Bentley Sponsors Norman Foster Studio Exhibition at UEA and British Museum.

Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 26, 2000

Research collaboration between Foster and Partners and Bentley

stretches limits of design possibilities

Bentley Systems, Incorporated today announced its sponsorship of Foster and Partners' touring architectural exhibition.

Called "The Norman Foster Studio - Exploring the City", the show opens in The Sainsbury Centre at the University of East Anglia on 27 June, moves to the British Museum in November to coincide with the Queen's opening of the Foster-designed Great Court and then tours the world.

The exhibition explores issues that shape the contemporary city and the way in which Foster and Partners has responded to them. It covers examples of the practice's work from urban planning to building, furniture and industrial design using physical models, interactive material, video, slide shows and computer visualisation and animation.

"With Bentley's technology we are stretching the boundaries and continually pushing them," commented Lord Foster. "We've been fortunate in having such a tremendous long-term research collaboration with this leading technological innovator."

For nearly two decades, Foster and Partners has used MicroStation(R) technology from Bentley Systems, Incorporated to create the extraordinary projects featured in the exhibition. Last year, Foster and Partners adopted MicroStation(R) TriForma(R), Bentley's advanced architectural and engineering software, as the standard for the studio's parametric design and modelling, as well as for construction documentation.

The exhibition coincides with the launch of Viecon.com, Bentley's project extranet site. Viecon.com is a secure place on the Web where design, construction and project information can be centrally hosted. Project teams comprising a variety of professionals from disparate organisations and countries can view, mark up and access current project information 24 hours a day, from anywhere in the world, as if they were all in the same room.

Commented Iain Godwin, IT director at Foster and Partners: "The Internet is now a fundamental tool for all of us and the Internet-based Viecon(TM) technology will be very important as a method of ensuring effective collaboration between our extended teams spread across Europe, Asia and the Americas. Viecon will simplify and shorten the process of creating the kind of complex projects featured in the 'Exploring the City' exhibition."

Yoav Etiel, senior vice president of marketing at Bentley concludes: "Support for our technology from a visionary like Lord Foster confirms that, these days, great architecture depends on great software. Bentley sponsored 'Exploring the City' because just about every structure in the exhibition was created using Bentley products. Foster and Partners' approach to technology reflects a spirit of continuous innovation which we at Bentley, as technologists, strongly admire."

About Bentley

Founded in 1984, Bentley Systems, Incorporated is a premier technology supplier dedicated to improving the process of designing, building and operating permanent assets such as buildings, roadways, manufacturing facilities and utility and telecommunications networks. The professionals who use Bentley technology include architects, engineers, constructors and owner/operators.

Bentley's MicroStation, ProjectBank(TM) and Viecon technology and services make Bentley the leader in the Engineering, Construction and Operations (E/C/O) market.

Bentley's annual revenues exceed $190 million, and its reach spans the globe, serving more than 300,000 professionals and over 20,000 companies and organisations. Bentley is the second-largest privately held PC software company in the United States. More than 200,000 Bentley users participate in the Bentley SELECT(R) technology and service subscription program.

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Bentley, the "B" Bentley logo, MicroStation, and TriForma are registered trademarks; ProjectBank and Viecon are trademarks; and Bentley SELECT is a registered service mark of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or Bentley Software, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

In the UK please contact Jeremy Carne at Carne Communications for more info or pictures on [phone] or [e-mail]