SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — Autodesk and Pitney Bowes Software, Inc. announced they have entered into a strategic alliance agreement. The new agreement will serve as a framework for both companies to provide resources, services and solutions to help infrastructure owners and architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) organizations make more informed decisions and drive greater efficiencies across the plan, design, build, manage lifecycle of infrastructure.

The relationship will enable the parties to provide infrastructure professionals in transportation, government, utilities and other key industries with the broadest range of coordinated solutions available today to help fully realize the value of project information – from planning and asset management, to design, to operations and management. Under the terms of the strategic alliance agreement, Pitney Bowes Software and Autodesk will join forces to better address the needs of a global customer base. In addition, through coordinating the integration of existing applications, both companies will work together to deliver solutions which address some of the more immediate business issues within a number of identified vertical markets.

“We see tremendous synergies between the offerings of Autodesk and Pitney Bowes Software,” said Paul McRoberts, vice president, infrastructure product line group, Architecture, Engineering and Construction Solutions, Autodesk. “Users of our BIM for Infrastructure Solutions, including the Autodesk Infrastructure Design Suite, can gain tremendous benefits from the deep insights that the MapInfo product family can provide, particularly during the planning and asset management phases of infrastructure projects. With our combined deep industry expertise and solutions for GIS, analytics, BIM and asset management, we will be well positioned to offer a much more comprehensive end-to-end solution to the market than other providers.”

“Shared global reach and industry sectors reflect the strong affinity between Autodesk and Pitney Bowes Software. Our complementary capabilities will enhance the value of our solutions and create enormous efficiencies for our customers,” said James Buckley, senior vice president and general manager, Customer Data and Location Intelligence, Pitney Bowes Software. “AEC experts will be able to take advantage of unique solutions which will shorten the modeling and construction phases within projects and will help organizations to determine optimum location and environmental impact of design scenarios and optimize asset maintenance management so that infrastructure monies can be maximized across the entire asset lifecycle.”

“A tremendous amount of valuable data is locked up in traditional GIS systems. Unlocking that value has the potential for delivering increased operational efficiencies for infrastructure projects,” said Jeff Vining, research VP at Gartner. “This is particularly important for agencies and local government departments around the world looking to implement smart government initiatives. Combining the power of location intelligence with BIM modeling will help agencies and local governments improve decision making across the plan, design, build, manage lifecycle.”

This strategic alliance agreement also provides both organizations with a unique opportunity to develop specific, industry related solutions in the future using the industry knowledge, products and services of both companies.