Bentley Systems


Bentley Systems, Incorporated, is an American-based software development company that develops, manufactures, licenses, sells and supports computer software and services for the design, construction, and operation of infrastructure. The company's software serves the building, plant, civil, and geospatial markets in the areas of architecture, engineering, construction and operations. Their software products are used to design, engineer, build, and operate large constructed assets such as roadways, railways, bridges, buildings, industrial plants, power plants, and utility networks. The company re-invests 20% of their revenues in research and development
Bentley Systems is headquartered in Exton, Pennsylvania, United States, but has development, sales and other departments in over 50 countries. The company had revenues of $625 million in 2014.

Software

Bentley has three principal software product lines: MicroStation, ProjectWise, and AssetWise. Since 2014, some products have been based on the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform.

History

Keith A. Bentley and Barry J. Bentley founded Bentley Systems in 1984. They introduced the commercial version of PseudoStation in 1985, which allowed users of Intergraph's VAX systems to use low-cost graphics terminals to view and modify the designs on their Intergraph IGDS installations. Their first product was shown to potential users who were polled as to what they would be willing to pay for it. They averaged the answers, arriving at a price of $7,943. A DOS-based version of MicroStation was introduced in 1986.

Acquisitions

In April 2002, Bentley filed for an initial public offering, but it was withdrawn before taking effect.
In November 2016, German-based Siemens announced it would pay about $76 million for a minority stake in Bentley, as well as invest in developing joint software with it.

Bentley Institute Press

Bentley Systems also is a publisher of textbooks and professional references for the architectural, engineering, and construction, operations, geospatial, and educational communities, under the name Bentley Institute Press.

Bentley Infrastructure 500

Since 2010, Bentley annually published a ranking of the top owners of infrastructure from both the public and private sectors.