Monday, February 20, 2012

The internet, clouds, AEC

The required reading this week focused on some of the technologies that make the internet possible. These include the alphabet soup of TCP/IP, ISP, PPP, DSL, ADSL, DNS, etc. What I find particularlly interesting about the internet is the consortium of interest groups that have been responsible for bringing the internet where it is today, and that will direct the internet in the future. For example, the internet was originally developed for the defense industry, but has since been commercialized over the past 30 years. Within those 30 years were companies like Microsoft, Cisco, Yahoo, and AOL which managed to shape the internet in to what it is today. Currently, one of the largest internet buzzwords is the idea of "cloud computing." This is something that has gained support from the largest players in the industry, such as Google, Apple, Microsoft, and even our beloved Autodesk. Consequently, I decided to do a little more reading in to where internet technology is going, specifically with this new cloud model.

The first article I read was called "What cloud computing really means." While many people have different definitions of cloud computing, this article tries to determine just what cloud computing is.  After reading this article, I've come to the conclusion that there is not just one definition, rather there are several definitions depending the application. For example, one of the most common applications of cloud compution is the idea of "Software as a Service," providers (SaaS, for short). SaaS is the idea of delivering a single application through a browser to many users. This technology uses a multitenant architecture and allows the user to use the service without the hassle of installation, software servers, or in some cases, licensing. A great example of this today is Google Apps. Another application of cloud technology is called "Web Service in the Cloud." Through this hybrid esque technology, application programming interfaces (APIs) are made available which allow a program to access data stored in a cloud. An example of this is a stock trader using an API to access stock quotes and data through a program which is stored locally on the trader's computer.

Since cloud computing has become the word-du-jour lately, I decided to see how the AEC industry can benefit from cloud computing on the internet. According to the article, "Debunking the Myths About BIM in the “Cloud”", "now we are starting to consider computing resources not as actual tools but rather as a utility that is ubiquitously and infinitely available, similar to electricity or water." I think this has some interesting applications to the industry, specifically with the documentation side of things. We've spent a lot of time in this course discussing BIM, and I can't help but wonder to what extent will BIM adopt cloud technology? Is there a day in which BIM will run as a "SaaS" application, where the user accesses BIM software simply through a web browser? Or will BIM remain this sort-of hybrid system, where files may be store on a cloud, but the hardcore processing, rendering, and database administration is done locally on a user's workstation. These are questions that only time will tell.

Ultimately, the best way I've read to summarize new cloud technology is the question of, "do you take the data to the user or the user to the data?" The former method suggests the way the internet has been structured over the past 30 years, while in the future, the user will be taken to the data.

1 comment:

  1. interesting topic of choice. cloud computing is definitly a great advancement and I'm interested to see how it will be applied to BIM applications.

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