Transforming Industries with Advanced Digital Twin Technologies

Bentley Systems is one of the most prominent providers of digital twins. Bentley is well known for providing digital twins through its various software applications.

Founded in 1984, Bentley Systems has become one of the world’s leading software development companies for the construction and manufacturing industries. Bentley has around 4,500 employees globally and is headquartered in Pennsylvania, United States.

As mentioned in a previous article, Bentley Systems has a digital twin platform, iTwin. iTwin enables stakeholders to create digital twins through various software APIs and large data sets. Once developed on the platform, users own their twins, with Bentley managing the security, general maintenance, and workflows. iTwin enables customers to visualize and analyze their digital twins in an interactive platform that combines different Bentley software, such as iTwin Capture and iTwin IoT.

Bentley Systems has numerous software solutions that facilitate the development of digital twins. Examples include OpenFlows WaterSight, which enables users to create digital twins of water systems, OpenGround for ground investigation, and OpenTowerIQ for digitizing cell tower infrastructure. Other software include SYNCHRO 4D and PlantSight.

Through Bentley’s various software, companies can create effective and fully realized digital twins. Case studies include energy company Doosan building a digital twin of its wind farms and organizations such as Allvision IO and SmartViz creating digital twins for their infrastructure projects. Furthermore, DC Water used Bentley’s software to create a digital twin of its water systems, reducing water loss and operating costs due to improved optimization. The case studies for Bentley Sytem’s digital twins are endless.

Outside of its customers, Bentley Systems has also been bullish on partnerships for developing digital twin solutions. In March last year, Bentley collaborated with NVIDIA to integrate iTwin with NVIDIA Omniverse, building the platform’s first engineering software, Lumen RT. Brigantium Engineering used Lumen RT on Omniverse to construct 4D models of workflows, with estimated efficiency gains of up to 80%. Likewise, other customers, such as PUB, Singapore’s leading water agency, used Bentley’s integrated software to optimize their operations.

Last year, Bentley Systems VP Lori Hufford had this to say about the development of LumenRT:

“The results being achieved by the early adopter users of LumenRT for NVIDIA Omniverse demonstrate a unique advantage for project teams working with infrastructure digital twins by providing powerful new digital twin-native workflows that make visualization advantageous to apply on projects of every scale,” said Lori Hufford, Vice President, engineering collaboration, with Bentley.

Furthermore, Bentley Systems has not been shy about acquiring companies that will help advance digital twin innovation. In November last year, the company acquired infrastructure data management firm Blyncsy to improve its digital twin portfolio.

Thus, Bentley Systems continues to expand its influence and expertise in the space, which is becoming widely recognized in the industry. Last year, we had the pleasure of speaking to NVIDIA VP Richard Kerris alongside Lori Hufford about the importance of Bentley as a key authority in the industry:

“We’ve gained so much from our relationship with Bentley because they’re the leaders in this space. And so, we’ve been able to understand some of the nuances and the things that we must pay special attention to as we build this platform and make it a broader availability.” Richard Kerris, the VP of the Omniverse developer ecosystem at NVIDIA.  

NVIDIA is not the only large conglomerate the company has partnered with. In 2020, it collaborated with Microsoft to integrate its Azure Digital twins on the iTwin platform to develop digital twins of cities and assist in urban planning. Last month, Bentley Systems continued this mission by building a digital twin of London to commemorate its 40th anniversary.

For information on Bentley’s projects and their impact, check out our intelligence platform for the latest insights and data.