Paris, France, January 18, 2007 - ESI Group announces the launch of the European Marine, Aero, Rail and Industrial structures (MARI) Consortium. Participants of the MARI Consortium include renowned industry leaders such as Alstom, BAE Systems, Bombardier Transportation, QinetiQ, Volvo Group and VTT.

VA One is the world’s first and still the only fully integrated environment for vibro-acoustic simulation across the entire frequency spectrum. Based on AutoSEA2, the industry standard software for mid and high frequency noise and vibration design, and extended to encompass mid and low frequency methods, VA One is the only simulation code on the market that contains a complete set of coupled vibro-acoustic analysis methods covering full frequency spectrum. What makes VA One so unique is its ability to rigorously integrate within one single environment the Finite Element Method (FEM), the boundary Element Method (BEM), and the statistical Energy Analysis (SEA) method. The underlying coupling theory contained in VA One allows the user to transparently deploy these different methodologies, making VA One a powerful innovative solution for structure-borne noise analysis. This opens up brand new application domains to the vibro-acoustic simulation world. It is now possible to build a single model with different modeling methods, couple them together and directly compute the vibro-acoustic response of a system.

A first successful Structure Borne Noise Consortium which looked at how to implement the unique technology breakthrough that rigorously couples FEM and SEA into an easy to use software gave birth to VA One.  The consortium members evaluated for themselves the ease of use and the quality of the results by applying this new technology to their own industrial applications.

A follow-on consortium focussing on methodology has just been initiated. The objectives of the MARI Consortium are to define modeling guidelines and investigate aspects related to the automation of the model building process for the creation of coupled Finite Element Analysis / Statistical Energy Analysis (FEA /SEA) models within the VA One environment. These objectives are set in the context of a technology transfer between ESI Group and the participants.

The MARI Consortium was officially launched with a meeting held in Paris, France, in September 2006, and will continue until June 2008.  The inaugural meeting provided a forum where each of the members shared details of target applications and objectives. Several intermediate sessions will follow allowing participants to share knowledge and experience gained from executing the modeling tasks and report the progress made towards the mutually agreed objectives. As a consortium member, each participant is provided comprehensive training on an individual basis. ESI Group supervises and supports the project to ensure that efforts are focused on the primary objectives of creating effective modeling guidelines and defining productivity enhancements that will facilitate cost and time effective coupled FEA/SEA model creation for mid-frequency applications.

"The MARI Consortium is a great opportunity for each member to share experience in using VA One to model complex industrial structures for structure-borne noise prediction.  The expertise gained from such activity and the interaction between members will help define commonly accepted modeling guidelines and provide ESI Group with valuable information to improve VA One's model building capabilities and automation.  The MARI Consortium is another example of ESI Group's commitment to provide Vibro-Acoustic industrial solutions across the full frequency range." declares Denis Blanchet, ESI Group VA .

To obtain information about our vibro-acoustics software, please contact our VA Marketing Specialist, Isabelle Girard at isabelle.girard@esi-group.com

About ESI Group’s Vibro-acoustics Solutions

VA One, the first integrated software offering full-frequency spectrum analysis capabilities
AutoSEA2, the industry standard for real-time broadband noise and vibration prediction analysis and design software
RAYON, the low-frequency solution for characterization of complex noise sources and prediction of vibro-acoustic performance including trimmed structures
RAYON-VTM (Vehicle Trim Modeler), an automation module used for low frequency full vehicle sound package design.
NOVA, a software package dedicated to the design of multi-layered acoustic components
FOAM-X, a data acquisition and post-processing software for identifying the acoustic properties of poro-elastic materials from impedance tube measurements

About ESI Group

ESI Group is a world-leading supplier, and a pioneer of digital simulation software for prototyping and manufacturing processes that take into account the physics of materials. ESI Group has developed an extensive suite of coherent, industry oriented applications to realistically simulate a product's behavior during testing, to fine-tune manufacturing processes in accordance with desired product performance, and evaluate the environment's impact on product performance. ESI Group's products, which have a proven track record in manufacturing and have been combined in multi-trade value chains, represent a unique collaborative and open virtual engineering solution known as the Virtual Try-Out Space (VTOS), enabling virtual prototypes to be improved in a continuous and collaborative manner. This integrated protocol allows all the company's solutions to work with each other and with applications developed by independent software vendors. By significantly reducing costs and development lead times and enabling product/process synergies, VTOS solutions offer major competitive advantage by progressively eliminating the need for physical prototypes during product development. The company generated sales of €62.2m in 2005, employs over 500 high-level specialists worldwide covering more than 30 countries. ESI Group is listed in Eurolist compartment C of Euronext Paris. For further information, visit www.esi-group.com .

Virtual Try-Out Space® and VTOS® are registered trademarks of ESI Group. All other products, names or companies are the brands or registered trademarks of their respective owners.