Engineering Design Data Enables Faster, More Accurate Analysis for Better
                    Building Performance and Green Design

SAN RAFAEL, Calif., April 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Autodesk, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADSK), the world's leading design software and digital content company, announced today new ways to make the engineering design process more efficient by improving how design information is created, managed, and shared. Available immediately, Autodesk(R) Building Systems 2005, the only truly integrated object-oriented application created specifically for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineers, enables faster, more accurate analysis and design, resulting in better building performance and sustainable or "green" design. Through new data-linking capabilities, engineers can quickly transfer data from models created in Building Systems 2005 software to industry-leading analysis applications, saving valuable design time.

"With Autodesk Building Systems, we have been able to dramatically increase our productivity while improving our engineering design workflow," said Clark C. Bisel, P.E., senior vice president of Flack + Kurtz. "We believe that the new capabilities of linking to third-party analysis applications will also add tremendous value to our work while saving us countless hours of time."

By enabling better coordinated and more accurate design, Building Systems 2005 also helps to reduce the risk of construction conflicts, which can be resolved during design rather than on site. Engineers can devote less time on construction administration and more effort on new projects, improving overall business performance.

Faster, More Accurate Engineering Analysis with Building Information Modeling

As building performance issues, such as sustainability, life safety, and security, have increasingly become a greater concern to building owners, engineers are routinely called upon to rapidly perform high-quality building performance analyses during design. Energy, load, and fire protection hydraulic analyses are crucial components of their work and extremely time-intensive activities. With the advent of building information modeling and the new data-linking capabilities embedded in Autodesk Building Systems 2005, it is now possible to tightly integrate analysis to the building model itself.

Autodesk Building Solutions 2005 enables engineers to utilize crucial design data from the building information model and transfer it into industry-leading third-party applications for energy, load, and fire protection hydraulic analysis. Unlike time-consuming manual data transfer methods, this process, which uses standard file formats, such as XML and application programming interfaces (APIs), can be accomplished quickly, enabling faster, better, and more accurate analyses.

Building Systems 2005 provides the tools necessary to turn 2D AutoCAD-based floor plans into intelligent engineering models that both extract dimensional information and store analysis results. For example, by transferring data from Autodesk Building Systems, heating and cooling analyses that previously might have taken over a week to complete can now be performed in less than a few hours. The result is better information that enables the design team to produce higher quality designs, including green design strategies, more quickly. Additionally, since the analysis data becomes a part of the model, designers can access that information when they need it to make more informed design decisions.

Better Coordination Reduces Conflicts During Construction

In addition to optimizing the use of digital design data for analysis applications, Autodesk Building Systems 2005 improves coordination in a number of ways. Automated interference detection ensures early identification of physical conflicts between systems and structure, avoiding costly rework and construction delays. The project navigation system enables better coordination among the engineering disciplines as well as with architectural floor plans. In addition, Building Systems 2005 contains drawing tools that increase productivity, such as fittings that automatically insert where needed, suggested layouts to solve complicated 3D routing problems, and symbols that anchor and slide along layouts.

Autodesk Building Systems 2005 also improves how engineers share design information with internal and extended project team members through interoperability with Autodesk(R) DWF(TM) Composer, a powerful new design review application that leverages the capabilities of the Autodesk Design Web Format(TM) (DWF(TM)). Using DWF Composer, project teams can review, markup, and revise complex engineering design information. The capability of "round-tripping markups" (integrating revisions back into the original Building Systems file) simplifies the review and editing process and significantly saves time.

Increased Productivity by Automating Tedious Drafting Tasks

The benefits of Building Systems 2005 extend to the creation of construction documents as well as analysis and design. New features offer greater ease in developing and documenting mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection systems. Incorporating advances in the AutoCAD 2005 platform, new drawing management tools coordinate all elevations, sections, schedules, sheet numbers, sheet indexes, callouts, and general annotations, resulting in sheet sets that can be fully managed, plotted, published, transmitted electronically, and archived.

Product Availability

Autodesk Building Systems 2005 is available immediately in English in North America and in many countries worldwide. When combined with Autodesk(R) Subscription, Building Systems 2005 delivers the latest releases and enhancements of Autodesk software, personalized Web support direct from Autodesk technical experts, and self-paced training developed by Autodesk to help extend product skills. For more information on purchasing Autodesk Building Systems 2005 software, contact an Authorized Autodesk Reseller, call Autodesk at 800-964-6432, or visit www.autodesk.com .

About Autodesk

Founded in 1982, Autodesk, Inc., is the world's leading design software and digital content company. Autodesk offers solutions for professionals in building design, geographic information systems, manufacturing, digital media, and wireless data services. By delivering progressive products and services, Autodesk helps customers create, manage, use and maximize the value of their digital data throughout the lifecycle of their projects. For more information about the company, see www.autodesk.com. For more information on Autodesk's building design solutions, see www.autodesk.com/buildingdesign.

NOTE: Autodesk, AutoCAD, and DWF are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

CONTACT: Carol Lettieri, of Autodesk +1-415-507-6908, or carol.lettieri@autodesk.com

SOURCE  Autodesk, Inc.
    -0-                             04/21/2004
    /CONTACT:  Carol Lettieri of Autodesk, +1-415-507-6908, or
carol.lettieri@autodesk.com/
    /Web site:  http://www.autodesk.com/
    (ADSK)

CO:  Autodesk, Inc.
ST:  California
IN:  CST CPR
SU:  PDT

JL-EB 
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9380 04/21/2004 08:31 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com