Laurent Anné, Distene, France

Taking on challenges and living life at its fullest

Laurent Anné is sales director and co-founder (with Mark Loriot) of Distene.  He and Loriot founded Distene (www.distene.com) in 2004 to provide integrated solutions, technology, products and consultancy services for pre- and post-processing.  In addition to meshing components, Distene provides scientific and engineering visualization solutions based on CEI’s EnSight, which the company distributes and supports in Southern Europe.

We spoke to Laurent to find out a little more about him and what makes Distene a success.

What is your background and how did you become involved in simulation?
I have a PhD in numerical analysis from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris 6). I did my PhD work at the French Petroleum Institute, where I was involved in developing software for the SEG/EAEG 3D modeling project, which aimed at simulating a realistic seismic survey.  The software we developed was chosen by the SEG/EAEGCommittee, and we won the Seymour Cray Prize in 1995 for our work.

When you were growing up, did you have any idea you were going to be an engineer?  What did you want to do as a child?

I wanted to be an aviator in the Army.  Unfortunately, my eyesight wasn’t good enough.  I was a good mathematics student, so I decided to take engineering classes – more precisely, applied mathematics classes.  The field of applied mathematics was attractive to me because it is open to any industry domain and any type of physics; it can help make products perform better; and it is challenging.  Openness, performance, and most of all, challenges, are a big part of my life.

Why did you decide to start Distene?
It gets back to challenges: Mark and I started the adventure with Simulog [a French engineering company with 180 employees], but we felt we needed to go further.  I think that life is a succession of challenges and adventures; that’s what makes it interesting.

We arranged a management buyout of Simulog to create Distene, which provides advanced components that help CAE vendors succeed in integrating CAD with design chain analysis tools that are critical to meeting their customers’ PLM [product lifecycle management] goals.

The name Distene comes from a Greek term meaning two strengths (di stenos).  It signifies our two markets (software vendors and industrial end users), two core competencies (pre- and post-processing), and two types of business (products and added-value consultancy).  

Who are some of your customers and why do they come to Distene for solutions?
Our main customers on the meshing side of the business are the most well-known software vendors in the CAD/CAE market: ABAQUS, ANSYS, DASSAULT SYSTEMES, LSTC, PTC, SOLIDWORKS, UGS and others.  We have about 35 OEM agreements and more than 50 customers if we include industrial licenses.

Customers work with Distene because of our strong reputation for leading-edge technology, quality, experience and consistency.  The INRIA researcher team we are collaborating with helps guarantee leading-edge technology.  None of our competitors can claim our level of quality – we have a database of 5,000 test cases we use to validate the release of a new version.  The Distene engineering team has focused on meshing solutions for 12 years; nobody else has this level of experience.  Over the course of that time, we’ve never had a customer break a partnership with us – they all appreciate the quality of our service and our on-going R&D investment.

We have a unique strategy: We don’t deliver the whole crown, but provide the gems that a large software partner can integrate into their pre-processing package.  On the post-processing side, we offer CEI’s proven tools.

How and why did you become a CEI distributor?
We started when we were with Simulog, which was the first EnSight distributor.  We decided to continue this relationship when we formed Distene because EnSight complements the products we develop, offering the same attributes in post-processing that our customers value in our pre-processing solutions.

Are there differences in the U.S. and French simulation markets?
Yes, there is a difference in mentality.  In general, France is not a market of early adopters; it is much more conservative.  Decisions are made more carefully than in America; perhaps too carefully at times.

What is your customer service philosophy at Distene?
We stress honesty and mutual respect.  Happy customers create a friendly environment for a company and help ensure success.

Have you had any funny or strange experiences in the simulation industry?
When I started my PhD thesis in 1992, we specified large Department of Energy supercomputers (Cray T3D, CM5 and others) to run our realistic 3D seismic survey simulations.  Even anticipating the growth of power for computers, we forecasted that it would take one year using 80 percent of all the computers in the three labs – Sandia, Livermore and Los Alamos – to complete the numerical 3D seismic survey.  A few years later when we delivered the software, the survey took less than a month to run on the DoE computers.

What do you do when you are not working?
I sing and play guitar in a band called Square Jam that has gigs in pubs around Paris.  We play rock, funk, blues, pop and R&B.  I also dance the Lindy Hop with my girlfriend.  I try to keep in shape.  I was a gymnast until I was 25 years old and participated in the national championships.  These days, I mountain bike and jog.  I like vintage cars, and own a 1969 Triumph TR4 A IRS.

Do you have any message for the simulation community?
Let it grow and grow…;-)!