Fusion 360, Fusion LIfecycle, Connected Desktop, Autodesk Drive

[John.Burrill]

I'm getting my terms and services confused.

I currently have a Fusion 360 subscription, so I get the direct modeller which shows a couple of projects I've created under a hub with my autodesk account.
Fusion 360 lets me upload files to my autodesk account, but I have to do it manually and there's a size limit.
I got a trial of Lifecycle PLM wich includes the fusion Lifecycle PDM (honestly, you guys are calling too many things fusion) and was expecting to install the connected desktop application that I saw in the demonstration video.  Instead, I get Autodesk drive which appears to be the same as Connected desktop except for the name.  It looks like a dropbox type app and inside it I get the trial hub that Autodesk created for me an also the hub for my Fusion 360 projects.  
OK, do I get the same functionality out of Autodesk drive that I do out of connected desktop?

Am I using the space associated with my fusion 360 account or my Lifecycle PLM trial?
If my autodesk drive account is showing the hub for my fusion 360 account, how come it doesn't show up in my fusion lifecycle account?

Finally, what is the difference between Fusion 360, Fusion Lifecycle, Fusion connect and fusion team and can I use my Autodesk drive with all of them?

[dvirh · Accepted solution]

Hi John,

These are excellent questions. Thanks for reaching out! I'll do my best to try and add some clarity to this subject.

First, regarding Connected Desktop and Autodesk Drive. Both of these names refer to exactly the same thing. When we first launched this solution in Beta form, we gave it the temporary name 'Connected Desktop'. Just prior to launch the name was finalized to be Autodesk Drive. We tried very hard to update the name in all the places where it appeared, but apparently we missed some videos. But rest assured that these are one of the same.

Second, regarding the storage spaces. At the risk of throwing even more names out there, I need to introduce the concept of a 'Customer Environment' to you. A Customer Environment is a collection of services with a common set of data shared across all of the services. These services may include Fusion 360, Fusion Team, Fusion Lifecycle, Fusion Connect, Autodesk Drive, and more. Each Customer Environment has one and only one 'Hub', which hosts a number of Projects. When you work with any of the Fusion solutions (with the exception of Autodesk Drive), you are working within a single Customer Environment and are connected to a single hub. As appropriate, these Fusion solution may allow you to switch Customer Environment (or Hubs). For example, you can do exactly that from within Fusion 360. But in other cases, like with Autodesk Drive, that workflow doesn't make sense. You likely want to see all your data all the time. So Autodesk Drive does not 'switch' between Customer Environments, but rather shows you ALL of your Customer Environments.

Note that size limits and other restrictions apply to each individual Customer Environment based on what entitlements a user has in that customer environment. For example, a Trial for Fusion Lifecycle is time bound. Similarly, data storage restrictions are calculated on a hub-by-hub basis so data that you store within one hub will not affect your overall storage space in any other hub.

[John.Burrill]

Thank you Hagay Dvir, I appreciate the detailed response.

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I some more questions about desktop connect for Fusion 360 as described in this Fusion forecast   http://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/blog/fusion-forecast-desktop-connect/

Is this available yet? if not, any idea when it will be available?

Thanks,

T