Cloud and mobile are two major trends that are now part of most IT agendas. These are disruptive trends causing IT’s Arab spring. The wide-spread use of iPhone in business signaled the beginning of IT loosing control and the beginning of user empowerment. And that was just the beginning.In manufacturing, CAD vendors are trying to keep up with both the cloud and mobile trends… and things are moving fast there. Take Autodesk WS. It is one of several products Autodesk recently brought to market in response to people wanting both cloud and mobile based solutions.
I’ve been reading a recent Autodesk blog post, 5 Ways AutoCAD WS Helps Improve Your Productivity. Turns out, I’m okay with all five arguments. After all, they simplify work and optimize data flow. Here are the five ways Autodesk suggests AutoCAD WS helps improve productivity:
1. No more transporting files via disk on key;
2. No more transporting bulky printouts when you’re in the field;
3. No more version management headaches;
4. Reduce conference call nightmares; and
5. Prevent work duplication when you come back from a site visit.
But’s what is the actual source of the problem that necessitates these productivity improvement in the first place? I’ll tell you. Because most manufacturing companies are heterogeneous, CAD and engineering data is fragmented and located on premise and will not likely move to the cloud anytime time soon. At least that’s what I am hearing, yet, at the same time, manufacturing companies are struggling to get more value (aka productivity) out of their product data. It’s my belief that one needs a revolutionary new technology to connect existing on-premise data with cloud technology in such a way that access becomes transparent to on-premise and mobile users alike. Manufacturing companies should be able take advantage of both cloud and mobile technologies to help them get more out of their CAD and engineering data. We believe Inforbix can provide a unique (dare I say revolutionary) approach to how on-premise data can be connected to the cloud without it ever leaving it’s on-premise location. Here’s the architecture that I think makes Inforbix unique:
Inforbix scans, indexes, and provides cloud mobile access to your on-premises CAD files, Excel spreadsheets, cloud storages and databases. Deploying and using Inforbix is easy and requires almost no effort. Inforbix apps are available using a web browser and on the iPad; Android devices will also be supported soon. Getting started with Inforbix can take as little as 20 minutes (step 1 – 4, above). Give it try. Register or demo Inforbix today.
Best, Oleg
