Bentley Acquires Promis•e Product Line

Bentley Systems announced that it has acquired the global business of ECT International, a provider of advanced computer-aided engineering (CAE) design tools for electrical-control systems. This includes acquisition of ECT International's flagship software, promis•e, which generates electrical-system schematics and supporting documentation.
Bentley states that the software acquisition will extend the company's portfolio of solutions for the design and operation of electrical systems, responding to the growing need among building, plant, civil, and geospatial infrastructure professionals for more comprehensive solutions incorporating electrical wiring, diagramming, and drawing production.

The promis•e software reportedly features more than two million parts in its content repository and can be used in combination with MicroStation, MicroStation PowerDraft, or AutoCAD. It is used by original equipment manufacturers, electrical-systems integrators, engineering/procurement/construction firms, suppliers and vendors of electrical-system components, and facility owners. Clients include ABB, Procter & Gamble, Eaton, Solar Turbines, Duke Energy, Long Island Rail Road, and Siemens. Companies providing database content include Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric, Panduit, and Hoffman.

With Bentley's acquisition, "users will benefit from streamlined control-system-design workflows intra-operating by way of an intelligent information model," said Bhupinder Singh, senior vice-president, Bentley Software. "This will provide increased efficiencies and accuracies that cut design and construction costs, shave time from delivery schedules, reduce operations and maintenance costs, and make it easier to implement ongoing system modifications, all of which enhance the creation of sustainable infrastructure."

Rob Whitesell, vice-president, Bentley Plant, Building, and Structural development, added, "This acquisition is particularly auspicious for plant owners and creators. With this breakthrough, users benefit from bidirectional workflows that allow them to iterate from simulation to process and instrumentation diagrams, to economically near-optimum instrumentation and pipe routing, to pipe-stress analysis, all interactively. Our acquisition of promis•e enables us to soon add to this workflow electrical-control-system design, supporting drawing takeoffs from the promis•e intelligent database."