Inventor use across multiple sites

[SkylineEvan]

Hello,

I am using Inventor Pro 2014 as part of the Product Design Suite. I will be working with another Autodesk user, who is at a different location, on multiple projects coming up. It may turn into more than two of us, but it's just us for now. We're trying to figure out the best way to set things up from the get-go to best work on the same projects from two locations.

Our instinct was to use Google Drive, since we have it already. We didn't think much of it until recently. In preparing for getting started with our projects, we found some unsettling information about Google Drive trying to convert the Inventor files during the synchronization process, and giving them different file extensions, like .doc. So we really started digging into alternatives.

We both have experience with Vault, but it's not inherently ideal for multiple site use. The Professional version has the functionality built in (as I understand it), but that seems awfully cumbersome, especially with two data management servers installed and synchronizing. I'm forseeing a maintenance nightmare. It also doesn't seem cheap, though I haven't had it quoted (yet). We do like some of the advantages of Vault, though, besides the basic collaboration advantages like file versioning, locking, etc. Functions like Copy Design and others have proven useful in the past. I do not know enough about Autodesk software to know if that capability exists elsewhere yet.

We've also turned our attention to other (simple) file-sharing/synchronizing services like Dropbox, Box, and Egnyte. As far as I can tell in reading online, we wouldn't encounter the types of issues people are seeing with Google Drive. I have experience with Egnyte and like it, but it would be a new expense we didn't plan on paying. The same goes for Dropbox and Box.

The last thing we've considered thus far is Autodesk's cloud sofware. Autodesk 360 seems like it would most relevant to our use, but I'm admittedly overwhelmed with all of the other options available. I haven't been able to find a straight answer about how Autodesk 360 compares to collaboration with Vault (as my frame of reference). At first glance, it does not appear to be ideal for mirroring folder/file structures and synchronizing in the way we're hoping to.

With all of this in mind, my question (thanks for sticking through) is what experience other people have with multi-site Inventor collaboration. Any suggestions about what works and what doesn't?

Thank you.

[blair]

I might look at Fusion 360. All the files reside on the Cloud along with the actual program. http://fusion360.autodesk.com/about

[4donwan4]

There is really nothing I can offer here as you are referring to software packages outside of Autodesk control. There are no vaulting type operations within the cloud. Vault can be set up for site replication but these servers would need to be under control of one IT department. There really isn’t a good solution to what you are asking for here.

Regards,

Don

[swalton]

We ran for years on Vault Basic and a VPN connection between the remote site and the local Vault Server.  It worked ok, but could be very slow over the DSL connection at the remote site.  If you have a good fast connection between your two sites this can work very well. 

We eventually moved to Vault Collaboration with a replicated filestore, but a single SQL server.  Speed improved, but we have some custom code that ran slow waiting on SQL responses.

We started Full Replication in Feburary.  It is much faster, but our custom code had to be re-written to properly handle file ownership issues.

Another posibility is a PTC Windchill server.  Works very well over an FTP connection with ProE files. I have not used it for Inventor.