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Found this announcement interesting.

http://pressreleases.autodesk.com/index.php?s=press_releases&item=436%3C%2Ftd%3E

Autodesk and Bentley Systems announced an agreement to expand interoperability between their portfolios of architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) software. Autodesk and Bentley will exchange software libraries, including Autodesk RealDWG, to improve the ability to read and write the companies' respective DWG and DGN formats in mixed environments with greater fidelity. In addition, the two companies will facilitate work process interoperability between their AEC applications through supporting the reciprocal use of available Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). With this agreement, the companies aim to improve AEC workflows by enabling broader reuse of information generated during the design, construction, and operation of buildings and infrastructure, and by enhancing the ability of project teams to choose among multiple software sources.

Interoperability has emerged as a critical issue for users of design and engineering software. By virtue of this agreement, and the interoperable offerings that it will enable, AEC firms will be free to employ software tools of choice from either Autodesk or Bentley to accept or submit either DWG or DGN files. By improving fidelity of work shared between the two file formats, users will be able to focus on being creative and getting work done, rather than being constrained by file-compatibility considerations.

Through supporting the reciprocal use of their available APIs, Autodesk and Bentley will enable AEC project teams to combine products from both providers within integrated workflows. For instance, a design team could use a mixture of Autodesk and Bentley software, such as Autodesk's Revit platform and Bentley's STAAD and RAM structural products, and simulate and analyze their designs or manage project information using Autodesk NavisWorks software or Bentley's ProjectWise.

When you import an IFC file, drawing files are created that correspond to each part of the IFC project structure. The files will be xrefed together into a main host file that represents each part of the file structure in the IFC file.In some instances, you may need to turn on some display components for them to display after you import an IFC file, such as surfaces of spaces.Importing IFC files result in the drawing files being organized at the same level.When you import an IFC file, you specify a name for the top level drawing that is created from the IFC file. This drawing contains xrefs only. For example, importing an IFC file and naming it Small Office Building, creates a DWG called Small Office Building.dwg that contains all of the xrefs that correspond to each part of the project structure contained in the IFC file. During import:

• A site drawing is created if the IfcSite exists in the IFC file. This file is created using the top level drawing name with the IfcSite name appended and is referenced into the top level drawing. If there was no site name specified in the IFC file, no site drawing is created.
• A building drawing is created using the top level drawing name with the IfcBuilding name appended. This file is xrefed into the top level drawing. (Please note that AutoCAD Architecture uses the Project Name from the Export to IFC dialog as the IfcBuilding Name. This is noticeable if you are importing an IFC file that originated in AutoCAD Architecture.) Using the Small Office Building example above, the drawing name would be Small Office Building-Commercial Project.dwg because Commercial Project was the IfcBuilding name in the IFC file.
• A Storey drawing is created for each IfcStorey contained in the IFC file. The files are created using the top level drawing name with the name of the IfcStorey appended. These files are referenced into the project file.

Revit MEP provides Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) import based on the latest International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI) IFC 2x3 data exchange standard. (If you import a file that uses an earlier standard [IFC 2x or 2x2], Revit MEP supports the format and imports it properly.) When you import an IFC file, Revit MEP creates a new file based on the default template. You can load your own IFC class mapping files and override the categories and subcategories for imported IFC objects. Make sure you import the geometric data needed for the Revit MEP capability that you plan to use. To import an IFC file:

1. Click File menu => Import/Link => IFC.
2. In the Import dialog, navigate to the IFC file to import.
3. Select the IFC file, and click Open.

Revit MEP creates a new file based on the default template.

You can export Revit MEP building modeling information to the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) file format. About the IFC File Format The Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) file format was developed by the International Alliance of Interoperability (IAI). IFC provides an interoperability solution between different software applications. The format has established, international standards to import and export building objects and their properties. IFC improves communication, productivity, delivery time, and quality throughout the life cycle of a building. It reduces the loss of information during transmission from one application to another, with established standards for common objects in the building industry. Revit MEP and IFC Revit MEP provides IFC import and fully certified export based on the latest IAI IFC2x2 data exchange standard. When you export a Revit MEP building information model to IFC format, the information can be used directly by other building specialists, such as structural and building services engineers. For example, building information models developed with Revit MEP are saved to the RVT file format. You can export the building model using the IFC format to an IFC-certified application that does not use the RVT file format. The drawing can be opened and worked on in the non-native application. Similarly, in Revit MEP you can import an IFC file, create a RVT file, and work on the building model in Revit MEP. IFC uses architecturally meaningful containers to describe real-world building objects. Those containers include parameters that have meaningful values. Many standard Revit MEP elements have corresponding IFC containers. These do not require any specific user action to export them. (For example, Revit walls export as IFCwalls.)

To see how to import this IFC file into AutoCAD MEP, see my blog at www.autocadmep.blogspot.com

The first step in linking an Autodesk Building Systems MEP design to a Revit Systems project is to use the Export to AutoCAD functionality included within Building Systems. This feature saves all design data as AutoCAD entities (such as lines, circles, arcs, and blocks), which can then be read and understood by Revit Systems. Creating a Design with both 2D and 3D Views Autodesk Building Systems, through its use of intelligent objects, automatically creates 2D and 3D representations of the MEP designs which can be viewed by other AutoCAD-based applications, as well as Revit Structure. Use the following steps to create an Autodesk Building Systems drawing with both a 2D and 3D display for use in Revit Systems:

1. With the MEP design open in Building Systems, create a new layout and then two viewports.
2. In one of the viewports, set the view to Plan. Use the built-in display configurations of Building Systems to set the view to either 1-Line or 2-Line.
3. Set the second viewport to an Isometric view.
4. With the layout page still current, use the Export to AutoCAD feature.

Use the Export to AutoCAD feature in Autodesk Building Systems to export an MEP design for use in Revit Systems. Note the Export to AutoCAD feature exports all linework/objects in the Building Systems drawing, regardless where the linework/objects reside. Therefore, before using the Export to AutoCAD feature, detach the external reference of any structural floor plan. This will enable only the Building Systems data to be exported. The exported file contains two block representations in model space; one in 2D and the other in 3D. These blocks represent the Display Configuration Views that were currently active in each viewport of the layout prior to export. Furthermore, each block representation is on its own layer (named for the layout viewport) as well. When linking this file into Revit, users can control the appearance of the floor plan and 3D views by working with the visibility of these layers. The exported file contains the 2D and 3D representation of the MEP design in model space.