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Ansys

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Ansys, Inc.
Company typePublic
IndustryComputer software
Founded1970; 54 years ago (1970), in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, United States
HeadquartersCanonsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Key people
ProductsAnsys suite of engineering simulation software
RevenueIncrease US$2.27 billion (2023)
Increase US$626 million (2023)
Decrease US$500 million (2023)
Total assetsIncrease US$7.32 billion (2023)
Total equityIncrease US$5.39 billion (2023)
Number of employees
c. 6,200 (2023)
Websiteansys.com
Footnotes / references
[1]

Ansys, Inc. is an American multinational company with its headquarters based in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. It develops and markets CAE/multiphysics engineering simulation software for product design, testing and operation and offers its products and services to customers worldwide.

History

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Origins

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Ansys was founded in 1970 as Swanson Analysis Systems, Inc. (SASI) by John Swanson. The idea for Ansys was first conceived by Swanson while working at the Westinghouse Astronuclear Laboratory in the 1960s.[2] At the time, engineers performed finite element analysis (FEA) by hand.[2] Westinghouse rejected Swanson's idea to automate FEA by developing general purpose engineering software, so Swanson left the company in 1969 to develop the software on his own.[2] He founded SASI the next year, working out of his farmhouse in Pittsburgh.[3][4]

Swanson developed the initial ANSYS software on punch cards and used a mainframe computer that was rented by the hour.[2] Westinghouse hired him as a consultant, under the condition that any code he developed for Westinghouse could also be included in the Ansys product line.[3] Westinghouse became the first Ansys user.[3]

Swanson sold his interest in the company to venture capitalists in 1994, and the company was renamed "Ansys" after the software. Ansys went public on NASDAQ in 1996. In the 2000s, the company acquired other engineering design companies, obtaining additional technology for fluid dynamics, electronics design, and physics analysis. Ansys became a component of the NASDAQ-100 index on December 23, 2019.[5]

Growth

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By 1991, SASI had 153 employees and $29 million in annual revenue,[6] controlling 10 percent of the market for finite element analysis software.[6] According to The Engineering Design Revolution, the company became "well-respected" among engineering circles, but remained small.[7] In 1992, SASI acquired Compuflo, which marketed and developed fluid dynamics analysis software.[7] In 1994, Swanson sold his majority interest in the company to venture capitalist firm TA Associates.[3][6] Peter Smith was appointed CEO[7] and SASI was renamed after the software, Ansys, the following year.[3][6]

Ansys went public in 1996, raising about $46 million in an initial public offering.[7] By 1997, Ansys had grown to $50.5 million in annual revenue.[8] In the late 1990s, Ansys shifted its business model[7] away from software licenses, and corresponding revenue declined.[7] However, revenue from services increased.[7] From 1996 to 2000, profits at Ansys grew an average of 160% per year.[6] In February 2000, Jim Cashman was appointed CEO.[7]

Current CEO Ajei S. Gopal was appointed in early 2017.[9][10] In November 2020, South China Morning Post reported that Ansys software had been used for Chinese military research in the development of hypersonic missile technology.[11] In October 2022, Washington Post reviewed procurement documents and confirmed that Ansys technology had been acquired by seven Chinese entities present on either the export blacklist or with known links to Chinese missile technology.[12] Ansys said that it and its subsidiaries have no records of the indicated sales or shipments and suggested that piracy may have been involved.[12] In January 2024 Synopsys and Ansys announced a definitive agreement under which Synopsys would acquire Ansys in a deal valued at around $35 billion.[13][14]

List of acquisitions

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Year announced Company Business Value (USD) References
1999 Centric Engineering Systems Fluid, structural, and thermal analysis Not disclosed [6]
2000 ICEM CFD Engineering Mesh simulations $12.4 million [6][15]
2001 Cadoe Computer-aided design Not disclosed [3][6][15]
2003 CFX Fluid dynamics simulation Not disclosed [6]
2005 Century Dynamics Hydrodynamics simulation tools $5 million [6]
2005 Harvard Thermal Inc. Simulating cooling and temperature in electronics Not disclosed [6]
2006 Fluent Inc. Fluid dynamics tools $299 million [6][7]
2008 Ansoft Corporation Electronics design $823.8 million [6]
2011 Apache Design Solutions Semiconductor simulation $310 million [16]
2012 Esterel Technologies Simulating interactions between software and hardware $53 million [17]
2013 EVEN (Evolutionary Engineering) Cloud-based software for engineering composites Not disclosed [18][19]
2014 Reaction Design Chemistry and combustion simulation $19.25 million [20]
2014 SpaceClaim 3D modeling $85 million [21][22]
2015 Gear Design Solutions (2015) Analytics software Not disclosed [23]
2015 Delcross Technologies Systems analysis Not disclosed [24]
2015 Newmerical Technologies International Inc. In-flight icing simulation Not disclosed [25]
2016 KPIT medini Technologies AG Automotive design Not disclosed [26]
2017 CLK Design Automation Transistor-level simulation for semiconductor IP and system-on-chip (SoC) designs Not disclosed [27]
2017 Computational Engineering International, Inc. (CEI) Advanced post-processing and visualization Not disclosed [28]
2017 3DSIM 3D printing simulation Not disclosed [29]
2018 OPTIS Optical simulations Not disclosed [30]
2019 Helic Electromagnetic crosstalk simulation Not disclosed [31]
2019 Granta Design Material intelligence Not disclosed [32]
2019 DfR Solutions Reliability physics-based electronics design tool for accurate life predictions of electronic hardware Not disclosed [33]
2019 LSTC Advanced finite element analysis $775 million [34]
2019 Dynardo PIDO technology Not disclosed [35]
2020 Lumerical Photonic simulations Not disclosed [36]
2020 Analytical Graphics Inc. Aerospace and defense-focused engineering simulation software $700 million [37][38]
2021 Phoenix Integration, Inc. Model-based engineering and model-based systems engineering Not disclosed [39]
2021 Zemax Design and analysis of both imaging and illumination systems $411 million [40]
2022 Motor Design Limited (MDL) Electric machine designs Not disclosed [41]
2022 OnScale Web-based UI for access to Ansys' simulation technologies Not disclosed [42]
2022 C&R Technologies Orbital thermal analysis company Not disclosed [43]
2022 DYNAmore Simulation software for the automotive industry Not disclosed [44]

Engineering simulation software

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Ansys develops and markets engineering simulation software for use across the product life cycle.[8] Ansys Mechanical finite element analysis software uses computer models to simulate structures, electronics, or machine components to evaluate the strength, toughness, elasticity, temperature distribution, electromagnetism, fluid flow, and other attributes.[8] Ansys is used to determine how a product will function with different specifications, without building test products or conducting crash tests.[6] For example, Ansys software may simulate how a bridge will hold up after years of traffic, how to best process salmon in a cannery to reduce waste, or how to design a slide that uses less material without sacrificing safety.[4]

Most Ansys simulations are performed using the Ansys Workbench system,[45] which is one of the company's main products.[6] Typically Ansys users break down larger structures into small components that are each modeled and tested individually.[4] A user may start by defining the dimensions of an object,[46] and then adding weight, pressure, temperature and other physical properties.[46] Finally, the Ansys software simulates and analyzes movement, fatigue, fractures, fluid flow, temperature distribution, electromagnetic efficiency and other effects over time.[46]

Ansys also develops software for data management and backup, academic research and teaching.[6] Ansys software is sold on an annual subscription basis.[6]

Software history

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The first commercial version of Ansys software was labeled version 2.0 and released in 1971.[6][15] At the time, the software was made up of boxes of punch cards, and the program was typically run overnight to get results the following morning.[3] In 1975, non-linear and thermo-electric features were added.[15] The software was exclusively used on mainframes,[7] until version 3.0 (the second release) was introduced for the VAXstation in 1979.[3] Version 3 had a command-line interface like DOS.[47]

In 1980, the Apple II version was released, allowing Ansys to convert to a graphical user interface in version 4 later that year.[47] Version 4 of the Ansys software was easier to use and added features to simulate electromagnetism.[3] In 1989, Ansys began working with Compuflo.[3] Compuflo's Flotran fluid dynamics software was integrated into Ansys by version 5, which was released in 1993.[3] Performance improvements in version 5.1 shortened processing time two to four-fold, and was followed by a series of performance improvements to keep pace with advancements in computing.[7] Ansys also began integrating its software with CAD software, such as Autodesk.[7]

In 1996, Ansys released the DesignSpace structural analysis software, the LS-DYNA crash and drop test simulation product, and the Ansys Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulator.[15] Ansys also added parallel processing support for PCs with multiple processors.[15] The educational product Ansys/ed was introduced in 1998.[3] Version 6.0 of the main Ansys product was released in December 2001.[3] Version 6.0 made large-scale modeling practical for the first time, but many users were frustrated by a new blue user interface.[3] The interface was redone a few months later in 6.1.[3] Version 8.0 introduced the Ansys multi-field solver, which allows users to simulate how multiple physics problems would interact with one another.[48]

Version 8.0 was published in 2005[15] and introduced Ansys' fluid–structure interaction software,[15] which simulates the effect structures and fluids have on one another. Ansys also released its Probabilistic Design System and DesignXplorer software products, which both deal with probabilities and randomness of physical elements.[49] In 2009 version 12 was released with an overhauled second version of Workbench.[15][50] Ansys also began increasingly consolidating features into the Workbench software.[45]

Version 15 of Ansys was released in 2014.[45] It added a new features for composites, bolted connections, and better mesh tools.[45] In February 2015, version 16 introduced the AIM physics engine and Electronics Desktop, which is for semiconductor design.[51] The following year, version 17 introduced a new user interface and performance improvement for computing fluid dynamics problems.[52] In January 2017, Ansys released version 18.[53] Version 18 allowed users to collect real-world data from products and then incorporate that data into future simulations.[53] The Ansys Application Builder, which allows engineers to build, use, and sell custom engineering tools, was also introduced with version 18.[53]

Released in January 2020, Ansys R1 2020 updates Ansys' simulation process and data management (SPDM), materials information and electromagnetics product offerings.[54] In early 2020, the Ansys Academic Program surpassed one million student downloads.[55]

In May 2020, Ansys joined Microsoft, Dell and Lendlease on the steering committee of the Digital Twin Consortium, which aims to advance the use of digital twin technology.[56] The company collaborated with the US Army and L3Harris to advance the use of FACE technical standard.[57] In April, 2020, Samsung Foundry certified Ansys' RaptorH EM simulation solution for developing 2.5D/3D-ICs and systems-on-chip using Samsung's signoff flow.[58] In August, 2020, Ansys received TSMC certification for its SoIC 3D chip stacking technology.[59] In October, 2020, the company signed the agreement to acquire Analytical Graphics Inc. for $700 million.[60]

In 2021, Optimo Medical AG integrated their Optimeyes digital twin technology with Ansys Mechanical to create identical copies of cornea for surgical procedure testing purposes.[61] Ansys and Siemens Energy collaborated to improve additive manufacturing (AM) processes.[62] In May 2021, Ansys acquired Phoenix Integration, Inc. for an undisclosed amount.[39]

In November, 2021, the company was certified for Samsung's 3 nm and 4 nm Process Technologies.[63] The same year, Ansys acquired Zemax for an undisclosed amount.[40] The company began supporting Arm-based Graviton2 Processors, first time that Ansys' EDA semiconductor simulation solutions were made available on the Arm Neoverse architecture.[64] In partnership with Cornell University, Ansys developed simulating courses.[65]

In March 2022, the company announced collaboration with GlobalFoundries to address issues facing data centres.[66] In April, 2022, Ansys announced signing a definitive agreement to acquire OnScale to expand its cloud portfolio.[67]

In May, 2022, Ansys acquired Motor Design Limited (MDL) for an undisclosed amount.[41] In October, 2022, the company acquired C&R Technologies, a company that specialised in providing orbital thermal analysis.[43]

In December, 2022, Ansys announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire DYNAmore, which specialises in developing simulation solutions for the automotive industry.[44]

References

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  1. ^ "Form 10-K for Ansys (2023)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 21 February 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d "Ansys opens new markets with user-friendly software". Associated Press. May 16, 2017. Retrieved June 10, 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Lee, H.-H. (2017). Finite Element Simulations with Ansys Workbench 17. SDC Publications. p. 50. ISBN 978-1-63057-088-0. Retrieved June 9, 2017.
  4. ^ a b c Houser, Mark (February 5, 1995). "Small firm big player in software industry". Tribune.
  5. ^ Tascarella, Patty (16 December 2019). "Ansys becoming part of Nasdaq-100 Index". Pittsburgh Business Times. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Ansys. Vol. 115. St. James Press. pp. 23–25. ISBN 1558627782. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Weisberg, David. "22". The Engineering Design Revolution (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-02-03. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  8. ^ a b c Ansys. 1999. p. 25. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  9. ^ "Ansys' New CEO Focuses on the Digital Twin, IoT and Core Technology". Engineering.com. January 10, 2017. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  10. ^ Picker, Leslie (August 30, 2016). "Ansys Names Chief Executive". The New York Times. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  11. ^ "US software fuels China's military research, despite Washington ban". South China Morning Post. 2020-11-16. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  12. ^ a b "American technology boosts China's hypersonic missile program". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  13. ^ "Synopsys to Acquire Ansys, Creating a Leader in Silicon to Systems Design Solutions". www.ansys.com. Retrieved 2024-01-16.
  14. ^ "Synopsys to Acquire Ansys, Creating a Leader in Silicon to Systems Design Solutions". news.synopsys.com. Retrieved 2024-01-16.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wahab, M.A. (2014). The Mechanics of Adhesives in Composite and Metal Joints: Finite Element Analysis with Ansys. Destech Publications Incorporated. p. 59. ISBN 978-1-60595-096-9. Retrieved June 3, 2017.
  16. ^ Ed Team (June 30, 2011). "Ansys to buy Apache Design for $310 mln". Reuters. Retrieved June 10, 2017.
  17. ^ Stackpole, Beth (June 5, 2012). "Ansys Takes Aim at Embedded Software". Design News. Retrieved June 10, 2017.
  18. ^ Jenkins, Bruce (January 26, 2015). "Design Exploration Outlook: Acquisitions and Mergers 2015". Virtual Desktop. Retrieved June 10, 2017.
  19. ^ "Mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures review – 2013". Reinforced Plastics. 58 (1). Elsevier BV: 42–46. 2014. doi:10.1016/s0034-3617(14)70042-6. ISSN 0034-3617.
  20. ^ Linder, Courtney (January 3, 2014). "Ansys Acquisition History". Ansys. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
  21. ^ Halpern, Marc (May 8, 2014). "Ansys' SpaceClaim Purchase Enhances Engineering Productivity". Gartner Inc. Retrieved June 17, 2017.
  22. ^ Newton, Randall (April 1, 2014). "Ansys acquires SpaceClaim for $85 million". GraphicSpeak. Retrieved June 17, 2017.
  23. ^ "Gear Design Solutions acquired by Southpointe-based Ansys; merican Medical Association taps Altoona surgeon". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. June 9, 2015. Retrieved June 17, 2017.
  24. ^ Todd, Deborah (September 2, 2015). "Ansys acquires Delcross Technologies". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved June 17, 2017.
  25. ^ "Ansys Acquires Assets Of Newmerical Technologies International". www.ansys.com. Retrieved 2019-11-28.
  26. ^ Goldbacher, Alfred. "Ansys: Kauf des Analysespezialsten KPIT medini Technologies". Elektronik (in German). Retrieved June 17, 2017.
  27. ^ Linder, Courtney (March 10, 2017). "Ansys Acquisition History". Ansys. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
  28. ^ Linder, Courtney (June 11, 2017). "Ansys Acquisition History". Ansys. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
  29. ^ Linder, Courtney (November 15, 2017). "Ansys acquires additive manufacturing firm 3DSIM to reduce manufacturing costs". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  30. ^ "Ansys to Acquire OPTIS". Digital Engineering. April 5, 2018. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  31. ^ Torrance, Luke (January 22, 2019). "Ansys to acquire software company". Pittsburgh Business Times.
  32. ^ Jackson, Beau (January 24, 2019). "What the Ansys acquisition of Granta Design means for additive manufacturing customers". 3D Printing Industry. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  33. ^ "Week In Review: Design, Low Power". Semiconductor Engineering. May 3, 2019. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  34. ^ Walsh, Jeremy (December 8, 2019). "Livermore tech company sold for $775M". PleasantonWeekly.com. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  35. ^ Mericle, Julia (November 7, 2019). "Ansys closes third quarter with two acquisitions". Pittsburgh Business Times.
  36. ^ "Software giant Ansys to acquire photonic simulation specialist Lumerical". optics.org. March 10, 2020. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  37. ^ Baker, Liana (October 26, 2020). "Ansys to Buy Software Firm AGI for $700 Million". Bloomberg. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  38. ^ Rosenblatt, Lauren (October 26, 2020). "Simulation software company Ansys makes $700 million acquisition to expand tech to aerospace missions". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  39. ^ a b "Ansys Acquires Phoenix Integration, Inc". May 17, 2021.
  40. ^ a b "Ansys to Acquire Zemax Pursuant to Definitive Acquisition Agreement" (PDF). Retrieved 2021-08-30.
  41. ^ a b "Ansys Partnership". Motor Design. Retrieved 2022-09-07.
  42. ^ "Looking into the Crystal Ball on Ansys' OnScale Acquisition". Engineering.com. Retrieved 2022-09-07.
  43. ^ a b E., D. (2022-10-21). "Ansys Acquires C&R Technologies". Digital Engineering. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
  44. ^ a b "ANSYS acquires LSTC". DYNAmore GmbH. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
  45. ^ a b c d "Review: Ansys Workbench 15". DEVELOP3D. May 27, 2014. Retrieved June 10, 2017.
  46. ^ a b c Nakasone, Y (2006). Engineering analysis with Ansys software. Oxford Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-7506-6875-0.
  47. ^ a b Lee, H.H. (2017). Finite Element Simulations with Ansys Workbench 17. SDC Publications. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-63057-088-0. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
  48. ^ Engineers, American Institute of Chemical (2004). Chemical Engineering Progress. American Institute of Chemical Engineers. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
  49. ^ Reh, Stefan; Beley, Jean-Daniel; Mukherjee, Siddhartha; Khor, Eng Hui (2006). "Probabilistic finite element analysis using Ansys". Structural Safety. 28 (1–2). Elsevier BV: 17–43. doi:10.1016/j.strusafe.2005.03.010. ISSN 0167-4730.
  50. ^ Dadkhah, F.; Zecher, J. (2009). Ansys Workbench Software Tutorial with Multimedia CD: Release 12. SDC publications. Schroff Development Corporation. p. 1-PA5. ISBN 978-1-58503-581-6. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  51. ^ Lockwood, Anthony (February 11, 2015). "Ansys 16.0 Launches". Digital Engineering. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  52. ^ Wasserman, Shawn (February 5, 2016). "Ansys Fluent 17.0 Introduces New User Interface". Engineering.com. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  53. ^ a b c Wasserman, Shawn (January 31, 2017). "Ansys 18 Release Focuses on Digital Twin, IoT and Engineering Apps". Engineering.com. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  54. ^ Engineering, Digital (January 30, 2020). "Ansys 2020 R1 Threads Simulation Across Product Lifecycle Processes". Digital Engineering. Retrieved February 5, 2020.
  55. ^ Chowdhry, Amit (January 22, 2020). "Ansys: Student Software Program Hits Several Major Milestones". Pulse 2.0. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  56. ^ Kinney, Sean (2020-07-28). "Research firm sees 10x increase in digital twin investment by 2025". Enterprise IoT Insights. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
  57. ^ Venna, Srivani (2020-03-13). "Ansys to work with US Army and L3Harris on missile system applications". Army Technology. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
  58. ^ Desk, AIT News (2019-10-17). "Samsung Foundry Certifies ANSYS Multiphysics Simulation Solutions". AiThority. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
  59. ^ "ANSYS achieves certification for TSMC's 3D chip stacking technology". Scientific Computing World. 2019-04-29. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
  60. ^ Erwin, Sandra (2020-10-26). "Engineering software firm Ansys to acquire AGI for $700 million". SpaceNews. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
  61. ^ "Optimo Medical AG and Ansys Using Digital Twin Technology to Revolutionize Astigmatism Surgery". Engineering.com. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
  62. ^ "Ansys Partnership Boosts the Reach of Siemens Energy Additive Simulation". Engineering.com. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
  63. ^ Allen, Jesse (2021-11-19). "Week In Review: Design, Low Power". Semiconductor Engineering. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
  64. ^ Lahiri, Anusuya. "Ansys To Support AWS Arm-based Graviton2 Processors - Ansys (NASDAQ:ANSS), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)". Benzinga. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
  65. ^ "Cornell launches online fluid dynamics simulation certificate". Cornell Chronicle. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
  66. ^ Desk, AIT News (2022-12-06). "Ansys Announces GlobalFoundries Certification of Semiconductor Tools for GF 22FDX Platform". AiThority. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
  67. ^ "Looking into the Crystal Ball on Ansys' OnScale Acquisition". Engineering.com. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
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