Category: AEC

Nov 30 2009

Rob Phillpot on Aconex, APIs and acquisitions

By Paul Wilkinson in AEC, Business/Financial, Collaboration, Functionality, Future, Marketing, People issues, SaaS, Vendors
30 November 2009

Following my recent posts on Aconex‘s API announcement and its 2009 financial results, I spent 40 minutes quizzing Rob Phillpot, company co-founder and General Manager, Product, about planned developments of the Aconex construction collaboration system. It was a fascinating insight into the thinking behind the world’s most widely used SaaS collaboration platform. I was particularly …

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2009/11/rob-phillpot-on-aconex-apis-and-acquisitions/

Nov 26 2009

More on the former Bricsnet CEO embezzlement

By Paul Wilkinson in AEC, Business/Financial, Collaboration, Extranet/CDE, Legal, People issues
26 November 2009

Further to my post about the Jinian wire fraud indictment, I’ve just received an email from Cristina Niculescu, head of Bricsnet’s collaboration tool ProjectCenter in Europe, who “to avoid speculation and hear-say rumours” thought it would be useful to put Bricsnet’s position on the subject and the effects it has had on Bricsnet as a …

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2009/11/more-on-the-former-bricsnet-ceo-embezzlement/

Nov 25 2009

SaaS to grow (again)

By Paul Wilkinson in AEC, Business/Financial, Collaboration, Extranet/CDE, Functionality, Future, Internet, SaaS, Vendors
25 November 2009

The Construction Software State of the Industry Report, produced by US-based firm Software Advice, is highlighting five trends (three of them upwards), relating to software buying habits, and suggests that the current recession makes Software-as-a-Service-based solutions even more attractive: Software as a Service is in the right place at the right time Software as a …

accounting, Aconex, AEC, APIs, architecture, Asite, BIW, Business Collaborator, cash-flow planning, Coda, COINS, collaboration, Conject, Construction, costs, dot.com, Engineering, ERP, estimating, file sharing, financial control, hosting, implementation, Incite, Intuit, Kashflow, MYOB, project extranets, project management, property, recession, SaaS, SaaSu, Sage, service management, Software Advice, Software-as-a-Service, subscription pricing, Timberline, USA, Xero
3 comments

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2009/11/saas-to-grow-again/

Nov 24 2009

Former Bricsnet CEO indicted on embezzlement charges

By Paul Wilkinson in AEC, Collaboration, Legal, People issues
24 November 2009

Just over two years ago, I wrote about the latest $13 million fund-raising round by US-based AEC and property solutions vendor Bricsnet. Following a news item on AECcafe.com, I see that Ethan Farid Jinian, the CEO of Bricsnet at the time of that investment, has just been indicted on charges of embezzling $1 million. The …

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2009/11/former-bricsnet-ceo-indicted-on-embezzlement-charges/

Nov 24 2009

Collabor8 online

By Paul Wilkinson in AEC, Business/Financial, Collaboration, Extranet/CDE, Functionality, Marketing, SaaS, Telecoms, Vendors
24 November 2009

This year I have written about several low-cost, even no-cost, collaboration solutions that might be used by businesses in the architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) industry (eg: Glasscubes, e-Grou, Incite Toolbox, ShowDocument, drop.io, Clouds UK, Woobius, Colaab). Even the deepest recession that most AEC professionals can remember has not deterred people from launching new solutions. …

AEC, Amtech, approvals, architecture, Asite, Barnes Computing, building services, Clouds UK, Colaab, Colin Barnes, Collabor8 Ltd, Collabor8online, commenting, Construction, construction collaboration, contracting, customisation, drop.io, dwg formats, e-Grou, Engineering, Estimation ltd, Excel, Glasscubes, Host Telecom, hosted, Incite Toolbox, M&, mark-up, multiple uploads, Newcastle, Nicholas Mark Jellyman, online file management, PDF, photos, Project Extranet, recession, RSS feeds, search, security, self-hosted, ShowDocument, Staffordshire, version control, video, Woobius, Word, workflow, XBC, YouTube
3 comments

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2009/11/collabor8-online/

Nov 23 2009

Project Bluestreak

By Paul Wilkinson in AEC, Collaboration, Functionality, Future, Internet, SaaS, Vendors, Web 2.0
23 November 2009

Autodesk’s AEC division has just launched an experimental BIM collaboration environment, Project Bluestreak, aimed at “accelerating building information modeling through the open exchange of design information and ideas between desktop applications, web-based services, and people” (reports Autodesk blogger Scott Sheppard). It is also deploying Web 2.0 tools to help speed up the development of the …

AEC, Autodesk, building information modeling, Buzzsaw, collaboration, Constructware, Facebook, GetSatisfaction, Piotr Zurek, Project Bluestreak, Scott Sheppard, Twitter, Web 2.0, YouTube

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2009/11/project-bluestreak/

Nov 20 2009

The conject interview

By Paul Wilkinson in AEC, Business/Financial, Collaboration, Extranet/CDE, Functionality, Future, Marketing, People issues, SaaS, Vendors
20 November 2009

Having recently received a comment from Chris Brandt, CTO at conject, I thought it was high time that I took a more detailed look at this construction and real estate collaboration vendor. Based in Munich, Germany, but with operations across most of Europe, conject has gradually been expanding its international reach beyond Europe. It has …

4Projects, Aconex, acquisitions, Africa, application service provision, Asia, ASP, Bilfinger Berger, BIM, BIW, BMW, Boston, building information modelling, Business Collaborator, CAFM, cash-flow planning, Chris Brandt, Citadon, client/server, collaboration, Conject, conversion, Deutsche Bank, dot.com bubble, Dubai, Elke Tonscheidt, fat client, France, Germany, heating, Hochtief, Hugo Boss, IKEA, ILM, infrastructure lifecycle management, lifecycle, Lufthansa, Luxembourg, maintenance, multi-tenant, Munich, pre-tax profit margin, profit, real estate, SaaS, Siemens Real Estate, Singapore, South Africa, Sword CTSpace, T-Mobile, ThyssenKrupp, turnover, UK, USA
6 comments

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2009/11/the-conject-interview/

Nov 20 2009

StoreData trading in line with management expectations

By Paul Wilkinson in AEC, Business/Financial, Collaboration, Vendors
20 November 2009

Retail fit-out specialist Styles & Wood yesterday issued an Interim Management Statement relating to the period from 1 July 2009 to 18 November 2009, saying (among other things) that its specialist collaboration business StoreData was trading “in line with management expectations”, adding: “The retail fit out and refurbishment market place is starting to show some …

collaboration, Construction, retail, StoreData, Styles & Wood

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2009/11/storedata-trading-in-line-with-management-expectations/

Nov 17 2009

“A tough year for BIW”

By Paul Wilkinson in AEC, Business/Financial, Collaboration, Extranet/CDE, Future, Legal, People issues, SaaS, Vendors
17 November 2009

Duncan Mactear of 4Projects has forwarded me an article about [my former employer] BIW Technologies, published recently to subscribers to Megabuyte.com (an “invaluable source of market intelligence for IT companies, their advisers and investors providing in-depth coverage of the corporate and financial affairs of all of the UK’s leading listed and privately owned software & …

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2009/11/a-tough-year-for-biw/

Nov 12 2009

Contract terminated

By Paul Wilkinson in AEC, Blogs, Business/Financial, Internet, Marketing, Web 2.0
12 November 2009

UK construction trade weekly Contract Journal is to shut down at the end of the month. The news comes as no surprise to anyone who has been monitoring the UK construction press over the past year, and it confirms a prediction made by CIB Communications’ Andy Cassie in February that one major construction title and …