Altair Engineering acquires ACUSIM Software, grows solidThinking subsidiary

Altair Engineering has got an idea or two about how it wants to grow in 2011, and the simulator-technology firm is already acting on them.

The Troy-based company acquired ACUSIM Software last week, a brand-name developer of high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics solver solutions. The acquisition brings on the technology and expertise for a niche section of the simulation technology industry.

"That allows us to simulate fluid and air flow around objects," says Michael Kidder, vice president of corporate marketing for Altair Engineering. That sort of technology, he adds, has a number of uses, such as increasing passenger comfort in the automotive sector.

Altair Engineering now employs a little over 1,400 people worldwide, including about 500 in Metro Detroit. The ACUSIM Software acquisition brings about 10 people with expertise and industry leadership in their respective domains.

The firm is also growing its solidThinking subsidiary, which specializes in global concept design and styling software. The division has been steadily growing its industrial design software market, recently announcing the addition of a dozen new customers.

SolidThinking is capitalizing on its NURBS-based software, which focuses on design manufacturing and engineering. The software encourages improved computer-aided design collaboration and productivity between industrial designers and engineers during the product development cycle.

"It's probably one of our more exciting technologies," Kidder says. "It's at the front end of the design process."

Source: Michael Kidder, vice president of corporate marketing for Altair Engineering
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Altair Engineering acquires ACUSIM Software, grows solidThinking subsidiary

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