Together, the two companies claimed that they would make simulation available to a wider audience and greatly increase its ease of use.
Indeed, Dassault CEO Bernard Charles said that by putting the two teams together they could transform the industry. Together, we will enable our customers to experience what their customers will experience using their products in the real world, he said.
Providence, Rhode Island-based Abaqus was formed in 1978 and its 400-strong workforce, including 70 PhDs, generates revenue approaching $100m. It has a blue chip customer base, which includes company such as Motorola, Honda and General Motors.
Dassault CFO Thibault de Tersant said Abaqus had a strong level of profitability, which would enable it to be immediately accretive to earnings, before acquisition costs and special charges.
Never lacking in ambition, Dassault sees the purchase as a step to reshape the fragmented simulation software market, where it said that most companies still used niche applications rather than unified software.
Dassault said that industry analysts estimated that the simulation software market, or finite element analysis in the jargon of the trade, was worth $2.35bn today and would grow at an average rate of 12% a year over the next five years to $4bn.
Behind the deal is a belief that, once a product has been designed, engineers want to see how it will perform. Abaqus software simulates the response of structures and solid bodies to load, temperature, contact, impact, and other environmental conditions.
Abaqus says it has applications in a wide range of industries including offshore, nuclear, automotive, aerospace and biomedical.
