Bentley Systems, Inc. Acquires Cesium
Written by Jennifer McLawhorn, Managing Editor
Example of a design review process leveraging the Cesium integration with iTwin Platform. Image and caption courtesy of Bentley Systems, Inc.
EXTON, Pa. – Infrastructure engineering software company, Bentley Systems, Inc. has acquired Cesium, a 3D geospatial company.
According to BusinessWire, Cesium is an open platform that is used to create “powerful 3D geospatial applications, and its 3D Tiles open standard has been widely adopted by leading enterprises, governments, and tens of thousands of application developers globally.” The company’s SaaS platform, Cesium ion, brings 3D geospatial experiences to over 1 million devices monthly.
Engineering and construction firms use Bentley’s iTwin Platform digital twin solutions “to design, build, and operate the world’s infrastructure.” By combining this with Cesium, developrs are able to “align 3D geospatial data with engineering, subsurface, IoT, reality, and enterprise data to create digital twins with astonishing user experiences that scale from vast infrastructure networks to the millimeter-accurate details of individuals assets – viewed from land, sky, and sea, from outer space to deep below the Earth’s surface.”
Bentley CEO Nicholas Cumins said, “A 3D geospatial view is the most intuitive way for owner-operators and engineering services providers to search for, query, and visualize information about infrastructure networks and assets. With the combined capabilities of Cesium and iTwin, infrastructure professionals can make better informed decisions in full 3D geospatial context—all within a single, highly performant environment.”
Cesium CEO Patrick Cozzi said, “Joining Bentley marks an important milestone for Cesium as we continue our journey to create the best developer platform for the built and natural environment—founded on open standards and open-source technologies. The combined power of our two organizations and our shared commitment to openness will provide new opportunities for growth and create greater value for an already flourishing developer ecosystem that ranges from small start-ups to global enterprises.” As a result of the acquisition, Cozzi has been named Bentley’s chief platform officer, reporting to Bentley’s CTO Julien Moutte. In this position, Cozzi will lead the development of the combined Cesium and iTwin platform offerings.
One such startup that Cozzi mentions is Japanese construction equipment manufacturer, Komatsu. Komatsu uses this 3D geospatial technology to monitor global construction sites and track changes. With this acquisition by Bentley, Komatsu “gains expanded access to world-leading digital twin technology.”
Komatsu Ltd. Smart Construction Promotion Division executive officer Chikashi Shike said, “Komatsu and Cesium brought novel thinking to the construction industry by leveraging advanced visualizations to deliver more precise insights and enable our customers to make better, more informed construction decisions. With Cesium as part of Bentley, we can further enrich our Smart Construction digital twins with engineering models, subsurface data, and more, for safer and more efficient construction projects.”
