Bentley Announces OpenPlant

29 January 2008, 10:13am

January 28 - Bentley Announces OpenPlant – the First Plant Applications Based on ISO 15926 Data Model

HOUSTON – daratechPLANT2008 – Bentley Systems, Incorporated today announced OpenPlant, the first range of software products for the creation and management of plant infrastructure inherently based on the ISO 15926 data model – an international standard for process plant information. By enabling the next phase in software interoperability, Bentley’s OpenPlant products facilitate distributed-enterprise collaboration spanning disparate systems. The OpenPlant hallmark is seamless federation for sharing and reusing consistent and accurate data among distributed teams and work packages throughout the plant lifecycle. These advances reduce downtime, increase plant safety, and deliver greater flexibility and productivity – stimulating innovative engineering and operations for sustaining infrastructure. The OpenPlant designation will apply to the next (ISO 15926-based) versions of existing Bentley plant offerings as well as newly developed applications. Bentley’s first ISO 15926-compliant offering was its ProjectWise Lifecycle Server. Today it is introducing OpenPlant PowerPID, the only commercial P&ID solution to be based on a completely open data model.

CEO Greg Bentley said, “I pointed out at daratechPLANT last year that I had observed a change in the projects we serve towards more creative and productive distribution of work through digital work packages, which increasingly involve industrial solution suppliers. Driving this change is the reality that global engineering resources are not growing quickly enough to otherwise meet today’s project demands.

“To deliver on these new productivity-enhancing strategies requires interoperations and the sharing of design innovation throughout distributed enterprises. At daratechPLANT 2007 we discussed major breakthroughs in intra-operations that Bentley achieved in integrating new acquisitions. Today, we are here to announce that Bentley has moved forward to become the first plant creation software vendor delivering truly open solutions, including our adoption of ISO 15926 data models as the basis for the next version of all of our plant applications. Using that open standard for data persistence means Bentley users can take a giant step beyond vague goals of interoperability to the benefits of actually interoperating, to reach the inflections in enterprise lifecycle productivity they’ve sought. As a consequence, plant owner-operators and creators will be able to offset resource shortages for sustaining infrastructure.”

“Bentley’s commitment to this pragmatic development was driven by our ingrained belief that project data belongs to users, not software vendors,” said Rob Whitesell, vice president, Bentley Plant, Building, and Structural development. “Now that plant software datasets can be open – by adhering to ISO 15926 data models – there is no excuse not to guarantee plant owner-operators and creators unimpeded access to, and unlimited leveraged reuse of, their information investment.”

Whitesell continued, “Bentley’s OpenPlant is the only open plant software that’s designed to support the way in which the world of distributed enterprises works today. Because they are based on a nonproprietary, internationally recognized standard, OpenPlant products empower project teams to engage in streamlined collaborative workflows that empower and harness the constant organic innovations that unfettered engineers and industrial solution suppliers can accomplish. By enabling distributed teams to connect and work instantaneously, and federate their data and work packages seamlessly, OpenPlant compresses project schedules and time to market for improving profitability and sustainability.”

About OpenPlant’s ProjectWise Lifecycle Server

As the plant creation market leader in software for owner-operators, according to plant industry research firm Daratech, Bentley has devoted a particular focus to the challenges of lifecycle reuse of plant design deliverables, for which ISO 15926 has been instrumental.

Already proven in the world’s most demanding plant environments – with user organizations including BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, KBR, and Southern Company – ProjectWise Lifecycle Server supports Bentley’s standards-based engineering data warehouse, addressing engineering automation and other asset information management needs for the full plant lifecycle. Built on ISO 15926, ProjectWise Lifecycle Server accordingly offers unprecedented interoperability – providing the ability to share data across Bentley and competitive plant applications, and with enterprise IT environments.

The consolidation and integration of data during handover is by far the toughest IT problem faced by the process industry today. ProjectWise Lifecycle Server is at the heart of Bentley’s solution. Its core purpose is the identification and consolidation of data elements from disparate sources. As information is released from different disciplines, contractors, or vendors, ProjectWise Lifecycle Server provides comprehensive quality-checking to ensure that accepted information is complete, correct, and consistent. Context data about where information originated and the conditions under which it has been shared is captured to support the industrial-strength change management necessary for commissioned plants.

Visit www.bentley.com/lifecycleserver.

About OpenPlant PowerPID

As the market leader in plant schematics software, according to Daratech, it is fitting that Bentley’s first OpenPlant design application is OpenPlant PowerPID, the only commercial software for process and instrumentation diagrams to be based on a completely open data model. Because the native data model schema for OpenPlant PowerPID is ISO 15926, any data that is mapped to the ISO 15926 schema can natively interoperate with OpenPlant PowerPID. This means that any plant schematics created with OpenPlant PowerPID can be shared without the need for complex application programming interfaces. The data is stored and maintained in a neutral, nonproprietary format that can be accessed by any application that is mapped to the ISO 15926 schema.

In addition to its unprecedented interoperability credentials, OpenPlant PowerPID leverages up-to-date software technologies to deliver best-in-class productivity:

Rapid – and automated – creation of intelligent P&IDs, for increased throughput;
Shared files that allow changes made independently by multiple users to be reconciled into a single P&ID, for faster completion of designs;
Assembly management, for quick placement of complex components;
Both DWG and DGN formats for intelligent deliverables, broadening project opportunities;
Administrative functions to ensure P&ID compliance with project data and drawing quality standards.

Visit www.bentley.com/PowerPID.

www.bentley.com

Geo: International