Bentley Systems’ Acceleration Fund Announces Launch of The Cohesive Companies, Advancing Infrastructure Digital Twins to Improve Asset Performance

July 13, 2020

Anchored by the Acquisition of Cohesive Solutions, Leading North American Integrator of IBM’s Maximo

EXTON, Pa.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#AssetPerformance–Bentley Systems, Incorporated, a leading global provider of comprehensive software and digital twins services for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, today announced that its Acceleration Fund has launched The Cohesive Companies, a wholly owned subsidiary, anchored by the acquisition of Atlanta-based Cohesive Solutions. The new business venture will include the services team from Bentley’s AssetWise business and the offerings of Bentley, Cohesive, and IBM’s Maximo to support the digital transformation of infrastructure owner-operators. The Cohesive Companies will act as a digital integrator to help infrastructure asset owners upgrade their enterprise environments to leverage digital twins—digital representations and simulations of a physical asset, synchronizing digital context (current existing conditions), digital components (engineering content), and digital chronology (lifecycle change management). Infrastructure digital twins can empower asset operators with immersive visualization and analytics visibility to predict and optimize performance.

Cohesive Solutions is the largest North American reseller of IBM’s Maximo enterprise asset management (EAM) software. With a successful track record of delivering integrated EAM solutions for owner-operators in utilities, energy, and facilities sectors, Cohesive Solutions’ domain expertise and consulting capabilities can now be extended to advance EAM to infrastructure digital twins.

As digital integrators for infrastructure asset performance, The Cohesive Companies’ unique charter is the convergence, through digital twin cloud services, of digital engineering models (ET), with IT and OT, for infrastructure and facilities assets. Asset performance digital twins can provide continuous operational insights, enhanced through machine learning, for reliability, efficiency, compliance, safety, resilience and decision support to adaptively sustain and advance fitness for purpose.

Noah Eckhouse, SVP Bentley Systems, and CEO, The Cohesive Companies, said, “Infrastructure asset owners know their success in going digital is based on both technology as well as experienced and dedicated resources for change management. I’m excited to fully meet the opportunity for asset performance digital twins with Bentley Acceleration Fund’s substantial commitment to this digital integrator venture. Building on Cohesive Solutions’ 25-year history while launching Cohesive Asset Performance with a large team of seasoned Bentley AssetWise consultants, The Cohesive Companies have hit the ground running, ready to drive change and deliver positive outcomes!”

George Lowry, President, Cohesive Solutions, said, “The Bentley Acceleration Fund’s digital integrator initiative for advancing infrastructure—by combining world-class software with best practices consulting, in going digital for asset performance—completes the reach of our mission, from the start, at Cohesive Solutions. Our founders are delighted to now extend our scope, as a long-standing IBM Business Partner, to include advancing Maximo with Bentley’s digital twin cloud services.”

Pierre de Wet, GM and VP, Cohesive Asset Performance, said, “The formation of The Cohesive Companies, as digital integrators, created an opportunity to bring my global team of AssetWise services professionals into the mix, with a specific focus on asset information, performance, reliability, and analytics. I’m excited to join Noah and George to broaden our digital integrator capabilities and to offer a deeper range of services for AssetWise.”

Terrence O’Hanlon, Founder and Chairman, Reliabilityweb.com and producer of MaximoWorld, said, “Cohesive Solutions builds upon a long history of success and expertise around IBM Maximo Enterprise Asset Management implementations, with a track record of improving asset performance. The combined solutions that will now be uniquely offered by The Cohesive Companies—adding AssetWise and digital twin cloud services to Maximo EAM expertise—hit it out of the park for owner-operators to realize critical organizational objectives!”

Image: The Cohesive Companies logo

Image: Noah Eckhouse headshot

About The Cohesive Companies

A digital integrator investment of Bentley Systems’ Acceleration Fund, The Cohesive Companies provide consulting and cloud services to help infrastructure asset owner-operators advance their EAM and ALIM environments to infrastructure asset performance digital twins. Combining domain expertise in enterprise asset management (EAM) and asset lifecycle information (ALIM), The Cohesive Companies’ unique charter is the convergence, through digital twin cloud services, of digital engineering models (ET), with IT and OT, for infrastructure and facilities assets. The Cohesive Companies comprise Cohesive Solutions (the largest North American reseller of IBM’s Maximo EAM software) and Cohesive Asset Performance. www.cohesivecompanies.com

About Bentley Systems’ Acceleration Fund

Bentley Systems’ Acceleration Fund was founded in 2020 to invest in new and incremental participants in open ecosystems to advance infrastructure digital twins. The Bentley Systems Acceleration Fund is chartered to accelerate the creation and curation of digital twins, and to foster technologies and innovations so enabled, by nurturing new ventures, making minority investments, and acquiring and expanding digital integrators. Investments to date include Digital Water Works, Digital Construction Works, Virtuosity, and The Cohesive Companies. Chief Acceleration Officer Santanu Das welcomes queries from potential ecosystem participants at www.bentleyaccelerationfund.com.

About Bentley Systems

Bentley Systems is a leading global provider of software solutions to engineers, architects, geospatial professionals, constructors, and owner-operators for the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure. Bentley’s MicroStation-based engineering and BIM applications, and its digital twin cloud services, advance the project delivery (ProjectWise) and the asset performance (AssetWise) of transportation and other public works, utilities, industrial and resources plants, and commercial and institutional facilities.

Bentley Systems employs more than 3,500 colleagues and generates annual revenues of more than $700 million in 172 countries. From inception in 1984, the company has remained majority-owned by its five founding Bentley brothers. www.bentley.com

Bentley, the Bentley logo, AssetWise, Cohesive Solutions, MicroStation, ProjectWise, The Cohesive Companies, and Virtuosity are either registered or unregistered trademarks or service marks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or one of its direct or indirect wholly owned subsidiaries. All other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.