ANSYS acquired Computational Engineering International, Inc. (CEI), the long-established developer of a suite of products that help engineers and scientists analyze, visualize and communicate simulation data. Headquartered in Apex, NC, CEI has 28 employees and more than 750 customers worldwide. Its flagship product, EnSight, is a premier solution for analyzing, visualizing and communicating simulation data.
“The merger of the physical and digital worlds is resulting in products that were once unimaginable,” ANSYS observes, “and companies are faced with an overwhelming number of design decisions compared to previous product generations. That is something only engineering simulation can feasibly provide in a timely and cost-effective fashion. Users need to quickly analyze the immense amount of data that simulation generates to make the right engineering and business decisions. By bringing together the world leader in engineering simulation with the top simulation visualization tool, ANSYS is offering the industry new insight as companies increasingly rely on simulation to develop tomorrow’s products.”
“CEI has a long track record of success thanks to fantastic technology built by a world-class team,” said ANSYS vice president and general manager Mark Hindsbo. “By bringing CEI’s leading visualization tools into the ANSYS portfolio, customers will be able to make better engineering and business decisions, leading to even more amazing products in the future.”
“We’ve worked with ANSYS informally for years, but now are thrilled to become part of this great company,” said CEI president Anders Grimsrud. “Joining ANSYS will give our customers access to the best engineering simulation technology on the planet, and EnSight will help ANSYS users make faster, smarter decisions. It’s a win-win.”
CEI’s message: Steady and stronger
CEI says it will continue to operate, develop EnSight and related software, and serve customers all as before. No changes are currently planned that will affect product availability to its customers.
In a Q&A post on its web site, CEI further explains:
Q: Is this a good thing for the future of EnSight?
A: This will be a good thing for all of our customers for a number of reasons:
- As we become integrated into ANSYS, our customers will be able to reach technical support from multiple continents during all time zones.
- We will be adopting ANSYS development tools and procedures, which should result in more robust software.
- ANSYS has an entire testing department which will provide the opportunity to find and correct more problems before you see a software release.
- We will have access to human-factors expertise to help us build better user experiences.
- We will have access to a host of technology and expertise from ANSYS that we can take advantage of in the CEI products.
- Working from within the ANSYS sales and distribution channels, we will surely gain many more customers. More customers allows us more revenue to invest in more technology development. More development means you will gain access to even more capability than you have now.
- Removing the burden of corporate compliance will allow us to spend more time and resources on software development.
- The integration with ANSYS solvers will become better and higher-performance. EnSight will also be integrated with ANSYS Workbench.
Q: How will this affect the short-, medium- and long-term development plans for EnSight?
A: Short-term roadmap for EnSight remains unchanged. CEI continues to be focused on serving the needs of EnSight customers. The medium-term development roadmap for EnSight will begin to involve the requirements of a larger deployment of EnSight through ANSYS. Longer-term development is still focused on providing the best post-processing, visualization and analysis software for CAE simulations.
