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Project Web Site Evaluations - Articles on the differences, Recommendations
(user comments at bottom, below)
Article by Geoffrey Moore Langdon, AIA for Cadence Mazazine AEC Tech News November 1, 1999
glangdon@architecturalcadd.com
Link to Cadence Magazine = http://www.cadence-mag.com
(Includes comments on how important this area is for architects as well as how to do it very inexpensively or even free).
Article by Ralph Grabowski, for upFront.eZine, November 1, 1999
ralphg@uniserve.com
Project Web Hosting
Joel Orr has taken on the task of tracking extranets, which allow corporations to communicate privately with their clients over the Internet (all back issues of Orr's Extranet World ezine are available at http://www.extranets.cc ). Mr. Orr writes: "There are at least two distinct extranet worlds: AEC and manufacturing. In AEC, extranets are a true 'killer app' -- nobody in design and construction can afford not to use this technology. In manufacturing, extranets are about collapsing and greasing the supply chain."
In each issue of his ezine, he lists "The Players" -- the names and Web sites of companies that provide extranet services. Late in October, his list counted 59 players (see http://www.extranets.cc/the_list.htm). Players include companies that provide extranet software, as well as those that do project Web hosting. Here's a list of categories that you might find useful in understanding what an extranet can do for your company:
. Bid management service.
. Collaborative software.
. Consulting & implementation.
. Drawing sharing on the Web.
. Enterprise-level software.
. Facility-management-focused software.
. File sharing product and service.
. Free Web service.
. Share 3D animations over the Web.
. Software and services.
. Software for manufacturing.
. 3D model translation and sharing.
. 3D streaming and model sharing.
A couple of issues ago, upFront.eZine #173 reported in BricsNet's update to its ProjectCenter, which is a Web-based project management for architects, engineers, owners, and contractors with a fee of US$259 per month per project for an unlimited number of users, 250MB of storage, and unlimited technical support. According to BricsNet, they have over 2,000 companies using ProjectCenter for Web-based project management. http://www.projectcenter.com
In his report on the Bentley International User Conference in upFront.eZine #172, Martin Day reported "Bentley is launching ModelVista, a project-hosting site free to Select subscribers. Details were sketchy." After a ProjectCenter telephone conference call, I asked whether ProjectCenter would become the basis of Bentley's ModelVista. The answer, No. A search today of www.bentley.com found no reference to ModelVista.
1 November and Buzzsaw.com goes live. Back at AEC Systems '99, Autodesk had announced ProjectPoint with few details. Prior to opening, the www.projectpoint.com Web site had posted a cryptic message: "Through this portal pass the finest fish in the world" (the words are copied from the entrance to a Santa Barbara fishing boat dock). When you now type www.projectpoint.com in your Web browser, you get the www.buzzsaw.com Web site. ProjectPoint is the name of the project hosting and project management part of the site; the company is called "buzzsaw.com".
So, did Autodesk managed to beat Bentley in opening a project Web hosting site? That's depends on how you see Buzzsaw's relationship with Autodesk. In a telephone interview with upFront.eZine, ceo Carl Bass says, "Don't confuse Buzzsaw's effort to serve the building and construction industry with Autodesk's attempt to provide new ways of running its traditional business. The goals of Buzzsaw are independent, but closely related." Says ceo Carol Bartz: "Buzzsaw.Com is part of our initiative to use the Internet to increase the value of design data by extending it to critical adjacent markets." As reported by Mr. Orr, Buzzsaw had access to the Autodesk VIP subscriber list, calling on 28 Oct with a preview.
Buzzsaw.Com is a privately-held company spun-off from Autodesk one month ago. The company has attracted US$15 million in funding from Crosspoint Venture Partners, plus an additional amount from Autodesk (to be announced when allowed by American regulators). The Buzzsaw management consists largely of former Autodesk personnel:
Carl Bass, former Autodesk chief technical officer, is ceo of Buzzsaw.com. Anne Bonaparte, former Autodesk vp of Autodesk Ventures, is senior vp for business development, sales, and customer care. Shirley Foster, former Autodesk director for Design Team Solutions Group, is vp of development. Chris Bradshaw, former Autodesk sales development director for AEC products, is vp of marketing.
Buzzsaw.Com provides "free" project Web hosting services. Some 200 project sites had been registered the first day of operation. It's as simple as choosing a site name, adding names of team members, and uploading documents - the first 100MB is free, as is toll free telephone support and email support. After that, the cost is US$199 per 250MB of data storage.
Once your project is complete, you can have the project documents archived at US$150 per CD-ROM (650MB). If your free site is inactive for more than 90 days, it is shut down (after email notification) and the data is erased.
The Buzzsaw Web site has a section called "CAD Tools." Knowing where Buzzsaw comes from, it should not be surprising that all CAD tools are Autodesk software products: AutoCAD 2000 and LT, Autodesk vertical software, Actrix, and Volo View. You cannot, however, purchase the software from the Web site - you have to take the Old Economy route and physically drive to the nearest Autodesk Authorized Reseller for a face-to-face purchase. Hello?
Mr. Bass insisted that selling Autodesk software is unimportant to Buzzsaw. "Buzzsaw will not become an ASP for Autodesk products, nor will it become another sales channel." Buzzsaw wants to provide a wide range of services to the architect, engineer, and contractor. For example, there is a Web Camera service (US$399 per month) that provides the hardware and the acquisition and storage of up to 1,000 images per month. And it doesn't need to be CAD-specific. The WebEx meeting software (free for an introductory period) allows your group to host online meetings, and redline documents concurrently.
Opening the same day is BuildPoint.com at http://www.buildpoint.com . It's calling itself "the first interactive business-to-business Web commerce solution for the $415 billion construction materials industry." This site focuses on providing general contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers a secure place for material bidding and procurement.
By moving from paper to the Web, BuildPoint hopes to shorten the time from initial project proposal to bid acceptance. Using the Web site is free. Potential partners don't have to have Web access; BuildPoint can fax (convert back to paperwork!) for a small charge. BuildPoint offers these services:
. Bid Manager manages bid-related information.
. Lead Manager allows contractors to respond to bids.
. Directory provides a public directory of architects, engineers, general
contractors, subcontractors, distributors, building product manufacturers, etc.
ActiveProject PR
Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999
FRAMEWORK TECHNOLOGIES ANNOUNCES ACTIVEPROJECT V2000/E, INDUSTRY'S FIRST ENTERPRISE-SCALABLE PROJECT COMMUNICATION SOFTWARE
Extranet Software Delivers Proven Competitive Advantage to Firms Managing Multiple, Large Projects with External Partners
Burlington, Mass. - November 8, 1999 - Framework Technologies Corporation today announced ActiveProject(tm) v2000/E, an enterprise-scalable version of their industry-leading project communication software that will make it significantly easier for organizations to deploy and manage multiple, large-scale projects across the extended enterprise. The software is expected to ship late fourth quarter 1999.
ActiveProject v2000/E is the first Web-based software solution that enables corporations, government, and educational institutions to set up their own project extranets for sharing information with an extended team of suppliers, subcontractors and internal constituents. ActiveProject combines secure, centralized access to all project information with an integrated set of collaborative applications that help organizations keep projects on schedule by expediting feedback between project team members and providing insight into schedule-threatening issues. Projects involving thousands of users and many thousands of information items in the form of CAD, document, spreadsheet, image and other files can now be easily managed with this new enterprise-scalable version of ActiveProject. In addition, the ActiveProject architecture supports easy integration to other project-critical systems, so that all project information can be accessed through one easily customized location. Authorized users can access up-to-the-minute project information with a Web browser, regardless of their technical ability, location, application or platform.
"ActiveProject v2000/E fulfills our vision of helping groups managing large projects achieve world class delivery by providing centralized information access, timely feedback, and critical insight to the extended team," said Dan Slavin, President and CEO of Framework Technologies Corporation. "ActiveProject-and only ActiveProject-provides an easily customized interface to an online, project decision-making environment that gives everyone on the extended team the information they need to do their jobs. Whether it is produced on the desktop of individual contributors around the project or resides in a third party system, ActiveProject delivers the right information to the right team at the right time and place, keeping projects on-time and within budget."
HIGHLIGHTS OF ACTIVEPROJECT V2000/E
SUPPORT FOR ORACLE AND SQL SERVER DATABASES. To support the database integration needs of large enterprises, ActiveProject v2000/E offers easy integration with Oracle (Oracle Corporation - NASDAQ:ORCL) and SQL Server (Microsoft Corp. - NASDAQ: MSFT) databases.
SUPPORT FOR MULTIPLE PROJECT AREAS. Organizations can create multiple, independently-managed "Project Areas" on a single server. This capability allows a server administrator to effectively separate all information related to a grouping of projects so that they act independently to serve the needs of different project groups.
MULTI-PROJECT ACCESS. ActiveProject v2000/E provides a single point of access for multiple projects on an ActiveProject server. Users will only have to log into this single page in order to access all of the projects for which they have authorized access.
MULTI-PROJECT SEARCH. ActiveProject v2000/E will now support search for project information across multiple projects. Project participants will be able to search for information items, RFIs, comments and other project information on all projects for which they have authorized access.
ENHANCED AUTHORING TOOLS. ActiveProject v2000/E features an improved authoring tool for rapid development and modification of complex project extranets. The new authoring tool features object-oriented design capabilities with simple access to project templates, template artwork, buttons, and advanced graphics editing capabilities.
ENHANCED PROJECT ARCHIVE CAPABILITY. ActiveProject v2000/E offers greatly enhanced capabilities to create and manage archives of information contained on ActiveProject extranets. The new capabilities include a Web-based interface to ActiveProject's project archive, permitting complete capture of project data including project documents, tracked communications and project messages.
IMPROVED EMAIL NOTIFICATION. When a change is made to the project web site, or an issue comes up, ActiveProject will automatically generate an email to the appropriate team members. This email will contain an embedded link that will take them directly to the Web page or information that needs their attention, and will automatically launch any applications needed to view the information.
EASY INTEGRATION WITH PROJECT-CRITICAL APPLICATIONS. Framework
Technologies will release a complete set of APIs for ActiveProject v2000 in early 2000, to facilitate integration of ActiveProject with other enterprise applications.
PRICING
ActiveProject v2000/E for Oracle is currently priced at $ 85,495 and includes licensing for one server and 100 collaborators. For more information, please call (800) 644-1002.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
ActiveProject v2000/E requires Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 with service pack 5, Microsoft Internet Information Server 4.0 or later. Minimum hardware requirements are a personal computer with a Pentium II 400 MHZ or better processor; SVGA (256 color) graphic display capability, a minimum 128 MB RAM and 20 MB hard disk application free space. An ActiveProject Web client requires a standard Web browser. Recommended browsers are Netscape Communicator 4.51 or higher, or Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher.
FRAMEWORK TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION BACKGROUND
Framework Technologies develops and markets project communication software for the extended enterprise. Our industry-leading software enables groups managing large projects with external partners to rapidly customize and deploy secure extranets for sharing information between the organization and its extended team.
Our strategy is to make it significantly easier for extended teams to meet schedules by providing the first Web-based software that helps teams manage the constant changes that jeopardize project schedules. Our software, ActiveProject, combines a unique set of applications that centralize access to all project information, expedite feedback between members of the extended team, and provide insight into schedule-threatening issues.
Our software is currently managing projects for industry leaders including Exxon, Lexmark, Trammell Crow, the United States Navy, and the United States Department of Transportation.
For more information, contact Framework Technologies Corporation by calling 781 270-6554, or through its Web Site at http://www.frametech.com.
ActiveProject is a trademark of Framework Technologies Corporation. Microsoft and Windows are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
***PRODUCT IMAGES AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST***
For More Information, Contact:
Company Contact: Brian Giuffrida, Framework Technologies Corp.
Tel. (781) 359-3370/Email: bjg@frametech.com
Press Contact: Becky Stevens, Virtual Marketing, Inc.
Tel. (713) 932-1570/Email: bstevens@virtualmarketing-pr.com
Virtual Marketing, Inc.
Results-Driven Marketing for High Technology Companies
12335 Kingsride
PMB 125
Houston, TX 77024-4116
Tel. 713 932-1570/fax 713 932-6785
Email: becky.stevens@virtualmarketing-pr.com
BuildPoint.com
This start-up aims to transform the way construction industry professionals do business-to-business e-commerce: "a true online marketplace where contractors, distributors and manufacturers can do business in Internet time." BuildPoint.com expects to roll out its system in the fall of 1999. http://www.buildpoint.com
ProjectCenter 2.0 Opens
BricsNet announced ProjectCenter 2.0 provides Web-based project management for architects, engineers, owners, and contractors in the building process. The new version allows control of document access; provides team email functions; a customizable interface; the AIA g-series contract documents; and redlining and annotating of AutoCAD, IntelliCAD, and MicroStation drawings.
ProjectCenter is a hosted project extranet service. The fee is US$259 per month per project, and includes an unlimited number of users, 250MB of storage, and unlimited technical support for the entire team. Additional storage options, customization services, and training are available. BricsNet says that over 1800 companies are using ProjectCenter for Web-based project management. http://www.projectcenter.com
User Comments :
For very large AE Firms doing very large projects, Frameworks ActiveProject is probably the best project extranet they can use. Such types of clients could easily underwrite the $85,000 + cost of the software as well as another $10,000 in dedicated computer hardware, and another $1000 per month for a high speed T1 type access recommended. An advantage of this scenario is that the entire extranet computer and software is totally under control of the architect (or whoever else on the project) who runs the construction project. For small firms an smaller projects, obviously this solution is not appropriate at all.
If a firm really wants to own the computer hardware and software hosting an extranet, another, very good option is FirstClass. The FirstClass software can operate as an independant BBS (you just establish a dedicated phone line as for a fax machine) or as a Web site. The BBS approach has advantages in that, by bypassing the whole internet and web, issues of security or speed become moot. FirstClass is much lower cost for a small number of users (i.e. the number of different people you want to give seperate passwords to), and can be below $1000, and run on any old Mac or Windows machine you have available (in fact it is a good use to put an old machine to).
If you want someone else to worry about keeping the computer hardware and drawing files (while still under your control) the two best options are buzzsaw.com (which is free) sponsored by Autodesk, and ProjectCenter (which is officially $259, but actually $145 per month to AIA members). ProjectCenter can lend a professional feel to the whole project, and gives the architect (or whoever else sets the account up) full control over who has what kinds of access. Both systems want discreet drawing files - i.e. the entire "drawing" in one file, as is the case with AutoCAD dwg files or MicroStation dgn files. Interlinked complex files using references, such as used by AllPlan, ArchiCAD Teamwork, DataCAD Referee, or even AutoCAD ArchitecturalDesktop and many others would not be particularly well suited to this approach. Another advantage of ProjectCenter is that is has a good way of keeping project notes, punchlists, and site photographs, very well organized.
A caveat of all these extranets is that essentially all of them are currently "buy-out" targets, and already quite a number of mergers and acquisitions have gone on, leaving users in the precarious situation that, at some point during a multi-year project, the terms may change, or, worse yet, what they are using may be suddenly no longer supported. Thus, there is a potential advantage of "creating your own" extranet, by just using a web page writer (even MS Word will do) and posting the files as needed to a file area on the architectual firm's web site (or even using FirstClass).
Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2000
From: "Byron Bottoms" <bbottoms@worldnet.att.net>
I am involved in a project where the Architect is using buzzsaw.com from AutoCad as a portal. I am using AutoCad LT as a go between. The site is working great. We are exchanging drawings, schedules, ect. between the Architect, Engineer and myself. The service is free up to 100MB.
I wish DataCAD would set up something similar. It's very handy.
Byron Bottoms
Homestead Builders
Elm Mott, Texas
ProjectWatch.NET announces its Project Coordination Network to create and improve opportunities for collaboration and efficiency -- for all members of the building team.
ProjectWatch.NET is an Internet based communication and management system for the construction industry.
ProjectWatch.NET achieves this at a low cost and allows designers and builders to maximize use existing software and methodologies while avoiding retraining and equipment changes.
Created by Architects for use by professionals, this service provides a Project Website preconfigured to address the needs of the construction industry. It can do all this for you:
- make all the relevant documents and drawings for a project available to you, your consultants and clients anywhere in the world.
- save time and shipping costs distributing documents to the project team
- give teams a personal private project website at "www.projectwatch.net/projectname" a central location where they can rely on finding the latest documents
- give each team member a project e-mail address of "username@projectwatch.net
- allow users to utilize their own filing system, not someone else,s "standard , and use their own methodologies for project organization. Users can refine our starter template or customize folders, names and layout.
- permit faxing of hand drawn information to folders at your project website
- provide secure limited access to only those designated by the Coordinator
- archive project data on CD at completion and provide a free month of Post-Contract project website use
- locate information in a secure data center so support and maintenance aren,t added responsibilities for your staff
A.E.C. Automation Newsletter described the advent of this new tool in December 1999 "At A.E.C. Automation Newsletter we believe that within the next several years this project management approach will become as ubiquitous as CAD software is today. The economic benefits are sufficiently impressive that it will be difficult for most AEC firms to remain competitive if they do not adopt the technology."
For under $130 per month designers and builders can be using this state of the art communication and management tool. The prices, services and agreements are all right there online.
Try out ProjectWatch.NET online today at http://www.projectwatch.net
Ralph Grabowski 10/2000 :
The Phantom e-Business
Is RedLadder.Com back in business? Last month, a notice at the http://www.redladder.com Web site announced the company was closing its doors. When I checked the Web site last week, though, the notice was gone; the Web site seemed to be operating normally. I wondered if the company had managed to get new funding?
But efforts to contact Redladder.Com by phone and email by myself and Extranet expert Joel Orr have been unsuccessful. It is as if Redladder.com has become a phantom business:
The phone system works, but you can do is leave a message; no one ever returns the call.
The email systems works, but all you can do is send a message; no one ever replies.
The Web site works, but the last press release posted was two months ago, in August.
Is there anyone home? Evidently not. Email sent to support@redladder.com eventually bounces back with the "This mailbox has exceeded their disk quota" error message. This means that no one at RedLadder is even collecting the email.
A Dot.Com Goes Down Nicely
Contrast RedLadder's "we're pretending to still be in business" tactic with Collaborative Structures, who announced 2 October that it is closing down after four years of operation. Customers are not being left in a lurch; ceo John Macomber says:
* The Web site will remain operational until Friday, November 3.
* After Nov 3, all project databases will be converted to read-only, and will run until Dec 31.
* All major projects will receive a CD-ROM archive of the total project record.
* Collaborate Structures will work with customers who want to move data to other providers.
Mr Macomber says of his decision to shut down his dot.com: "This was a difficult decision. However, the economics don't justify investing in aggressive expansion. We are having preliminary discussions with potential successor operators. Nothing on that score is yet determined." More info from http://www.costructures.com/winddown.html
Cephren and Bidcom May Merge into Citadon and Other Dot-Com Speculation
Construction.Com
Sally Struthers Begs You to Save the Dot-Coms
SatireWire
http://www.satirewire.com/features/savedotcoms/sally.shtml
Dot-Com Flop Tracker
The Standard tallied 36 dot-coms that have closed their doors, while
many other small operations likely have faded silently away
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,15970,00.html