Acquisition enhances CAE technology suite

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jun 26, 2006

Altair Engineering has entered into an agreement to acquire the Mecalog Group and its Radioss product family of computer-aided engineering software technology.

Altair Engineering has entered into an agreement to acquire the Mecalog Group and its Radioss product family of computer-aided engineering (CAE) software technology.

Headquartered in Antony, France, Mecalog is a leading global developer of transient, nonlinear 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 organisation 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 (PLM)".

Following the acquisition of Mecalog, the Altair HyperWorks CAE technology suite will contain robust solver solutions for linear, nonlinear, fluid and fluid structure interaction, structural optimisation and multibody dynamics applications, while delivering best-in-class modelling, visualisation 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 (ISV) relationships to ensure the highest level of integration with third-party applications.

Francis Arnaudeau, Chief Technologist and cofounder of Mecalog, will join Altair as managing director of the Radioss development organisation.

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 organisation 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 Citroen and Volvo Truck.

Altair's current customer base exceeds 3000 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 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.