Today at the American Institute of Architects (AIA) convention in Boston, Autodesk announced that it has sold more than 300,000 copies of its Revit platform for building information modeling (BIM). While this number is lower than the total install base for chief BIM rivals Graphisoft, Bentley, and Nemetschek, the bulk of those sales have happened in the last two years.
What's behind the surge? Clearly, the near monopoly status of AutoCAD in AEC, and the growing strength of the Autodesk brand are important. But Autodesk has been rapidly improving Revit year after year. We hear few complaints now about its ability to handle large projects, although there is still some grousing about its inability to handle non-traditional shapes. Autodesk is pushing hard to make Revit synonymous with sustainable building practices, and is showcasing several recently acquired technologies for green analysis at the AIA show.
--RSN