Bentley cofounder Keith Bentley spent much of his impressive technical keynote, defending and reaffirming Bentley's single platform approach to infrastructure software development. "The single platform is very important to Bentley," he said, "and therefore, the platform [MicroStation] must evolve." He went on to discuss such imminent advances as a true 64-bit MicroStation . He took time to laud Microsoft Vista, which he described as an outstanding operating system for Bentley products.

Various speakers cited tight integration, scalability, backward compatibility and compatible interfaces as advantages of a single platform approach. Carey Mann, vice-president, Geospatial Marketing for Bentley, said, "interoperability is the poor cousin of integration," and that Bentley's focus on integration makes interoperation with new acquisitions relatively easy.

Athens unveiled
Athens is the code name of Bentley's 2008 coordinated software release that promises to take full advantage of single platform benefits by integrating conceptual design, dynamic views, distributed project work and geo-coordination into all Bentley products. Styli Camateros, vice-president, Bentley Geospatial, described a future in which users are "shielded from the complexity" of thousands of map projections and coordinate systems, enabling GIS implementation of GIS features early in a project lifecycle. By 2008, a geospatial interface will be standard in ProjectWise.

BE was also the place for Bentley executives to unveil impressive new parametric technology that uses smart geometry to capture and graphically present design components and the abstract relationships between them. Breathtaking designs with imaginative curves and other creative compositions took center stage evoking applause from the participants.

Improving productivity
Chief Executive Officer Greg Bentley struck a different note in his keynote address, beginning with a bleak analysis of flat engineering productivity compared to relatively large gains in manufacturing and architecture. He described infrastructure backlog -- the result of growing populations, ageing facilities and global warming -- as an enormous challenge to infrastructure providers. Together with a sustainability backlog -- caused by demand for greener, more efficient buildings - the market conditions are demanding that infrastructure providers radically restructure business models to multiply productivity. He added that Bentley will address these "outside-the-PC" needs by helping AEC firms prioritize and institutionalize learning, extend collaboration and innovate.

Award winners
As at previous conferences, winners of the BE Awards of Excellence were honoured at length, in an Oscar-style ceremony complete with red carpet, big band and a 40-foot boom camera to capture swooping shots of winners taking the stage and women in spaghetti-strap gowns presenting trophies and escorting winners offstage. Peter Sagal, host of the National Public Radio's Wait, Wait ... Don't Tell Me! led the awards ceremony for the second year in a row. He began the evening with a moving tribute to engineers and architects who make professions like his possible by creating the necessary infrastructure. Sagal combined self-deprecating humour with deft jabs at the sensibilities of engineers and architects.