Autodesk Announces Multiple New AEC Cloud Offerings for the Design Industry

We’re pleased to share three new updates for our architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) design customers: we’re adding cloud-enabled document management to the AEC Collection, as well as launching two new offerings for design content authors and reviewers. This is a notable cloud update to support our customers in fully transitioning to digital, remote collaboration workflows while continuing to work in the design products they use most.

These updates feature connections to BIM 360 and Autodesk Construction Cloud. Built on a unified platform and common data environment, Autodesk Construction Cloud products connect data, workflows and teams throughout the entire building lifecycle from design to operations.

• It starts with Autodesk Docs joining the AEC Collection next year. Autodesk Docs provides users with seamless navigation and integrated workflows to create a single source of truth across the project lifecycle. This new functionality will allow the hundreds of thousands of existing AEC Collection customers to share, manage, and review designs and models in the cloud.
• We’re also launching Autodesk BIM Collaborate for non-authoring collaborators, including project managers, owners, virtual design and construction specialists, and others. Built on the Autodesk Construction Cloud platform, BIM Collaborate will enable teams to align and execute on design intent and constructability within a cloud-based solution and common data environment.
• Third, our fast-growing and popular BIM 360 Design offering will become Autodesk BIM Collaborate Pro. Customers will have access to model coordination and Insights and connections to the Autodesk Construction Cloud.

In addition to these updates, we are improving the integration of AutoCAD into the AEC workflow. Available today, the Autodesk Docs Extension for AutoCAD plug-in will allow CAD drawings to be published as a PDF directly from AutoCAD to Autodesk Docs or BIM 360.

At the heart of these offerings is our goal to make your data more accessible in the cloud, help you get work done from anywhere, and power collaboration from design to build. Let’s walk through these exciting changes ahead.

New value for AEC Collection

The AEC Collection will include document management, as well as project dashboards and reports, through Autodesk Docs – built on the Autodesk Construction Cloud platform. A bring-your-own subscription model will allow project owners to invite other subscribers (internal or external to the company) to join a project. These new features put our customers on an accelerated path to digitization, making it easy to store unlimited data in one platform and enabling design review and project analytics for the file types most used in the AEC industry.

Autodesk Docs underpins the common data environment for every unified product with centralized document management, providing users with seamless navigation and integrated workflows to create a single source of truth across the project lifecycle. It brings drawings, models, specifications, photos and markups together in one place for review and management. With version control and standardized approval workflows, project teams have easier access to the right information at the right time, whether a team member is at home on a laptop, at the jobsite on a tablet, or reviewing on the go on a mobile phone.

New offering for non-authoring project contributors

We see an increasing number of AEC professionals conducting design reviews in the cloud who don’t need access to design creation tools – they simply need to review changes within the context of other disciplines. Until now, these contributors had limited options for design reviews in the cloud. BIM Collaborate will answer this need, making it easy to see in-progress changes on desktop and mobile devices without being a subscriber to Autodesk. Features such as project timeline, aggregated model viewing, and change review provide design teams with deep insights into the real-time status of the design phase and help quickly contextualize changes, while model coordination capabilities like clash detection and issues management ensure the highest quality designs are delivered to the field.

Pro version enables full-project lifecycle collaboration

When Autodesk BIM Collaborate Pro launches next year, existing customers will gain enhanced coordination and advanced project analytics capabilities with the addition of model coordination and insights. They will continue to have access to the full suite of cloud collaboration capabilities like Design Collaboration, Revit Cloud Worksharing, and Collaboration for Civil 3D and Plant 3D.

Today’s announcements are part of our ongoing effort to create an open environment that supports coordinated workflows and interoperability not just among our products, but for all our customers’ work, wherever it’s created. We look forward to seeing how our customers continue to improve workflow coordination at every stage of a project with the power of cloud collaboration. You can learn more this week during Autodesk University, and then, stay tuned for these new offerings to go live next year.