ALTAIR ACQUIRES MECALOG & RADIOSS SUITE

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ALTAIR ACQUIRES MECALOG & RADIOSS SUITE
01 January 2007 - NAFEMS

Altair Engineering, Inc. has announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the Mecalog Group and its RADIOSS product family of computer-aided engineering software technology. Headquartered in Antony, France, Mecalog is a leading global developer of transient, non-linear CAE technology to simulate safety related performance as well as other impact events. Under the terms of the acquisition, Mecalog’s global sales force, software development and support staff will also become part of Altair. Specific financial terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.

“The Mecalog acquisition will add a globally respected and talented software development and sales organization to the Altair enterprise. There are many cultural and technological similarities between Altair and Mecalog, making the acquisition a natural fit. We look forward to welcoming Mecalog’s employees, customers and partners into the Altair family,” said James R. Scapa, president and CEO of Altair Engineering. “The addition of Mecalog’s technology and industry expertise will further strengthen Altair’s technology portfolio for product lifecycle management.”

Following the acquisition of Mecalog, the Altair HyperWorks CAE technology suite will contain robust solver solutions for linear, non-linear, fluid and fluid structure interaction, structural optimization and multi-body dynamics applications, while delivering best-in-class modeling, visualization and process automation solutions. With an ongoing commitment to an open-systems software philosophy, Altair will continue to invest heavily and support independent software vendor relationships to ensure the highest level of integration with third-party applications.

Francis Arnaudeau, chief technologist and co-founder of Mecalog, will join Altair as managing director of the RADIOSS development organization. In this role, he will continue to oversee RADIOSS software development and lead the advancement of this technology.

“The combination of Altair and the RADIOSS technology suite will lead the CAE industry and Mecalog is happy to become part of a world-class organization like Altair,” said Francis Arnaudeau, managing director of Mecalog. “The strength and global footprint of Altair will provide existing RADIOSS customers and new customers with the highest-level of support and enable new product development and integration benefiting key vertical industries that rely on our technology.”

To strongly increase the level of service and rapidly assess the opportunities to drive more value for current Mecalog customers, Altair will significantly ramp up technical and customer support for RADIOSS products throughout its global operations. Mecalog currently has more than 120 customers globally including Airbus, Alstom, Centro Ricerche Fiat, EADS, Eurocopter, Faurecia, Ferrari, Ford, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Pininfarina, PSA Peugeot Citroën and Volvo Truck. Altair’s current customer base exceeds 3,000 which include a number of common customers with Mecalog.

“Altair and Mecalog have a number of mutual customers who will benefit from a higher level of technology integration and crossover software applications brought together by this acquisition. Moreover, the acquisition broadens Altair’s industry presence within the aerospace, naval, energy, nuclear, civil engineering and medical markets,” continued Mr. Scapa.

The software development teams plan to work closely together to develop roadmaps for the combined Altair and RADIOSS product solutions. Initial integration plans include bringing RADIOSS software products under Altair’s patented HyperWorks Unit licensing system to dramatically increase the overall value proposition for all HyperWorks and RADIOSS customers.

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About: NAFEMS
NAFEMS is a not for profit organisation aimed at promoting best practices and also fostering education and awareness in the engineering analysis community. In line with its objectives to promote the effective use of simulation technologies, NAFEMS is continually seeking to create awareness of new analysis methodologies, deliver education & training, and stimulate the adoption of best practices and standards by offering a platform for continuous professional development.

By the late 1970s and early 1980s, as computing power became more widely available, increasingly industry was starting to solve practical engineering problems using finite element analysis techniques.

There was however considerable concern that the accuracy of the methods, and software implementations, required to be verified in order to allow the results to be effectively used.

Following extensive lobbying, by industry and academia, the UK Government's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) set up, and funded, a project within the National Engineering Laboratory (NEL), based in East Kilbride, Scotland, to investigate the issues.

As a result the National Agency for Finite Element Methods and Standards, quickly shortened to the acronym NAFEMS, was founded as a special interest group in 1983 with a specific objective namely:

"To promote the safe and reliable use of finite element and related technology"

In order to keep engineers abreast of the latest developments in the Analysis World the quarterly magazine BENCHmark was launched by NAFEMS in July 1987.

After seven years of seed funding by the UK government, and with the support of its industrial members, the decision was taken to launch NAFEMS Ltd as an independent not-for-profit company, owned by its member's in 1990.

The company celebrated its 10th Anniversary in 2000, and has developed both the scope of its technology focus and its membership well beyond the original vision.

Today NAFEMS and its members are involved in many different types of engineering simulation covering both products and processes. Membership continues to grow, now exceeding 700 corporate members in over 30 different countries. Steering groups have been set up in the UK, France, Germany, and the USA to co-ordinate local activities and interaction with members.

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