Do you use electricity? Have you ever ridden an elevator? Is driving a car familiar?  If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above, you’ve done something radical! Once upon a time, these were new technologies that were widely feared. But, as more and more people began using them, the benefits became incredibly obvious.  By comparison, our cloud-based CAD and BIM platform is hardly revolutionary. Businesses and individuals have been using the cloud at a massive scale for the best part of 20 years now. But our innovation - we make working with CAD and BIM as fast, simple and secure as wat ..read more

About the author - Don Rekko Token-based software license models are currently seeing a big uptick in popularity. By offering a flexible software license model that can expand and shrink as you need, they offer a uniquely flexible way of consuming software. However, most companies that use CAD, BIM and other ‘heavy’ design software today are usually stuck with big, unwieldy perpetual licenses for the software they use. They tend to buy and install the licenses once, then upgrade them every few years. Could token models be a better option? And if so, how would it work? What is a token-based lic ..read more

Don Rekko is a distinguished international leader at the crossroads of CAD and Cloud Computing, boasting a career that spans over 25 years across North America and EMEA. His professional experience includes pivotal executive roles at major CAD and PLM vendors like PTC and Siemens, as well as trailblazing in innovative cloud computing startups. Don's leadership of large services organisations has been instrumental in implementing breakthrough technologies such as 3D CAD, Cloud Computing, PLM, Augmented Reality, and IoT. His efforts have significantly influenced the design processes of global g ..read more

In 2022, Berlin-based design engineering firm UNISON Engineering & Consultants GmbH began shifting CAD workloads to the cloud, using virtual workstations from Designair. Learn why UNISON made this journey - and the impact it has had.  Design engineering in a changing world UNISON Engineering & Consultants GmbH is an independent engineering company headquarterd in Berlin that has been active in plant engineering for over 25 years. The core competence is in the execution of engineering services in manifold phases of the planning of process plants of numerous industries. Like so many ..read more

A Quick Guide to Cloud-Based CAD Is Computer-Aided Design (CAD) going through a paradigm shift? For most of its history, this graphics-intensive technology had to be installed on powerful desktop computers. The pressing need to process millions of calculations and generate high-resolution images meant that designers were required to sit physically at their workstations to be productive – but this status quo is starting to change.  Today, CAD technology is increasingly available via cloud computing. McKinsey, a digital consultancy, recently predicted that cloud-based design software would ..read more

Revit®’s Central Model is essential for teams to collaborate and share work. But as you may have discovered, there’s a cost associated with this capability. You may wonder if Autodesk’s BIM Collaborate – for roughly $700 - $1000 per user, per year, depending on where you live – is better for you than a solution built with the free Revit Server software. Actually, there are 5 ways to deploy workshare with Revit, each of which has its own unique characteristics. In this blog, you will learn each of them – one of them being Autodesk’s own cloud-based BIM Collaborate (formerly known as BIM360). as ..read more

Over the last year, the number of architecture engineering and design (AED) firms using virtual desktops has grown dramatically. Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) allows you to use powerful computers that are accessed over the internet. Your staff can then load CAD and BIM models on these desktops and work remotely. Virtual desktops are a useful solution for AED firms contemplating their hybrid working future. But are these environments safe from malicious ransomware attacks?  Ransomware attacks are frequently in the news, with recent high-profile attacks including the Colonial Pipelin ..read more

Think for a moment and remember what it was like when you first got into architecture with a capital “A”. Visions of building houses and mansions,  hospitals, schools, churches…All those wonderful buildings you would design to make the world a better place. Pretty early on, I’ll bet you learned that Architecture is much more than that. We all know that with the advent of the COVID-19 Pandemic (so named by the WHO on February 11, 2020)( (2020 COVID 19 Timeline) affecting the entire globe, the way architects and design professionals were to practice their chosen profession was to change for ..read more

Have you ever been wondering whether it’s possible to use a space mouse when working with a 3D CAD and BIM on a virtual workstation in the cloud? This question is suddenly very relevant for architects, designers and engineers. 3D CAD and BIM software have always been technically demanding, which is why it was impossible to run them on your desktop until a couple of years ago. However, the advancement in cloud computing and graphics cards has made it possible to operate CAD and BIM software through  desktop virtualization. The short answer is “Yes, but”. The longer answer is “Yes, you can ..read more

You’re in the middle of working on a key component when your design application suddenly stutters. The frames freeze, jerk, then jump about - this is the nightmare scenario for any designer! No CAD or BIM professional should have to wait for their application to load. And this is one of the main reasons that virtual desktops for BIM and CAD remain relatively underutilised. Concern about latency (delays interacting with a machine that’s hundreds of miles away) means that many designers prefer using ‘local’ PCs. While they may be more expensive, you know there won’t be any latency issues when wo ..read more