Acette Technologies, headquartered in Dubai Internet City, distributors for Exactal software products in the Middle East and South Asia, formally launched version 3.00 of CostX, the popular quantity surveying and estimation software. Visiting Dubai on the occasion were Mark Kefford, CEO & Founder, and Simon Lovegrove, Estimating Solutions Director, of Extactal Pty Ltd, the Brisbane based software engineering firm.
Sujit Sivanand, Deputy Managing Director of Acette Technologies said "We are proud to present a product that has been on the continuous improvement track, and coming from our principals, Exactal, a firm led by technology and quantity surveying professionals fully committed to taking CostX to new heights of functionality richness with each release. The release of CostX version 3.00 represents years of development to build a totally new graphics engine capable of rendering buildings in 3D as well as 2D. The new interface retains the simple approach taken for dealing with 2D drawings, and measurements can now be taken directly from the 3D model with a few simple clicks of the mouse."
Speaking on the occasion, Mark Kefford said "The introduction of 2D CAD into the construction industry saw immediate productivity benefits that are now well established. With the move to 3D, CAD has developed beyond being a drafting tool to become a medium for creating and optimising designs. With advances in technology, BIM is now becoming the new platform for an integrated approach to building design, procurement and ownership.
The concept is simple: have one, and only one, centrally accessible, database driven, virtual representation of all aspects of a building. The central database enables the design team, contractor, subcontractors, facility managers and owners to track all changes within the single model and gain real-time access to volumes of data far more effectively than current methodologies allow. The result? Real gains in industry productivity, building life cycle cost and sustainability. CostX Version 3.00 now rightly positions the Estimation and Quantity Surveying professional's function into the BIM model."
Simon Lovegrove MRICS, AAIQS, a senior professional quantity surveyor who has always been part of the functional/business user team working on the development of CostX over the years, remarked "The BIM capability of the new version arises from the capacity to read parametric design models to automatically extract object properties and their associated quantities. Rather than drafting plans and elevations using lines, 3-D virtual models recognise objects (walls, doors, windows, etc) and their inter-relationship. The properties (parameters) of each object are held in a database which can contain highly detailed information, and the parametric coding of the objects within the database is read by the software to generate the quantities."
Simon further remarked, "Whichever file format is used, having live links between drawing files and workbooks means that changes to dimensions are automatically updated in the workbook, and enables the software to identify drawing revisions and update quantities. The automation of the process can dramatically improve productivity, with some users anecdotally reporting that work that would typically take days to complete can now be done in hours."
The launch was followed by a detailed demonstration of the new features of CostX version 3.00 and add-on product CostXL (the Mircrosoft Excel interface to CostX) to an audience of key users from CostX customers in the United Arab Emirates.
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About Acette
Headquartered in Dubai Internet City, United Arab Emirates, Acette Technologies was established in 2002. Acette provides technology solutions in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. Acette are distributors for Exactal software products in the Middle East and South Asia (including India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka), and operates in various markets through its corporate office in United Arab Emirates and group companies in Sultanate of Oman and Canada.
About Exactal
Established in Brisbane, Australia in 2003 to develop software specifically for the quantity surveying and estimating market, Exactal has continued to expand its worldwide presence and now has offices in the UK and NZ and sales and channel partner support across much of the globe. Its main product line, CostX® provides a unique integration between the cost estimates and the elements on the CAD drawings that the estimate represents. This unique approach allows fast revisions of drawings to be easily handled and eliminates traditional scope creep in construction projects.
Acette® is a registered trademark of Acette Technologies.
CostX® is a registered trademark of Exactal Technologies Pty Ltd.
Microsoft® and Excel® are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
© Press Release 2009
