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Looking for a Cloud Solution for AutoDesk Revit

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Message 1 of 3
Anonymous
753 Views, 2 Replies

Looking for a Cloud Solution for AutoDesk Revit

Hello,

 

Our company has two locations in different cities. Our main location has a NAS (Synology 8 bay DS1817+) set up as a central file server which all users connected to the network can access. We set up OpenVPN so that users can remotely access the central server with. The second office location does not have their own central file system, but also uses OpenVPN to connect to the local network. They have 2 users, while the main office has 60. 

It was working fine until the office #2 accessing network was extremely slow and eventually losing server connection entirely. Accessing network drives, AutoCAD, etc. Even some in main office were experiencing delays opening AutoCAD files and such, but their problems are minimal compared to office #2.

 

We're looking into some possible solutions for office #2, but there are deadlines and we're looking into how to implement a cloud server as a quicker solution. My question is; Do any of you guys have experience with setting up a cloud solution for Revit and AutoCAD? 

 

I'm not too familiar with Revit/AutoCAD, but I've looked around and see that AutoDesk 360 could be one (but I think it's overkill for 2 users), not too sure how Revit Server works. Would AutoDesk Drive + AutoDesk Desktop Connector work?

 

Thank you.

 

2 REPLIES 2
Message 2 of 3
bill_gilliss
in reply to: Anonymous

My situation is somewhat different from yours -- multiple smaller firms (architect, structural, MEP, interiors) -- working on the same Revit models, but see what this is worth. For us,  Autodesk's BIM 360 is working very well. The files are on an Autodesk server (Amazon web services, I guess), not our own local servers. Usually, the structural engineer links the architectural model into the structural model, and the architect links the structural model into the architectural one, and each manages their own details and sheet sets.

 

After the model is uploaded to the cloud and users invited to the project, they can all (apparently) access the same model simultaneously. In fact, they are each working on a (hidden) local copy which is then synchronized every so often with the main model, uploading their changes and downloading the changes of others. It's pretty slick. The synchronization is very quick, like 10 or 15 seconds, because only the changes are passed up and down, not the whole model. Each workstation runs a small Revit Accelerator background app that manages that process.

 

Also, CAD and PDF links and images for materials and decals can be saved to the same BIM360/ cloud folder as the model and so are available identically to all users, thus avoiding the problem of trying to create identical hard-wired file paths on different systems.

 

A happy camper here.

 

In several years of my experience, the servers have never gone down, and even if they did, users can keep working on their own local copies until contact is re-established, then synchronize.

 

My cost for this is about $900 per seat per year. With dozens of users, I bet you get a price break.

Message 3 of 3
s.borello
in reply to: Anonymous

I like BIM 360.

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