Using computer programming, mere zeroes and ones, Bentley Systems has helped to build some really big things in the infrastructure space. Take, for example, the Sea-Tac Airport International arrivals facility in Washington State, Melbourne Rectangular Stadium in Australia, and the Gordie Howe International Bridge between Detroit, MI and Canada. You can add to that thousands of cell towers.
“It all began in 1984 when personal computers were in their infancy. Keith A. Bentley, EVP, CTO, and Board Director, and Barry J. Bentley, Ph.D., Board Director had the foresight to write engineering software to advance the development of infrastructure that could be run on the nascent PCs,” Ton De Vries, Senior Director for Business Development, Bentley Systems, told Inside Towers. The first product, called MicroStation, was computer aided design (CAD) software that provided for two- and three-dimensional design and drafting on the PC products. It is still in use around the world today.
In 2005, Bentley Systems broadened its attention to include telecom as leading tower owners from around the world looked for software to automate their processes to accelerate project delivery and improve the asset performance of the infrastructure.
“Advancements during this time led to the development of OpenTower Designer, a purpose-built solution for telecommunication tower analysis and design, including tower modifications and foundation checks,” said Apurba Tribedi, Bentley Systems Senior Director.
Three and a half years ago when 5G deployment was revving up, Bentley began a journey that brought together all the stakeholders in the tower industry – field operations, tower owners and carriers — to accelerate tower projects, increase profitability and overall service levels. The product that would result from this effort — OpenTower iQ — would benefit from Bentley’s expertise in asset lifecycle information systems, modeling and visualization, structural design, and construction, among other things.
OpenTower IQ relies heavily on one of the biggest engineering technology feats since the development of CAD — the digital twin. OpenTower iQ is powered by Bentley’s own digital twin foundation known as the iTwin platform. The digital twin solution provides an exact digital replica of an existing structure to a carrier or tower company so they can analyze the structure, the equipment attached to the structure, antenna mounts, and additional space to lease.
“We wanted to go into the cloud domain and to understand the industry better, to work with the other departments and other stakeholders in the cell tower industry,” Tribedi said. “We wanted to go beyond just engineering.”
Bentley combined the power of digital twins, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to provide users with a single, accessible, and automated database. “Working with the big tower owners and the carrier service providers, it became apparent that the biggest problem is the data,” Tribedi said. “Most of the process could be automated, if the data is reliable. But the problem was data was never reliable. We developed a common data environment, based on drone photogrammetry, where all the stakeholders can collaborate and work.”
OpenTower iQ is a software solution that is broad in its scope. It covers multiple aspects of the lifecycle of the tower. There are many different types of disciplines involved, including engineering, construction, operations, maintenance, and asset management.
“That’s the beauty of being an infrastructure software company,” De Vries said. “We have expertise that spans multiple areas, such as asset management. And the core principles of asset management, whether you are managing a tower or an oil rig, are not that different.”
Today, Bentley Systems’ international headquarters is in Dublin, Ireland and it has at least one office in every European country. Its Asian headquarters is in Beijing. And it has software developers worldwide, from India to Europe, U.S. and South America. Bentley Systems employs more than 4,500 colleagues and generates annual revenues of approximately $1 billion in 186 countries.
Around the world, engineers and architects, constructors and owner-operators are using Bentley’s software solutions to accelerate project delivery and improve asset performance for the infrastructure. The tower industry has singularly benefited from its decades-long history of providing software for building bridges, highways, airports, wastewater plants, dams — really — any structure that sustains the economy.
For more information, visit: https://opentower.com/products/opentower-iq/.
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
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