MSC.Software Corp., the leading global provider of virtual product development (VPD) products including simulation software and services and Brembo, a worldwide brake systems provider, have signed an agreement to develop a customized simulation toolkit, based upon MSC.Marc, to simulate stress and fatigue characteristics of automotive brake pads. "Application-specific simulation solutions are a very important part of the VPD market, especially in the automotive industry where each assembly and subsystem has a unique development process requiring a combination of multiple product development disciplines," said Frank Perna, chairman and chief executive officer of MSC.Software. "MSC.Software is constantly looking for ways to ensure that our products meet the demands of our worldwide customer base and the best way to do that is to partner with our customers and create consortiums to guide the development of the software tools. We have successfully done this for other MSC.Software applications such as ADAMS/Engine, MSC.Flightloads, and SimDesigner Suspension and we look forward to completing this project with Brembo and bringing a valuable new brake pad tool to market." "By delivering reliable and safe brake systems to our demanding customers we have gained a high reputation and growing success all over the world," said Giovanni Gotti at Brembo. "The development of brake systems is a difficult task, because it includes the simultaneous consideration of different design characteristics such as being lighter, delivering a higher performances, and assuring a better durability. Virtual Product Development (VPD) has become a decisive factor to success in managing complex design projects like this. Our engineers are relying on MSC.Software products such as MSC.Nastran, MSC.Marc, and MSC.Patran every day, right from the concept phase throughout the entire design process, in order to satisfy all those different needs. The reliability of these products combined with the technical expertise provided by MSC.Software Italy during the last years, convinced us to move forward in our co-operation and to sign an agreement to jointly develop a software interface. This tool will be a fully-customized version of MSC.Marc which will allow to easily build complete brake models -- including pads -- to simulate them under different working conditions and to predict the pads wear under all kinds of circumstances." The software toolkit developed jointly by MSC.Software and Brembo is being developed by the MSC.Software technical staff at the Brembo Technical Centre in Curno (Italy). The new technology will immediately be applied to all new Brembo brake system designs and available to MSC.Software customers worldwide beginning in 2005.