Category: Collaboration

May 16 2009

Constructware’s future questioned

I’ve seen a ConstrucTech Newsflash and a couple of blog posts (eg: EADoc, Jeff Yoders (BIMboy) – since updated) suggesting that Autodesk may no longer be developing its Constructware Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) construction collaboration product. Writers seized on a statement by Tim Douglas, Autodesk’s industry segment manager for construction: “Autodesk, like other companies, has been evaluating …

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Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2009/05/constructwares-future-questioned/

May 13 2009

Cereno nuVa

Two or three years ago, myself and a couple of other BIW colleagues were invited by contacts in Thales technology research and development team to go and see an experimental collaborative platform that it was developing in conjunction with people at Surrey University. That product, now branded nuVa, is now commercially available, with Reading, UK-based …

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Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2009/05/cereno-nuva/

May 07 2009

US structural engineers warming to BIM

I wrote recently (2D to 3D: still a work in progress, updated 27 April 2009) about US rates of adoption of building information modelling, BIM, looking at results – released by Cadalyst‘s Robert Green – focused mainly on US CAD managers. He concluded, somewhat gloomily, that 84% of the AEC/construction industry is 2D, identifying that …

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Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2009/05/us-structural-engineers-warming-to-bim/

May 01 2009

Do StoreData results indicate slowdown in UK construction collaboration market?

With Asite‘s financial performance now less public following its delisting from London’s AIM earlier this week, it is more difficult to assess what impact the recession is having on collaboration vendors. However, troubled retail fit-out specialist contractor Styles & Wood has a support business, StoreData, which competes in the UK construction collaboration technology market, and …

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Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2009/05/do-storedata-result-indicate-slowdown-in-uk-collaboration-market/

Apr 27 2009

Woobius follow-up

Following my 22 April post, Whobius? Woobius, I met Bob Leung and Daniel Tenner in London to find out more about their business and to see a quick demonstration of their technology. Background Bob explained that he had started to work on a simply construction-oriented collaboration platform partly out of frustration with what he saw …

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Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2009/04/woobius-follow-up/

Apr 27 2009

USACE contract requirements expose BIM interoperability shortcomings

I’ve just been reading another great AECbytes guest article, by David Edwards. He writes about the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and how it is driving the adoption of IFC2x3 compliant building information modelling (BIM) in the US – something much discussed at recent IAI/BuildingSMART conferences (see my BuildingSMART conference, part 2 post, for …

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Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2009/04/usace-contract-requirements-expose-bim-interoperability-shortcomings/

Apr 27 2009

End of the Asite AIM era

Today is the last day of trading on London’s Alernative Investment Market for construction collaboration SaaS technology vendor Asite (see Asite to delist from AIM to trim costs), which – following a name-change from Premisys – has been on AIM since January 2002. It has not been a particularly helpful ‘barometer’ of the fortunes of …

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Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2009/04/end-of-the-asite-aim-era/

Apr 23 2009

Engineering the future of SaaS

I have always believed that the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) world can learn lessons from application of technologies in other market sectors, and so it is gratifying to see that debates about moving design applications to a Software-as-a-Service model are also alive in the mechanical engineering world. I have just been reading an MCADonline …

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Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2009/04/engineering-the-future-of-saas/

Apr 23 2009

Enter Colaab

After some Twitter conversation yesterday about Woobius (see post), I was recommended to have a look at another low-cost web-based file-sharing service, Colaab. Right from the home page, Colaab claims the value of its browser-based system for design revew. It uses an enhancement of Microsoft’s Silverlight technology, Deepzoom (good primer here), to allow large image …

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Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2009/04/enter-colaab/

Apr 22 2009

Whobius? Woobius

woobius pricing

Woobius is a new name in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) construction collaboration, and appears (from, among other places, the company’s Scribbles blog) to be the work of three UK-based people: Make architect Bob Leung, technologist Daniel Tenner and user interface specialist Cliff Rowley. While not a construction professional, one of Daniel’s Woobius Scribbles (Document Control – how …

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Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2009/04/whobius-woobius/

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