Bentley Systems, Incorporated (Nasdaq: BSY), the infrastructure engineering software company, recently announced that it has acquired 3D geospatial company Cesium. Cesium is recognized as the foundational open platform for creating 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.
Industry sources added that Cesium ion, the firm’s SaaS platform, brings 3D geospatial experiences to more than 1 million active devices every month, while Cesium’s open-source offerings have more than 10 million downloads.
Industry sources further added that Bentley’s iTwin Platform powers digital twin solutions that are leveraged by engineering and construction firms and owner-operators to design, build, and operate the global infrastructure. The integration of Cesium plus iTwin enables developers to seamlessly align 3D geospatial data with engineering, subsurface, IoT, reality, and enterprise data to build digital twins with astonishing client experiences that scale from vast infrastructure networks to the millimeter-accurate details of individual assets—viewed from land, sky, and sea, from outer space to deep below the Earth’s surface.
Bentley CEO Nicholas Cumins stated, “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.”
Patrick Cozzi, CEO of Cesium, continued, “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.”
Chikashi Shike, executive officer, Smart Construction Promotion Division, Komatsu Ltd., commented, “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.”
Peter Rabley, CEO of OGC, stated, “As infrastructure sectors become more data-centric, the importance of an open ecosystem will only increase. As the leading voice for open standards and interoperability in the geospatial community, OGC welcomes the ongoing commitment of Bentley and Cesium to solve global challenges through open, interoperable platforms.”
Industry sources added that an illustration is Komatsu, the largest construction equipment manufacturer in Japan, and the second largest in the world, which leverages Cesium’s 3D geospatial technology to monitor construction sites globally, track changes over time, compare architectural plans with real-world data, and run precise and near real-time measurements. With Cesium integrated into Bentley, Komatsu gains expanded access to world-leading digital twin technology.
With the acquisition, Cozzi was named Bentley’s chief platform officer, leading the development of the combined Cesium and iTwin platform offerings, reporting to Bentley’s CTO Julien Moutte.
