Dassault Systemes is to acquire US software maker Abaqus for $413m (£223m) to boost its simulation technology offering.
Abaqus has simulation software sales of $100m a year and operating margins of around 25%.
Dassault has also announced the release of Simulia, an open platform designed to support simulation applications.
Ovum analyst Francois Dauriat said simulation was a highly fragmented market, with a number of internally developed solutions, but that the market was poised to adopt the platform-based approach of Dassault.
