IES History Executive Summary
Since 1994 IES has been developing great tools
for the Structural and Civil engineers, and Architects.
Our focus is on practical, economical tools that you will find
easy to use, and as a result thousands of satisfied customers
build their engineering practice on IES technology.
You may be more familiar with our previous "Integral" logo with
the climbing man. Our logo has evolved over the years and
we decided it was time for a dramatic change in 2005.
Looking Back at the Details
March 1994
In March of 1994 IES empire was officially launched. Dr. Dan VanLuchene and Ph.D. candidate Terry Kubat were discussing the future. The two had been working on a research project for the previous 18 months, which had culminated in a humble structural analysis tool called "WinFinite".
The Platform
WinFinite represented a new state-of-the-art way of building
and viewing finite element models. Finite element analysis had
been around for a long time, but programs on the PC were still
very difficult to use, holding tightly to their mainframe roots.
Programs were also fairly costly to purchase. WinFinite was
developed under a state grant at Montana State University and
was also made possible by research funding from CH2M Hill.
Envisioned primarily as a teaching tool and to provide basic
structural analysis to engineers in the remoter areas of
Montana, WinFinite was made very easy to use. WinFinite was the
result of research in object-oriented design, human-computer
interface ideas, and modern graphics. The whole project was
based on a hunch that this "Windows thing" was going to be as
successful in the engineering marketplace as it had been in the
business world.
At that time, DOS was king and Windows was an upstart
interface layer on top of DOS that made the computer palatable
to business-people. Microsoft had created Word and Excel to
compete with WordPerfect and Lotus 123. Yet, engineers still
mostly preferred the command line without "fluffy" menus and
icons that just got in the way of serious numerical processing.
A few of the commercial providers of engineering software had
"ported" their products to Windows, but most still retained
their old command file, or command line structure and used
"computer" rather than "engineering" terminology.
WinFinite was different. This tool provided immediate
graphical feedback for just about everything you created. It
allowed you to sketch models directly (like a CAD program) and
click to edit element properties. (Things we now take for
granted.) It was an immediate success both with students at MSU
and also with local engineers who came out for a seminar to
learn about finite element analysis. So Dr. Dan was asking Terry
what he was going to do if and when he ever finished with
school. Terry responded with something like "I want to marry my
computer science education with my engineering background and
write structural software." At that point we began discussing
the possibility of creating our own software company using
WinFinite as a springboard. We knew it was as good as many of
the programs on the market. We made a small business plan and
started talks with MSU regarding licensing the technology for
private use. Within a few months we were running an ad in Modern
Steel Construction and in ASCE Civil Engineer and selling
VisualAnalysis 1.0.
The Flagship that kept IES afloat
In 1994 VisualAnalysis was IES. Sure we had AnalysisGroup, but it was the success of VisualAnalysis that secured our place in the market. This software was actually two years old when it was introduced commercially and contained some novel concepts, but it really was not that much different internally than most products it was competing with. The user-interface is what set it apart.
Here are a few features that made the VisualAnalysis
experience pleasant for customers:
• Sketch the model
• Click to edit.
• Immediate graphical feedback.
• Flexible handling of units for physical quantities.
• At-the-source error detection and warnings.
• Polite and informative error messages.
• Color-coded menu and toolbar items.
• A limited feature set: just the engineering basics.
• Built-in help and reference material.
• Example projects and tutorials.
• Standard Windows menus (e.g. File, Edit, View...Help)
Our Customers are Our Compass
In fact, still today these things are driving some of the success of our products. Of course the other primary ingredient to our successful business venture has been you, our customers. Within a year of launching IES, we conducted a survey of customers. What we found was rather surprising. The typical IES customer had 8-10 years of experience, had used 4 structural analysis programs in the past, and became productive with VisualAnalysis within 8 hours of using it.
Our customers were also not shy about telling us what was right and what was wrong with our tools. Given their level of expertise and their past experiences with software, we made it a core feature of our business model to regularly ask and to always listen for customer ideas and suggestions. We encourage customers to let us know not only when something goes wrong, but even if something is just confusing or slightly annoying!
It is the combination of useful tools and listening to experienced customers that forms the successful foundation at IES. We write down and try to address customer ideas promptly. We try to write our software so that it does not require any documentation or technical support. And then we try to provide the best of both. Fortunately (for us) we have not yet attained the goal of perfect software. We are successful entirely because our software is very good and yet always needs some improvement. Because the improvements are those that customers have requested, they are valuable enough for purchase when they arrive. Customers remain loyal by choice, not by any coercion.