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New White Paper: How to Keep Your Data Secure

Our Ops team just put out a new white paper that should help you understand the level of seriousness with which we treat the security and availability of our customers' data on Constructware and Buzzsaw.

Enjoy! 

Download autodesk_cre_ops_sec_whitepaper.pdf

Score 1 for Buzzsaw Security

We all know that Buzzsaw is operated by a top-notch, highly trained, well-run, SAS-70 audited group of IT commandos. We call them "IT Operations" or "Service Delivery" or sometimes just "Delta Force".

But we get confirmation every once in a while from outside Autodesk, that these guys are doing as good a job as we think they are. Sometimes it comes in the form of an audit, sometimes a customer (or potential customer) has a bunch of questions for us to answer, which we always seem to be able to do.

But just the other day I heard that a major IT services and software company was implementing Autodesk Buzzsaw for its own project collaboration needs. This is a company that is used by the biggest Fortune 100 types, and has some really cool online meeting software and remote access software. They wanted to do some white hat testing on their own, before they decided our stuff was secure.

Hmmm. I was a bit nervous. After all, these guys are  leaders in SaaS and are probably some of the experts in online security. They've been doing this a long time. THEY were going to be probing our systems? We were going to be subjected to THEIR automated hacking and port sniffing and TCP/IP fu? This might not be good...

Well, breathe easy, o Buzzsaw fanbase. Below is a screen shot of the email they sent us last week, regarding the results of their testing. Bravo, boys! Special thanks to Bill Higgins, James Landis, and Paul Cochrane for their tireless work in keeping our data safe and sound!

Worried about taking your PC on the jobsite?

If you are looking for a computer for your GC or Superintendent to use on the jobsite you might want to look at this new offering.  Personally I'd opt for a laptop but if you are looking for a rugged desktop, this just might fit the bill:

Check it out

Over 1000 flights canceled yesterday, still think travel is the best option?

In the past few weeks we've seen huge flight cancellations from Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, Midwest and others.  If you were one of the people directly affected then I'm probably preaching to the choir, but let's stop and think about the affect that this has on business.  Today's design and construction projects have gotten very complex and project teams have become more and more geographically dispersed.  In order to work together and as integrated team people are often flying around the country, rolls of drawings in hand.

What do you do if you suddenly find yourself stuck at ORD with the latest set of drawings slung over your shoulder?  Well, my best guess is that you'd ultimately find yourself trying to take advantage of the web to send the drawings electronically and and meet virtually.  So the question is, why not meet that way to start?  With today's technologies sharing design documents over the web is easy and then add to that the ability to meet virtually using web meeting systems and you've got very effective collaboration sans travel. 

AU: Collaborative Project Management Usability Study

Senior Usability Engineer, Pam Polizzi wants to know if you would help make our Collaborative Project Management products even better. You can participate in a usability study at Autodesk University and provide feedback on new design concepts.

Stop by the Autodesk Collaborative Project Management Usability booth (#400) in the Exhibit Hall to participate in a study.

Booth hours:
Tuesday, November 27
7:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Wednesday, November 28
11:00 am - 2:00 pm; 6:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Thursday, November 29
11:00 am - 2:00 pm

You can also join the CPM User Experience Program. This program enables you and your company to influence the direction of Autodesk Collaborative Management solutions and guide the development of new features and functionality. Based on your industry, role, and product usage, we may contact you to participate in such important activities as requirements gathering and usability testing for relevant features and product enhancements.

To participate, follow the link below and enter your information; you can also extend the invitation to others in your company by sending them this link.

Sing Up Here

We hope to see you at AU!

Field Device for Project Teams?

At Fry's this weekend I got a chance to try out one of those Samsung Q1 Ultra devices running Windows Vista. Pretty snazzy. Nice touch-screen, split-qwerty keyboard, thumb mouse a la PSP. Not too heavy, either.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/15/hands-on-with-samsungs-q1-ultra-ultra-mobile-pc/

I think the thing would make a pretty good field device for many of our PM customers. They were about $1200 at Fry's, which isn't insanely expensive. I didn't try Buzzsaw or Constructware on it because it wasn't hooked up to the Internet, but everything else was AOK.

What do you guys think? Is this a viable option for use in the field?

LinkedIn, do you get it?

I'm a pretty big fan of LinkedIn, like apparently millions of you guys.

Technical Specialist Steve Williams warns us of the dangers of relying too much on automated tools:

“Funny story…I accidentally imported my *entire* Outlook list into LinkedIn instead of just a few key people.  I swear I had only checked the Autodeskers, but somehow it pulled in everyone.

The upside, though, is that I’ve since reconnected with several old Buzzsaw employees, my girlfriend from freshman year in high school who I just found out is moving to Indonesia with her husband, many confused relatives (my sister: “I’m a homemaker – why do I need this?”), and others that don’t quite get it (see below).

Needless to say all turned out for the best, but I was mortified there for a second!

If you haven’t tried LinkedIn, it’s a great way to reconnect with colleagues and get leads on business opportunities. Just keep my sister out of it!”

Here's the email he got from one of the people he invited to link up - it's pretty funny if you think about it:

From: K----+S----t@abc.com [mailto:K----+S----@abc.com]
Sent: Sunday, August 26, 2007 5:46 PM
To: Steve Williams
Subject: RE: Invitation to connect on LinkedIn

 

Sure thing.

---

From: Steve Williams [mailto:steve.williamsATautodesk.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2007 9:08 PM
To: K---, S----
Subject: Invitation to connect on LinkedIn

S---,

I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.

<hyperlink here to accept request>

-Steve

What I'm Wearing Right Now

Sometimes it's hard to convince you construction guys that this computer stuff isn't going away. That's why I have the t-shirt. It looks great with my Jordache jeans:

CPM User Experience Program

Autodesk CPM Product Manager Damion Loew writes:

Interested in participating in usability studies and user research related to Autodesk Buzzsaw and Autodesk Constructware?

If your answer is yes, we invite you to join the Autodesk Collaborative Project Management User Experience Program. This program enables you and your company to influence the direction of Autodesk Collaborative Management solutions and guide the development of new features and functionality. Based on your industry, role, and product usage, we may contact you to participate in such important activities as requirements gathering and usability testing for relevant features and product enhancements.

To participate, follow the link below and enter your information; you can also extend the invitation to others in your company by sending them this link.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=G9E0SjGILUt7s7zSx0DrCA_3d_3d

If you have questions about the program you can contact Pam Polizzi via email (pam DOT polizzi@autodesk.com ) or phone at 415.356.3299.

Updating Acrobat 7

As many around here know, I am a big fan of client applications (native software, regardless of OS) as opposed to browser-based applications. Browser stuff works for booking travel, reading the news, and taking surveys, but when it comes to heavy use and file management, you really need something native.

Client software just works better. Except when it doesn't. Yesterday and today I found myself locked into an upgrade loop for Acrobat 7.0.9 -- every time I tried to use Adobe's Autoupdate feature it kept having me reboot and start over. I rebooted at least a half a dozen times and the update still didn't "take". Grrrr.

Then I read a tip online that said to clean your TEMP directory before you try the install. OK. Let's go. I started looking around - where the heck is the TEMP directory these days? It used to be C:\Temp - now it's buried in some Documents and Settings folder.

Thanks to this, I found the SET command, which in DOS will list the locations of lots of interesting things, like how many processors your computer has, and where your TEMP directory is located.

Now I get to see if the Acrobat update works after I clean it out. Wish me luck!