Leading Engineering and Architecture Firm Accelerates CAD with Workspot GPU Cloud Workstations

Challenge:

Ramaker has offices in several states, including Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio and New Jersey, as well as many CAD drafters across the country who work from home.  As the firm grows, they needed a way to avoid the traditional IT infrastructure costs involved in setting up new branch offices, and they needed to alleviate cumbersome design processes and time-consuming file uploads/downloads for power users that slow productivity.

Curtis Paul, Ramaker’s Technology Group Leader, and his team recognized that providing the ability for people to take advantage of cloud computing would accelerate project delivery and was the right direction to go. A colleague from another AEC firm mentioned Workspot, and the team decided to reach out to explore the possibilities.

When the Ramaker team saw Workspot GPU cloud workstations in action, Paul remembers thinking, “Right away it seemed to me that a VDI solution in the cloud that natively used our own group policy objects and that really respects the rules that we as a company have put in place, makes a lot of sense.”

Solution:

• Workspot Workstation Cloud in Microsoft Azure
• Workspot Desktop Cloud in Microsoft Azure
• CAD drafters use Revit, SketchUp on GPU cloud workstations for 3D modeling
• Project managers use AutoCAD on cloud PCs

“Rendering a 3D model using an MSI gaming computer with GTX took about 9 hours. After we got the Workspot GPU cloud workstation configured, we took that nine hours and cut it down to six hours. So, we’re saving 33 percent of that time. If we’d been using a less powerful GPU workstation the time savings would be even greater with Workspot,” Paul says.

Benefits:

• Real-time design and collaboration
• Faster access to project data, photos, drawings
• Faster file open times
• Greater productivity translating to additional billable hours
• Hire the best people no matter where they reside