LAS VEGAS, Nov. 5, 2012 - Bentley Systems, Inc., and Trimble have formed a strategic alliance to further the connection between the virtual and physical environments for infrastructure projects. This alliance will establish a new benchmark for construction and operations quality, efficiency, and safety. Working smarter, together, and employing advanced information mobility innovations, the exchange of physical and virtual data can now be more easily leveraged by engineers and contractors to reduce project risk while increasing overall productivity.

The announcement was made at Trimble Dimensions 2012.

In the resulting immersive environment, physical and virtual information can be used to improve and validate on-site construction processes. The seamless exchange of information between the virtual and physical can be achieved by utilizing a selection of Trimble's field positioning technologies, such as robotic total stations, 3D laser scanners, and global navigation satellite system (GNSS) positioning solutions, and Bentley's information modeling software-with work sharing and dynamic feedback being securely managed in ProjectWise.

Trimble CEO Steve Berglund said, "Trimble's goal is to provide our users with world-class integrated positioning solutions that allow them to collect, manage, and analyze complex information faster and easier. Our collaboration with Bentley will provide engineers and contractors with greater insight into construction problems and enhanced positioning solutions. It will also enhance the application of the constructible model to bringing engineering and construction data to the field and back."

Bentley Systems CEO Greg Bentley said, "In working with Trimble, whose leading-edge technologies many of our major project delivery user organizations already rely upon, we together realized there's a combination of our offerings that can uniquely provide benefits to construction processes that neither could independently. In particular, through the intrinsic 'geo-coordination' in Bentley's applications and ProjectWise geospatial services, almost every project's information modeling content is virtually positioned with engineering precision in the 'project space.'

"Intelligent positioning now enables these engineering models to be real-time and real-place referenced, from and into mobile devices in the field, through immersive environments from both Bentley and Trimble. Users piloting the integration of physical positioning from Trimble with virtual positioning from Bentley, facilitated by information mobility innovations, have identified significant savings of time and money, and continue to uncover new benefit cases."