. Bentley is a leader in the market in the areas of electric power generation, electric power transmission, distribution and communications; water and wastewater distribution, EPC and AEC, and mining and metals. Bentley’s geospatial offerings are integrated into many of the above market areas.

Bentley’s view of BIM Level 3, as the amount of available information increases, it is also pushed out for broader access by more stake holders. (Image courtesy: Bentley)

CEO Greg Bentley said that the company has been buying up stock during the past five years. Consequently Bentley ownership has shifted from 58% of the company owned by family and colleagues to 98%. The huge change has allowed Bentley Systems to invest in the way they want to. Company revenue has grown 8% over 2013 to $593 million. 25% of revenues are devoted to the firm’s R&D budget.

Much of the discussion revolved around comparisons with rival company Autodesk. According to Greg Bentley, Bentley earned nearly $600 million compared to Autodesk’s AEC figures at $700 million, referring to Autodesk’s fiscal year February 1, 2013 to January 31, 2014. Bentley said that revenues for Bentley grew at a faster rate than those of Autodesk.

Three-quarters of the company’s revenues derive from subscription/maintenance customers. A new metered service has been instituted for customers to use whatever Bentley tools they need through the terms of a a job or contract, much the way one of the Autodesk models works.

Over 63% of Bentley revenues come from outside the U.S., a fact that was brought home at the Year in Infrastructure Conference in 2013. This outside revenue has grown in the past five years, with revenues derived in 2013 from South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, the Middle East and UK, as well as the BRICs countries.

Building information modeling (BIM) has advanced in usage and perspective. Greg Bentley now envisions BIM as having levels, i.e., Level 0 then moving to Level 1 where visualization and documentation are added; Level 2 where an increased level of information modeling and information mobility is added along with simulation which enables optioneering; and Level 3 which extends the lifecycle of BIM into the operations of the completed asset. In this phase information mobility makes design data and as-constructed models available for operations and maintenance, while “big data” from sensors and operating metrics contribute to the creation of a rich, “immersive” information model of the built asset to improve infrastructure performance, safety, and sustainability. This means what’s going on underground as well as on top of the ground and the integration of 3D scanned data and accessing data via mobile tablets, etc.

Tags: Autodesk, Bentley Systems, geospatial, GIS, location, mapping

Categories: Autodesk, Bentley, cloud, field GIS, geospatial, GIS, mapping

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