Often called the world’s largest machine, the power grid is an engineering marvel that helped supercharge modernity and bring electricity to homes and businesses. Cellular networks come close to the grid in size and importance. They revolutionized communications, banking, transportation, and other critical industries. Both systems now serve as the foundation for the era of artificial intelligence (AI), with one feeding electricity to hyperscale data centers and the other ferrying information and insights. Though largely out of mind, these critical networks and their transmission and cell towers are never entirely out of sight. They dot urban and rural landscapes, including river crossings and steep mountain sides, and keeping them in good shape can be an arduous manual task.
Bentley Systems is the leader in infrastructure engineering software, and over the last decade, our Asset Analytics business has been simplifying asset maintenance and operation. We’ve been collecting high-resolution images from drones and other sources that can see features as small as 1 millimeter and using the data to build digital twins, or virtual replicas, of cell and transmission towers. We then use AI and machine learning (ML) to analyze the data and automate cell tower inspections, improve maintenance, catalogue the equipment attached to the top of each tower, and spot potential problems before they affect customers.
With that precision, we can detect if the tilt of a transmitter is off by even 1 degree. In less than two years, our technology analyzed more than 40,000 towers, saving operators a lot of money and maintenance crews thousands of vertical feet. And we’re just getting started.
We recently announced two crucial acquisitions—of Talon Aerolytics and the technology and technical expertise of Pointivo—that will allow us to provide infrastructure sectors with unprecedented insights. These acquisitions, which closed in December, significantly strengthen Bentley’s Asset Analytics portfolio and leadership in the burgeoning Asset Analytics market. They also add to our technical and business momentum, and help infrastructure owners and operators improve the performance and resilience of their assets.
Talon’s no-code workflows enable teams to manage the entire machine learning process and deliver AI-powered inspection insights.Talon provides solutions for site surveys and inspections, along with digitization of towers, equipment, and other assets across wireless telecom, broadband, and electric utilities. Pointivo’s technologies for drone data processing, AI-powered damage detection, and geolocation provide additional horizontal capabilities for our Asset Analytics offering.
The deals represent a major investment in scaling Bentley Asset Analytics. They enable integrated digital workflows that support global 5G deployments and grid modernization. Next-generation networks and electrification imperatives will drive unprecedented demand. Our Asset Analytics capabilities empower infrastructure owners to digitize, analyze, and optimize their assets at scale. For example, by deploying AI across infrastructure sectors, we are enabling continuous inspections to improve both operational performance and maintenance economics for asset owners. Talon effectively pioneered this business model and validated it by its profitable growth and pipeline of enterprise-wide contracts.
I would like to warmly welcome Rod Dir and the Talon team to the Bentley Systems family. I am also excited to work closely with Jacob Garland and the Pointivo team to strengthen our Asset Analytics offering.
James Lee is the COO of Bentley Systems.
