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ESI Group provides virtual prototyping software that simulates a product’s behavior during testing, manufacturing and real-life use. Engineers in a variety of industries use its software to evaluate the performance of proposed designs in the early phases of the project with the goal of identifying and eliminating potential design flaws. ==History== ESI was founded in France in 1973 by Alain de Rouvray along with three other recent PhD.s from the University of California Berkeley: Jacques Dubois, Iraj Farhooman and Eberhard Haug. The company initially operated as a consulting company for European defense, aerospace and nuclear industries.〔(Reuters company profile of ESI Group )〕 On May 30, 1978 the company presented the simulation of an accidental crash of a military fighter plane into a nuclear power plant at a Verein Deutscher Ingenieure (VDI) meeting in Stuttgart.〔E. Haug. (1981) "Engineering safety analysis via destructive numerical experiments", EUROMECH 121, Polish Academy of Sciences, ''Engineering Transactions'' 29(1), 39–49.〕 German automobile manufacturers then tested the applicability of several emerging commercial crash simulation codes, including what would become Pam-Crash crash simulation software. As part of this project, the software's initial version simulated the frontal impact of a full passenger car structure, a Volkswagen Polo car model, in a collision with a rigid concrete barrier at 50 km/h, in an overnight computer run. This was the first successful full-car frontal crash simulation ever performed.〔E. Haug, T. Scharnhorst, P. Du Bois (1986) "FEM-Crash, Berechnung eines Fahrzeugfrontalaufpralls", ''VDI Berichte'' 613, 479–505.〕 Finite element simulation provided accurate determination of the structural deformations while rigid body simulation was used during the relatively unimportant deformation and free-flight phases of the simulation.〔A.K. Pickett, H.G. Hoeck, A. Poth and W. Sehrepfer, “Crashworthiness analysis of a full automotive rollover test using a mixed rigid body and explicit finite element approach.” ''VDI Berichte'' 816, p 167-179.〕 In July 2000 the company issued an initial public offering that generated 30 million Euros which was used to help fund product development.〔“(Interview with Alain de Rouvray CEO of ESI Group ),” ''Industrie & Technologies'', October 31, 2003.〕 In 2003 it acquired EASi’s computer aided engineering (CAE) simulation design and control software environments.〔Pamela J. Waterman, FEA and CFD: Getting Better All the Time, ''Desktop Engineering'', December, 2010.〕 In 2004 the company invested $5 million in its Indian development center with plans to grow the operation to a 300-person team in the next few years.〔“(ESI to invest $5 m in India centre ),” ''The Hindu Business Line'', November 30, 2004.〕 It acquired six computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis products including CFD-ACE+, CFD-FASTRAN, CFD-VISCART and CFD-CADalyzer from CFD Research Corp in February 2004. CFDRC software end user revenues totaled approximately $6.5 million for 2003.〔“(ESI Group buys analysis software lineup from CFDRC ),” ''Cadalyst'', February 2, 2004.〕In December 2008 the company acquired the US CFD service provider Mindware Engineering Inc. with 70 people based in the United States, Europe and India.〔“ESI Group Acquires Mindware,” ''Capital Finance'', January 26, 2009.〕 The company has obtained the ISO9001 certification, is recognized by Areva with its Q-N100 and Q-N300 certifications, and by Électricité de France (EDF) with its SGAQ system. It has received France’s “confidential defense” certification and obtained a specific certification from the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique (CEA – atomic energy commission).〔Alexandre T. Analis, "(Virtual tests for real results )," ''Commerce International'', November 30, 2009.〕 Fiscal year 2008/2009 was disappointing in terms of new business; however, the company’s financial results held up despite the economic crisis, because of its high renewal rate.〔“Robustesse de cette affaire très technologique." ''La letter de Placements'', May 15, 2009.〕 In July 2009, the French financial publication ''Boursier'' pointed out that the company’s stock market value is far below comparable American companies quoted on the NASDAQ stock exchange.〔“ESI Group: se renforce par une acquisition aux Etats-Unis,” ''Boursier'', July 3, 2009.〕 Stock analyst Monica Schnitger said that the company's strong results for the first half of 2010 was partially due to Tata Motors standardizing on Pam-Stamp, the company's sheet metal forming simulation solution.〔Monica Schnitger, “(ESI Reports License Revenue up 13% ),” Schnitger Corporation Hot Topics, September 14, 2010.〕 In June 2011 Schnitger Corporation reported that the company's first-quarter revenues were up 9% from the previous year's Q1, with performance being strongest in Europe and the Americas.〔"(ESI Revenue Up 9% in Q1 )," Schnitger Corporation Hot Topics, June 16, 2011.〕 Designer Cynthia Tripp’s latest venture called Tripp’s Department Store, which is powered by ESI’s IC.IDO software, offers architects, designers and manufacturers the ability to construct , experience and share full-scale, immersive virtual reality models of their projects.〔 Ava Burke, “Cynthia Tripp Brings Virtual Reality to Designers,” designwire daily, July 31, 2012.〕 ESI Group acquired OpenCFD, an open-source software provider, from SGI in September 2012.〔“(ESI Group Acquires OpenCFD ),” ''Desktop Engineering'', September 19, 2012.〕 ESI signed an agreement with Renault in May 2013 in which Renault will utilize ESI’s expertise in virtual prototyping to accelerate its product development programs.〔 Robert Brooks, “(Renault, ESI Group Speed Up Virtual Prototyping ),” ''Foundry Management and Technology'', May 26, 2013.〕 In October 2013 ESI acquired CyDesign Labs which specializes in combining 0D-1D simple design tools with advanced 3D simulation.〔 Monica Schnitger, “(Quickies: Bentley Day 1, some catch- up and more sheep! ),” Schnitger Corporation blog, October 28, 2013.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「ESI Group」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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