Bentley Releases Three Integrated Products for Broadband Network Design.

EXTON, Pa. -- Bentley Fiber, Bentley Coax, and Bentley Inside Plant Provide Fully Connected Network Model of Outside and Inside Plant

Bentley Systems, Incorporated today announced its worldwide release of Bentley Fiber, Bentley Coax, and Bentley Inside Plant, three integrated products that help cable television and telephone companies, municipalities, utilities, and other government organizations design, document, and maintain broadband and other types of fiber optic networks. Together, these MicroStation-based products, already widely used throughout the U.S. cable television market, provide an end-to-end intelligent model of outside and inside plant networks.

Guadalupe Valley Telecommunications Cooperative (GVTC), the largest telephone cooperative in Texas, is one of many companies that have recently adopted this technology. The company provides communication service in a territory that covers more than 2,000 square miles. GVTC is putting the intelligence of the network model created by Bentley Fiber and Bentley Coax to work in not only its engineering organization, but also in other departments such as marketing and customer service, through the use of Bentley publishing technology.

"Traditionally, GVTC's engineering of copper, coax, and fiber was a manual process that used MicroStation to draft the engineering design," said Lance Brodbeck, manager, engineering and construction, GVTC. "By adopting Bentley Fiber and Bentley Coax, we can move from paper and DGN files to an intelligent design tool tied to a database. The software also allows our engineers to perform sophisticated fiber and coax engineering calculations in the same system in which they are documenting the network design." He continued, "We are converting our existing 480 miles of fiber optic strand and 4,000 miles of copper and 425 miles of coax into the Bentley communications solution."

Bentley Fiber, Bentley Coax, and Bentley Inside Plant are based on the capabilities of the FOCUSOne product line of C.I.S. Inc., acquired in 2004, making Bentley the leading U.S. provider of CATV design solutions. FOCUSOne has been upgraded to take advantage of Bentley's MicroStation V8 2004 Edition, and also now includes complete fiber-to-the-premise design and modeling. Bentley Inside Plant has been enhanced to provide automatic generation of logical schematics that follow the path of the circuit through the equipment based on the service name.

Two aspects of Bentley's communications solutions are unique:

--there is a single network model for inside and outside plant;

--there is a single environment in which users can create the connected model and the maps, as well as perform engineering analysis and calculations.

In other offerings, there is one system for inside plant, a separate environment for outside plant, and yet another for engineering analysis.

Thus, the Bentley communications solutions provide an intelligent end-to-end network model, in which design calculations can be performed as the designer draws. For example, CATV network engineers can perform real-time signal calculations and tap sizing based on preconfigured specifications as a designer draws a route. Equipment and engineering specifications are easily configured for both inside and outside plant equipment, ensuring the end results are correct by design. The unified network model facilitates integration with other Operations Support Systems (OSS).

More on Bentley Fiber

Bentley Fiber is a comprehensive solution for designing, documenting, and maintaining outside plant fiber networks. It accommodates all the requisite fiber architectures, including FTTx, in a geospatial environment that provides detailed engineering calculations performed interactively during the design process. Bentley Fiber includes capabilities for landbase development, strand mapping, and duct management to complete the network engineering environment.

Bentley Fiber recently has been enhanced to keep track of the state of a customer through the process lifecycle from planning to design to activation.

For more information, visit www.bentley.com/en-US/Products/Bentley+Fiber.

More on Bentley Coax

Bentley Coax is a robust RF design engineering solution that creates an intelligent coax network model during the design process. Bentley Coax works with Bentley Fiber and Bentley Inside Plant to create an end-to-end network model, allowing an HFC network to be analyzed at any level and ensuring accurate network documentation.

Like Bentley Fiber, the software uses an advanced geospatial platform, MicroStation GeoGraphics, which integrates mapping, engineering, and inventory workflows into a highly productive environment. Bentley Coax will interactively calculate the optimum design while placing equipment and cable for new, upgrade, and rebuild network designs.

For more information, visit www.bentley.com/en-US/Products/Bentley+Coax.

More on Bentley Inside Plant

Bentley Inside Plant is an engineering solution for designing and documenting the inside plant for communications networks found in headends, points of presence, central offices, and other sites. When used with Bentley outside plant products, the end-to-end network connectivity from inside to outside plant is maintained, allowing the network to be traced from port to customer.

Bentley Inside Plant allows the user to define, configure, and place equipment in racks and floor plans that visually depict the precise layout of the facility.

For more information, visit www.bentley.com/en-US/Products/Bentley+Inside+Plant.

About Bentley

Bentley Systems, Incorporated provides software for the lifecycle of the world's infrastructure. The company's comprehensive portfolio for the building, plant, civil, and geospatial vertical markets spans architecture, engineering, construction (AEC) and operations. With 2003 revenues reaching $260 million, Bentley is the leading provider of AEC software to the Engineering News-Record Design 500 and major owner-operators.

To receive Bentley press releases as they are issued, visit www.bentley.com/bentleywire. For more information, visit www.bentley.com.

Bentley, the "B" logo, MicroStation, Fiber, Coax, Inside Plant, and MicroStation GeoGraphics are either registered or unregistered trademarks or service marks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or one of its direct or indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.