Bentley Releases Comprehensive Engineering Design Solution To Advance GIS For Electric Utilities

LOS ANGELES, May 2 /CNW/ - Bentley Systems, Incorporated today released
its comprehensive engineering design solution to advance GIS for electric
utilities.

The solution includes Bentley Electric XM and Bentley Expert Designer XM
- two new fully interoperable products built on Bentley's next-generation
geospatial technology. In addition, Bentley Electric XM is delivered with a
robust industry best practices data model for electric utilities, along with
an intuitive visual modeling editor that can be used to modify and extend the
model.

Bentley's solution for electric utilities supports new levels of
efficiency in managing electric distribution networks throughout the plan,
design, build and operate lifecycle. Enabled with configurable business
workflows, the solution helps integrate mapping, facilities management, and
design with work management and asset management workflows. Users can optimize
designs, specify all materials and labor required to complete work requests,
and have flexibility in managing labor and materials costs, all in the context
of defined business processes.

Said Carey Mann, vice president Geospatial Solutions, for Bentley, "By
removing the inefficiencies of disparate systems from tightly coupled business
processes, Bentley's new solution represents a new paradigm for electric
utilities. For the first time, facilities mapping, design engineering, and
analytically driven estimating have been integrated into a single work
environment."

Bentley Electric XM delivers core mapping, network documentation,
facility mapping, and facility management functions. In addition, it provides
feature placement, editing, and viewing, supports directional network trace
and highlight, validates feature placement against configurable business
rules, and enables simple service delivery.

Bentley Expert Designer XM extends Bentley Electric XM to add intelligent
and optimized design and integrated estimating. It features rapid rules-based
placement of facilities, provides an interactive catalog with drag and drop
placement, automatically assigns compatible units (standard materials and
labor), and facilitates design version and cost comparisons.

Whether graphically editing or dragging catalog items to work points, the
estimate is dynamically created as each feature is placed, edited, or removed.
Connectivity and structural attachments are maintained, while structural and
electrical analytical capabilities support optimal pole, transformer, wire,
and fuse sizing.

The Bentley Electric XM data model is extensive and supports:

-- Poles, framing standards, switch cabinets, conduits, vaults and duct
banks, and guys

-- Conducting features in the primary and secondary network

-- Maintenance inspections

-- Structural analysis

-- Guying, pole loading, sag and clearance, and cable pulling

-- Primary distribution network

-- Conductor

-- Transformers, sectionalizers, and other devices

-- Electrical analysis

-- Local flow, motor starting, and voltage flicker

-- Equipment sizing and optimization

-- Secondary distribution network

-- Street lighting

-- Service and loads

-- Load modeling and secondary wire sizing

Bentley Electric XM and Bentley Expert Designer XM are part of the
increasingly comprehensive solution offered by Bentley to operators of
electric utilities. With products to design, build, and operate power
generation plants, substations, and transmission and distribution networks,
Bentley provides a true plant-to-consumer solution.

Bentley's unique federated data management technology ensures that
engineering and business documents are integrated with information stored in
spatial databases such as Oracle 10g. It accomplishes this all in the context
of definable workflows that support established business processes and enable
collaboration among distributed participants.

About BE Conference

The BE Conference, which consistently scores a 99 percent attendee
satisfaction rating, is a once-a-year learning opportunity for Bentley user
organizations offering professional training, technology updates, keynotes,
and best practice sharing. At these sessions, attendees better themselves,
better their organizations, and better the ways they can improve the world's
infrastructure.

For more information on BE Conference 2007, taking place this week at the
Los Angeles Convention Center in California, go to www.be.org.

About Bentley

Bentley Systems, Incorporated provides software for the lifecycle of the
world's infrastructure. The company's comprehensive portfolio for the
building, plant, civil, and geospatial verticals spans architecture,
engineering, construction (AEC) and operations. With revenues now surpassing
$400 million annually, and more than 2400 colleagues globally, Bentley is the
leading provider of AEC software to the Engineering News-Record Top Design
Firms and major owner-operators, and was named the world's No. 2 provider of
GIS/geospatial software solutions in a recent Daratech research study.