Siemens And Bentley Systems Agree Strategic Alliance

Siemens and Bentley Systems have entered into a strategic alliance with the goal of driving digitalization in complementary business areas to create business value. In this way, infrastructure projects are to be completed faster and plant performance is to be improved.

The two companies initially want to invest 50 million euros in the development of joint solutions for the areas of infrastructure and industry in order to expand their respective offerings for the benefit of end customers. As part of these activities, new cloud services are to be used for a networked data environment in order to bring the respective digital engineering models of both companies together. In addition to the agreed cooperation, Siemens has acquired existing shares from Bentley's share capital worth approximately EUR 70 million as part of a corporate program that runs until Bentley Systems is listed on the stock exchange.

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The two companies are already working successfully together in the Digital Factory and Process Industries and Drives divisions, where they have integrated the corresponding software offerings. For example, the technology of the Bentley Reality Modeling software was integrated into Siemens Process Simulate in order to use laser-scanned point clouds when modeling industrial sites. Turnkey Manufacturing Systems, a turnkey manufacturing solution provider for the automotive industry, has already used point cloud technology to create a digital twin of its manufacturing line. This enabled the company to improve its planning and validation processes, thereby reducing the time and costs involved.

Several Siemens divisions will be involved in the new investment initiatives. The main benefit is to gather current data from Siemens solutions on the complementary Bentley applications for design modeling, analytical modeling, construction modeling and asset performance modeling. The integrated and open engineering models such as the digital twin, viewed through an immersive 3D interface, enable better operational performance, presentation and reliability. This integrates the 2D models of the Siemens solutions into the realistic 3D models from Bentley Systems.

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The companies want to work together in the areas of energy management, energy generation, building technology and mobility wherever their expertise is complementary. For example, the Bentley applications for 3D modeling and structural analysis complement Siemens' solutions in the areas of electrification and automation. The companies want to offer partner software and deliver complete solutions so that customers can improve their project and asset performance through simulations and virtual commissioning. Siemens and Bentley Systems want to continue to develop their developments according to the principles of openness and interoperability.

Klaus Helmrich, Member of the Board of Management of Siemens AG, says: “With this step, we are expanding our industry software ecosystem from 2D to 3D solutions. We want to take the simulation portfolio of our digital enterprise offering to a new level. We are realizing our vision of a digital twin from virtual planning to a real product for the benefit of our customers, who themselves work on digitizing their value chains. Bentley Systems is an ideal partner for us.”

Greg Bentley, CEO of Bentley Systems, explains: “With Siemens, we were able to go beyond simply linking the Industrial Internet of Things so that we can optimally use digital engineering models for visual operations and networked infrastructure asset performance. We have been sharing complementary technologies for a long time and are particularly pleased that we can contribute to Siemens' role in industrial digitization.” (kj)