If there was ever any doubt that Autodesk sees the cloud as its future, that was put to rest when the CAD giant unveiled its new product line -- the Autodesk 2013 Software Portfolio for Manufacturers, which encompasses its Product Design Suite and its Factory Design Suite.
Speaking to attendees during Media Summit 2012, Autodesk President and CEO Carl Bass said the industry is at a critical juncture as the entire computing landscape is being redefined. More so than the shift from mainframes to PCs and workstations, he said the transition to the cloud is the most important change in modern computing history. "There's a fundamental shift in the way people do engineering and design work, and the way they create and consume engineering and design data," Bass said in his presentation.
Autodesk's PLM 360 is built from the ground up to deliver collaboration capabilities via the cloud. (Source: Autodesk)
Just five years ago, when the world was PC-centric, engineers would email models and documents around and have no problem saying things like "I'll get you that file when I get back to the office," Bass said. That is no longer the case when nearly every engineer has some sort of mobile device, be it a smartphone or tablet, and is more frequently working outside of the office or away from his workstation. "There's a big change in the computing landscape where the platform becomes one of mobile, social, and the cloud," Bass said.
To that end, Autodesk has been steadily rearchitecting its product suite to support cloud services, as well as to introduce a range of new mobile design tool apps. While the company still has only a handful of cloud-based offerings, Bass ticked off some figures that he hoped would demonstrate the potential impact. In its nearly 30 years in business, Autodesk has amassed a user base of around 12 million legal users of its traditional licensed software; in the two years since the cloud-based AutoCAD WS service became available, nearly 7 million users have downloaded the tool on the Web or from Android and iOS devices. SketchBook, another cloud-based service for 2D and 3D conceptual design, has logged 10 million downloads to date in the two years since it's been released.
Yes, Chuck, it's good to leave that saying behind. The other one hat comes up so often is that the file is too large so send by email. Even ftp sites now won't take large files, and Dropbox has limitations unless you pay a monthly fee. The cloud really is the answer to a lot of this.
TJ: The way Autodesk is pursuing a cloud strategy appears to address some of your concerns about bandwidth. The main engineering repository or PDM (Product Data Management) platform is not being offered in the cloud. Autodesk Vault, as it's called, remains a traditional, behind-the-firewall type of application with the requisite security options and without reliance on Internet bandwidth for sharing files.
The cloud-based tools, PLM 360, and some of Autodesk's other cloud offerings leverage the cloud for collaboration and for heavy-duty, scalable compute power. CAD files that are shared via the cloud are lightweight versions of the full-blown model, so they can be visualized and marked up, but they are not the full geometric representation.
As for the different security options others raise, that I'm not sure about. Sorry.
The security aspect has been discussed already, so let's cover cost now. I don't mean the cost of the Autodesk software, nor even of the tablet hardware.
I'm talking about the cost of the bandwidth. How fast are we going to burn through the 2gb limits that the wireless companies have most commonly imposed? Or, WORSE, if you exceed your monthly budget, your access is throttled?
At the same time Autodesk is pushing the cloud, it is also pushing 3D software like Inventor. 3D files are NOT as small as 2D AutoCAD files. Even some of the more complicated, many-layered building architecture 2D files (the ones with each service defined on a separate layer) can be 20mb or greater. It would not take long to hit that 2gb monthly limit.
We are not yet at the point where cloud computing is secure AND no longer cost-prohibitive.
AT&T even tries to double-dip its customers by charging for the data AND tethering (using your smartphone as a modem for your computer). No, until we see some better bandwidth options, I see problems with mobile cloud computing.
Security would be the major issue on several levels. I worked at one place that tightly controlled all Internet activity and I can see how this would be a major problem for them, as well as the bandwidth needed. There would be concerns about how well the company's IP is backed up, how backups can be accessed, how controlled the access to the IP is, what happens when an employee leaves the company, how to control file sharing with others. This one would be tough to do in the cloud, but it sure is tempting to push all that horsepower off onto somebody else's computer.
Just wondering if Autodesk or others have options for various security models that their customers would use. While I don't doubt that they have taken steps to make sure access is secure, I've been surprised by the number of companies that have taken things well beyond usual "remote" authenticatons, such as the inability to even access the company's data without software installed on a PC that was solely issued by the company (i.e., no working form home on your own hardware, even).
I agree, Rob. Bass hits it on the head when he says that the old line, "I'll get that file to you when I get back to the office" will be outmoded, if it isn't already.
While we might question whether mobile and social media will gain much traction in CAD, cloud has to be a no-brainer. As the software becomes more sophisticated the ability to move files back and forth becomes increasingly difficult. So why move the files? Sharing files that have a single residency (in the cloud) makes a lot of sense.
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