Greg Bentley, CEO of Bentley Systems, Incorporated, announced two initiatives in support of China's massive investment in its infrastructure. The first initiative headquartered Bentley Asia's operations in China, making the company's comprehensive software portfolio for infrastructure readily available to the China community. The second, Bentley's Power Program, offers this same community free introductory subscriptions to professional computer-aided drafting and detailing (CADD) software.

'China is experiencing an infrastructure boom of historic proportions and will invest $800 billion dollars in infrastructure over the next five years,' said Greg Bentley.

'It ranks No.3 in the $4 trillion global construction market and No.1 in growth - growing at an astounding 11 percent rate'.

'We offer that there is considerable infrastructure synergy between Bentley and China,' continued Mr.Bentley.

'China has the firm commitment as well as abundant technical skills to improve its society through world-class infrastructure.

Our software can act as a catalyst - helping to join those two and maximizing China's success.

As partners, Bentley and China's infrastructure community can also make each other better in responding to global opportunities'.

Managing Bentley Asia Operations From Beijing.

Early in 2005, Bentley formed the Bentley Asia Operating Unit to provide sales, support, and service to this most populous and fastest-growing part of the world.

The operating unit currently has more than 250 Bentley colleagues throughout Asia.

Bentley has named Jean-Baptiste Monnier, Ph.D, a 12-year veteran of the company, to head up this operating unit as senior vice president, Bentley Asia.

Dr Monnier, who is based in Beijing, began his career by heading engineering services for billion-dollar infrastructure projects at Dumez, an engineering, procurement, and construction contractor.

He joined Bentley as vice president of marketing in the company's U.S.

headquarters, and was later appointed to head a division in Bentley Software.

He then moved to Paris in 2001 as territory executive for Southern Europe and Latin America.

Dr Monnier holds a Ph.D in aerospace engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.

In addition, the company has appointed Sun Gang as Bentley Greater China territory executive.

Mr.Sun has been working in international design and engineering software companies for close to 20 years and brings extensive experience in the infrastructure and oil and gas industries in China.

He, too, is based in Beijing.

'Recognizing that the People's Republic of China is by far the largest contributor to Asia's investment in infrastructure,' said Mr.Bentley, 'we formed the Bentley Asia Operating Unit in Beijing'.

'Managing our Asia operations from Beijing is good for China and its people,' said Dr Monnier.

'Our solutions will help increase the productivity of project teams and stretch each yuan China invests in infrastructure.

We're proud of our successful track record and look forward to contributing to projects that provide lasting improvements to quality of life for the people of China'.

Dr Monnier oversees four Bentley Asia regions: North Asia, Southeast Asia, India, and Greater China.

Greater China offices include those in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

Bentley software is already broadly used by China's architecture, engineering, and construction community.

Examples include Guangdong Electric Power, North China Electric Power, Baosteel, Henan Electric Power, Shougang Design Institute, No.1 Railroad Design Institute, No.2 Railroad Design Institute Zhejiang Province Mapping Bureau, Nanjing National Land Bureau, Suzhou Industrial Park, Beijing Gas Group, and the Beijing architecture Design Institute'.

As Mr.Lei Xiaodong, chief structure engineer, Beijing architectural design Institute, said, 'Beijing Architectural Design Institute has been using Bentley's MicroStation for over 15 years to design large, complex projects, such as the Beijing Capital International Airport T3 Project and the Beijing Western Railway Station.

Bentley's software allows our design teams to effectively collaborate to achieve a high level of design quality and productivity'.

Bentley's Power Program.

The Power Program offers the MicroStation PowerDraft CADD product and an upgrade path to more comprehensive solutions for distributed enterprises - through a subscription-based model.

'The global software industry is evaluating a new concept - software as a service,' explained Mr.Bentley.

'For us, this is nothing new; it's an economic concept that has been at work for us and our users for years.

The concept works remarkably well for both sides, certainly creating incentives for Bentley to continuously generate new benefits'.

Infrastructure software is complex and mission-critical - relationships between users and vendors are critical, with regular contact a requirement for success.

Unfortunately, the common situation in China is that these relationships are broken and the benefits are not making it to users.

The Power Program's subscription-based model establishes those relationships and immediately raises the benefits of software for the China infrastructure community.

And, in appreciation for the first-year start-up and training costs that many new users may incur, the program offers a year of free subscriptions to new users.

MicroStation PowerDraft is professional-level CADD used for 2D/3D production drafting and detailing.

It is the world's easiest-to-use CADD product, reads and writes more versions of DGN and DWG than any other CADD product, and works for plant, building, civil, and geospatial users.

The PowerDraft Private option offers users and developers in China a first-year subscription to MicroStation PowerDraft for free; the price for future years is 200 RMB per year.

The software is supplied as a full product (not a demo) in the Chinese language.

It can be downloaded from the Bentley Web site at www.bentley.com.cn and is also available on a CD.

The subscription includes all updates, email support, and Web-based OnDemand eLearning.

The PowerDraft Enterprise option, which is designed for users with large quantities of MicroStation PowerDraft licenses, is an add-on service for enterprises.

Enterprises receive full technical support, pooled licenses, single enterprise registration, home licenses, and tailored on-site training and eLearning.

Pricing for a one-year Enterprise Program subscription is:.

Up to 20 pooled licenses - 10,000 RMB per year.

Up to 50 pooled licenses - 20,000 RMB per year.

Up to 200 pooled licenses - 50,000 RMB per year.

Up to 500 pooled licenses - 100,000 RMB per year.

Because Bentley offers a comprehensive portfolio of software for infrastructure, PowerDraft Private users and PowerDraft Enterprise organizations can easily expand their solutions to meet the needs of distributed enterprises developing major infrastructure.

Partnering with Chinese Developers.

The Power Program also offers local software developers a platform for building local applications.

Through this platform and the Bentley Developer Network (BDN), developers will benefit from Bentley's success in the region.

Quoting from a new study commissioned by the Business Software Alliance and conducted by IDC, Dr Monnier said, 'In China, every 1 RMB made by international software providers generates 2.5 RMB of revenue for China development partners.' Developers from the building, civil, geospatial and plant verticals are welcome to join BDN.

Members have access to local technical and training support services, and their users also receive a free year of subscription to MicroStation PowerDraft.

More than 130 developers participated in Bentley's developer conferences in China in December 2005.

Commenting on the program, Mr.Yansong Lee, CEO of TechPower, said, 'We are porting several of TechPower's applications on MicroStation PowerDraft to be released in 2006.

Our users will enjoy the benefits of MicroStation PowerDraft while they move to the newest version of TechPower's applications.

The combination of our IPipe product and MicroStation PowerDraft opens a new price point and a new productivity level in the market'.

Said Mr.Xu, CEO of TSZ, 'Our TSSD 2006 application is ported on MicroStation PowerDraft as our customers want a highly reliable solution for construction drawings.

MicroStation PowerDraft provides them with a high level of security to comply with regulations, as well as management of change and digital signatures.' Next Steps for Interested Parties.