Marrying desktop and cloud design experience for more comprehensive industry workflows continues to be a theme at Autodesk. The latest Autodesk Design and Creation Suites offer access to the Autodesk 2014 software portfolio for building, product, plant, and factory design; engineering, construction, and infrastructure; and entertainment creation professionals. Read the rest of this entry »

Trimble Navigation is primarily known for its advanced positioning solutions and hardware, such as GPS receivers and rangefinders. The company has been developing and producing those products for years; however, a key segment of the business is linked to engineering and construction. Read the rest of this entry »

Although this year Judith Rothrock could not attend herself, she’s the driving force behind the annual JRocket Marketing Grape Escape^® industry analyst event, now in its 11th year. As always, this year’s Grape Escape was a well-organized event hosting some key industry players. It afforded me and my colleague Gabriel Gheorghiu another opportunity to meet the software vendors who are JRocket Marketing’s clients and obtain the latest news and updates straight from the source.

Here’s the skinny on three of the vendors that gave informal presentations. Read the rest of this entry »

Part I of this series analyzed the opportunities (as well as the related strings attached) stemming from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), a.k.a. the Economic Stimulus Plan. The inspiration came from my attendance of the Deltek Insight 2009 user conference last May, where Deltek decided to fill a market need and interest by convening a separate “track” that was entitled “Stimulus & Beyond (Navigating the Brave New World).”

Part II of this series then analyzed why Deltek believes it can help government contractors and architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) firms, as well as other public sector organizations in their endeavors to obtain ARRA funds (i.e., the opportunity part) and duly report on them (the strings part for transparency and accountability). Part III then expanded on the construction industry’s current challenges, its outlook, and market trends.

Although Deltek inspired this series and while the company caters to AEC firms, its focus and software capabilities are in the design or planning stage of an infrastructure object. But the entire infrastructure lifecycle management (ILM) encompasses the following phases that denote yet another three-letter acronym (TLA) – “PBO”:

• Plan: Manage project pipelines, site development, entitlements, etc.
• Build: Track budgets, contracts, changes, schedules, scopes, and quality
• Operate: Direct asset management, work orders, and maintenance management

Read the rest of this entry »

Part I of this series analyzed the opportunity as well as the related attached strings stemming from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), a.k.a. the Economic Stimulus Plan. The inspiration came from my attendance of the Deltek Insight 2009 user conference last May, where Deltek decided to fill a market need and interest by convening a separate “track” that was entitled “Stimulus & Beyond (Navigating the Brave New World).”

Part II of this series then analyzed why Deltek believes it can help government contractors, architecture, engineering & construction (AEC) firms, and other public sector organizations in their endeavors to obtain ARRA funds (i.e., the opportunity part) and duly report on them (for transparency and accountability). But what about the construction industry’s current challenges, its outlook, and the market trends? 

Read the rest of this entry »

Part 1 of this blog series covered the spectrum of Meridian Systems’ Proliance solution for Tier One, multi-billion-dollar global companies. It also analyzed Meridian’s early bet on leveraging Microsoft Office Business Applications (OBAs), and harnessing the Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology collaboration that is revolutionizing the capital infrastructure industry.

Meridian, which promotes its business as the Plan-Build-Operate (PBO) technology solutions leader for Project-Based Organizations (another PBO acronym, and thus the “PBO squared” mantra), offers an end-to-end solution for building owners, construction and engineering firms, and public agencies in three flavors. These offerings respectively cater to high-end (Tier One), mid-market, and small market organizations that manage capital building programs and facility assets. Read the rest of this entry »

Claiming the “Catch us if you can” movie mantra, the quiet Infrastructure Lifecycle Management (ILM) leader Meridian Systems, based in Folsom, California (US), and now owned by the billion-dollar global positioning system (GPS) giant Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB), is going on the offensive with competitors and industry analysts in its newest round of marketing announcements.  To the large bastion of technology vendors, reporters, and research analysts reporting on market requirements for what once was simply the realm of Project Portfolio Management (PPM) and Integrated Workplace Management Systems (IWMS)  – the company’s somewhat shy, but technology-precocious, management is issuing a hearty challenge: “Catch up (with us)!” Read the rest of this entry »