The story
The company was formed as MacNeal-Schwendler Corporation (MSC) in 1963 by Dr. Richard H. MacNeal and Robert Schwendle. Having developed SADSAM (Structural Analysis by Digital Simulation of Analog Methods) at that time as its first structural analysis software, it was deeply involved in the early efforts of the aerospace industry to improve early finite element analysis technology.
A key milestone was responding to a NASA request for proposal in 1965 for a general-purpose structural analysis program that would eventually become Nastran (NASA Structural Analysis). Subsequently, MSC pioneered many of the technologies that are now relied upon by industry to analyse and predict stress and strain, vibration and dynamics, acoustics, and thermal analysis.
Two years after marketing the MSC/Nastran as the commercial version of the Nastran, the company established its first overseas office in Munich, Germany in 1973 and then an office in Tokyo, Japan in 1976. Having made its debut as a public company in 1983, its stock migrated to the American Stock Exchange the following year.
After MSC expanded and opened a subsidiary in Moscow, Russia, in 1992 and an office in Brazil in 1995, its shareholders voted to change the company's name to MSC.Software Corporation in June 1999.
Acquired by Symphony Technology Group in 2009, the "dot" in its name was removed two years later, and the company became known as MSC Software Corporation. In 2017, it was acquired by the Swedish technology firm Hexagon AB for US$834 million, operating as its independent subsidiary.
In September 2025, Cadence Design Systems announced it would acquire the design and engineering business of Hexagon, including MSC Software, for approximately $3.16 billion. On February 23, 2026, it was reported that the transaction had been completed.
From Wikipedia’s article on MSC Software, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3