Inside the System

Attend Autodesk University & Register for MEP Engineering Classes

Did you know that Autodesk University (AU) is the world’s largest annual gathering of design professionals, industry experts, and Autodesk executives? The four-day event combines a comprehensive learning environment with numerous MEP Engineering specific classes such as “Delivering on the Promise of BIM through Hybrid Project Delivery” and “Maximize your Building Performance Analysis with Revit MEP” all available in the MEP Design and Engineering track. Besides classes, AU includes a variety of social activities, including the BIM Mixer, where you can join AEC customers and Autodesk employees for a fun filled evening that includes food and drink as well as a special guest appearance from Autodesk personality Armundo Darling, MEP Marketing Manager. We look forward to seeing you there. Stephen Roth, PE, LEED APSenior Product Manager, Revit MEP

11/17/2008 1:45:46 PM

Storage, Storage, Everywhere

A recent thread on the Revit MEP discussed the topic of archiving Revit projects. With the transition to Revit as the primary design and documentation tool for a project, this presents an order of magnitude larger need for long-term storage for most firms. In this case, a user was concerned about the amount of space needed to archive projects.This thread pointed out that there still may be folks out in the user community that don't realize that storage is mad cheap these days. So I thought I'd point out some good options for folks out there.Network Attached Storage (NAS)This is an enclosure that contains one or more hard drives, and is connected to your network. It generally shows up as a network drive on your machine. Check out the Wiki on this to learn more.You can configure your NAS as a RAID array, to better plan for the eventual failure of your drive.You can get these cheap...a Gigabit bandwidth 1Terabyte version can be found on Amazon for about $350.Cloud-Based StorageThe next step, IMO, is to use cloud-based storage. This option allows you to use web services to have basically unlimited storage capacity "in the cloud", rather than building that infrastructure in your organization. The theory goes that the infrastructure to support this need is best handled by the folks who focus a business on the subject. Everybody's got web access these days, and a backup by definition means that the data does not need to be accessed frequently, or at the speeds available in your internal network.This would be my choice, if I were an IT guy. The best option out there, IMO, is the Amazon S3 web infrustructure. To support their business Amazon built this redundant, scalable infrastructure, and said "hmm, maybe this would be valuable to others?". So they did, and provided that infrastructure to users at a dirt cheap price. You can get effectively unlimited storage space in their redundant infrastructure, and if you want it to be very secure, you are able to use industry standard AES encryption.We actualy use this for the storage of content for Autodesk Seek.The core S3 service is not really a consumer service, so interfacing with it is non-trivial if you're not a web developer. To meet that need, there are software vendors like JungleDisk, that have developed a simple software application to facilitate that communication. I use this for my personal data storage, as it allows me to access my data from anywhere that has web access...pretty cool stuff.So let's not have to worry about backing up our Revit projects, you've got some great options out there.

10/29/2008 10:42:27 AM

New Look for Seek

I wanted to let all of you know that the Autodesk Seek folks have just pulled back the curtain on a new and improved UI for the site. I give them good marks on this re-design, and I personally enjoy the new format.The Seek folks have been busy with manufacturers too, with some new featured content from the folks at McQuay. Go check it out!

10/23/2008 10:52:25 AM

Revit MEP 2009 Web Update #2 Released!

I am pleased to announce that the Revit product teams have just released the English version of Web Update 2 for Revit MEP 2009 (Build 20080915_2100).(NEW) Service Pack technologyFor the first time in the Revit product line history, we have implemented Service Pack technology similar to the AutoCAD based products. This will greatly reduce the effort needed to update the Revit products to the newest build by allowing our users to update their existing installations without having to reinstall Revit. Because of this change, we recommend that you read the Service Pack Readme before installing.The Web Update 2 can be found under the Revit Architecture product download page:www.autodesk.com/revitmep-downloadFor a list of improvements, please refer to the “Web Update Enhancement List” located on the product download pages.Localized versions of Web Update 2 will be available over the next few weeks. The localized versions will be released as full installs, due to some technical limitations. We are working to resolve the issues in order to provide Service Packs for all languages in the future.

9/29/2008 10:46:56 AM

Big News

So it's been quiet over here in Inside the System of late, and that's because there's been some changes in the role I'm playing here at Autodesk, hence the Big News title. With the changes for me comes dual duty for me in the short term, and unfortunately a decision to not allocate as much time time to my blog. This wasn't something that I enjoyed having to do, but in the end was required to keep my sanity. I'm glad that there is a growing network of MEP bloggers to keep you all informed over the past few weeks.So, back to the big news...I've decided to take a new role at Autodesk, in which I'll be focusing on Sustainable Design across our AEC division. The formal title is Product Manager, AEC Sustainable Design. This is an exciting role for me, which will allow me to follow my passion for combating Global Climate change, as well as developing more sustainable buildings.New FocusWith the growing adoption of Revit as the tool of choice to support the BIM design process, as well as our recent additions of Green Building Studio, Carmel Software, and Square One (ecotect), we have a lot of work to do integrate of all this functionality into the design workflows already existing in the marketplace. There's a lot of skills and time required today to understand the Built Environment's impact on the Earth, and that's an equation we hope to change at Autodesk. This will be my focus moving forward, and I look forward to working with many of you in the AEC community towards this goal.You will all no doubt be hearing more about this down the road, as I transition fully into this role.TransitionBut what about my current role? I am still fulfilling the Revit MEP Product Manager role, and will be handing the reigns overs to Stephen Roth and another Product Manager we are currently looking to hire. I'll start with Stephen. Stephen came to Autodesk from the acquisition of Carmel Software earlier this year. As somebody that ran a successful analysis software business that focused on the HVAC industry, Stephen is very knowledgable in our discipline. In the long term Stephen will be focusing on the Revit MEP business and strategy. In the shor term he'll be focusing on all aspects of the product.The other role is what we call a Technical Product Manager. That person will be responsible for executing on the Product Strategy defined between that person and Stephen. That role is very demanding, and from personal experience, incredibly fulfilling. You can read more about this on our website, where the open position is listed. I would highly encourage any of you in the audience interested to apply for the position. It has been by far the most interesting, diverse job I have ever had.In the interim, I will be working with Stephen to define the scope of our future releases, and making sure things get out the door as scheduled. You'll be hearing about those "things" in the coming weeks.What About the Blog?Inside the System isn't going anywhere, although It will morph a bit over the coming months. Once I get back to doing just one job, I'll start regularly posting again on various topics. Most likely we will also start introducing some additional authors to keep the content coming.Closing ThoughtsThe decision to change roles was very difficult for me, and in the end hinged upon the just a personal desire to help advance the industry on a subject so important to our lives and our descendants.For those of you I have interacted with over the past 2 years, I am sincerely thankful to have such a great group of engaged folks who are passionate about the advancement of the MEP Industry towards a more efficient construction process.I look forward to working with you all in a different focus in the coming weeks, months, and years.

9/22/2008 10:45:28 AM

[Request for Feedback] Pipe Naming Conventions

I wanted to solicit your participation in a survey we have developed involving Pipe Fittings, and how you as users think about them.

Pipe Fittings are a complex beast when it comes to describing them in a short concise manner. Many aspects about them, such as Material, Class, Type, Connection Type, etc., are factors for selection in a design.

We'd like to know more about what is important to you as users, so we can define a convention that best reflects that feedback.

With that in mind, I ask that you please fill out the following survey to provide us your perspective on this matter. It shouldn't take more than 5 minutes.

For those of you who are CAD Managers, I would request that you ask your end-users to fill out the survey, as they will most likely be the folks most directly impacted by choices that we make.

Thanks in advance to all of you.

8/25/2008 12:39:13 PM

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