BuildingSMART

buildingSMART, formerly the International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI), is an international organisation which aims to improve the exchange of information between software applications used in the construction industry. It has developed Industry Foundation Classes (IFCs) as a neutral and open specification for Building Information Models (BIM).

The IAI started in 1994 as an industry consortium of 12 US companies invited by Autodesk to advise on developing a set of C++ classes to support integrated application development. The other founding members were AT&T; ARCHIBUS; Carrier Corporation; Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum (HOK); Honeywell; Jaros, Baum & Bolles (JB&B); Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory; Primavera Systems; Softdesk; Timberline Software Corp; and Tishman Research Corp (part of Tishman Realty & Construction). The new technology was first demonstrated in June 1995 in Atlanta at A/E/C SYSTEMS '95.

This Industry Alliance for Interoperability opened membership to all interested parties in September 1995 and in 1997 was renamed the International Alliance for Interoperability as Autodesk users insisted that the IFCs should be non-proprietary and urged development of the IFC standard. It was reconstituted as a not-for-profit industry-led organisation, promoting the Industry Foundation Class (IFC) as a neutral product model supporting the building lifecycle.

In 2005, partly because its members felt the IAI name was too long and complex for people to understand, it was renamed buildingSMART. It has regional chapters in Europe, North America, Australia, Asia and the Middle East.

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