Autodesk on Pending Acquisition of Blue Ridge Numerics

It seems CFD technologies are in high demand. It was just in January that Altair Engineering snatched up ACUSIM, based in Mountain View, California. Now, Autodesk is opening up its wallet to grab Blue Ridge Numerics, headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia. The pending purchase, subject to review and approval as other similar ones, will cost Autodesk $39 million.

This, of course, isn't the first time Autodesk has gone shopping for analysis and simulation technologies it might bring into its fold. Previous purchases include PlassoTech, Moldflow, and ALGOR. The latest addition, Blue Ridge Numerics, is expected to "broaden the Autodesk solution for Digital Prototyping to provide customers with a spectrum of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) capabilities," Autodesk announced.

Blue Ridge Numerics' products can be used with NX, CATIA, Solid Edge, and SolidWorks, in addition to Autodesk's Inventor and Revit modeling packages. You might use Blue Ridge Numerics' technology to simulate and test, for example, particle traces and temperature distribution inside tubes, the behavior of hydraulic valves, temperature distribution in electronics, and other similar scenarios.

"Simulation is a strategic growth area for us," said Scott Reese, director of digital simulation, Autodesk. "One of the things that we constantly hear from our customers is that fluid and thermal [simulation] are very important to design for them. Blue Ridge Numerics is just one of the best in the industry."

When the purchase is completed (expected to take place around end of April), Autodesk will in essence be inheriting Blue Ridge Numerics' customer base, including those who've standardized on software packages developed and maintained by rival companies. "That's not too different from the situation with Moldflow, PlassoTech, and ALGOR installed base," explained Reese. "We recognize that not everyone uses our CAD tools, and that's OK. Multi-CAD is a very important part of our strategy and we're dedicated to maintaining that."

The acquisition announcement suggests Blue Ridge Numerics' technology will become available to not just mechanical design software users but also Autodesk's architecture and construction software users. "[It] will add important new simulation capabilities to virtually test and predict how a product or building design will work, allowing our customers to compete more effectively at every step of the design process," said Buzz Kross, senior vice president of the company's manufacturing industry group.

Recent history has shown that Autodesk can shepherd new customers through these acquisitions with little or no disruption. The addition of CFD from Blue Ridge Numerics is bound to strengthen the company's digital simulation lineup, already bolstered by previous acquisitions of PlassoTech, Moldflow, and ALGOR.

For more, listen to my interview with Scott Reese below: