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Altair To Acquire South African Electromagnetic Software Firm

TROY (WWJ) -- Troy's engineering and computer science software and services provider Altair Engineering Inc. said Tuesday it had reached an agreement to acquire EM Software & Systems S.A., a provider of electromagnetic technology software based in Cape Town, South Africa.

Also included are EMSS' international distributor offices in the United States, Germany, and China.

The agreement is expected to close early in 2014. Terms were not disclosed.

EMSS was founded in 1994 as a company consulting in electromagnetic field analysis and antenna design. Through consulting services EMSS identified the local and international need in the aerospace, naval and automobile industries for the simulation of antennas on electrically large platforms. The commercial code Feko (www.feko.info) has applications that extend beyond antenna design and antenna placement into areas such as electromagnetic compatibility (shielding, coupling, cable harness analysis), microstrip circuits and components, radar scattering analysis, and bio-electromagnetics.

Altair offers several forms of manufacturing technology "solver" software, offering OptiStruct, RADIOSS, MotionSolve and AcuSolve within the HyperWorks suite of engineering simulation software.

Altair said that the addition of EMSS' comprehensive electromagnetic solver Feko will enhance the capabilities of Altair's product offerings, enabling further solver functionality for customers, particularly in the aerospace, automotive, and shipbuilding industries.

"This agreement reflects Altair's resolve to continue to bring world-class technology to our customers, and demonstrates our long-term objective of organic growth, with strategic partnerships and acquisitions where it makes sense," said Altair chairman and CEO James R. Scapa.

Added Uwe Schramm, Altair CTO, responsible for solvers and optimization: "Integration of the Feko suite of electromagnetic solutions with Altair HyperWorks will give our customers access to additional smart multiphysics and design optimization capabilities, for instance addressing coupled electromagnetic-thermal or electromagnetic-mechanical problems."

And Ulrich Jakobus, original author of Feko and director and product manager at EMSS: "We look forward to broadening our electromagnetic portfolio and serving our customers even better with enhanced technical solutions and services, while retaining our world-class technical support. Existing and future Feko customers will benefit from the sharing of computer-aided engineering and high-performance computing knowledge between our teams and Altair."

Privately held with more than 2,000 employees, Altair operates more than 40 offices throughout 20 countries. Today, Altair serves more than 5,000 corporate clients across broad industry segments. To learn more, visit www.altair.com.

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