While pioneering firms strive to reduce risk and increase productivity by embracing virtual design and construction, the vendors enabling VDC struggle to anticipate user needs and differentiate themselves from their competition without losing customers in swamps of technological confusion. Slide Show Image: 2009 Open Geospatial Consortium Inc. and buildingSMART alliance Image: 2009 Open Geospatial Consortium Inc. and buildingSMART alliance Related Links: Digital-Modeling-Standard Effort ‘SOS’ Forty Years of Grassroots Development Modeling Pathfinders Impatient To Have A Much Fuller Digital Toolbox Digital Box There are myriad products addressing discrete aspects of virtual design and construction. Most work independently and share their results
Workshare provider Satellier and its 40-year-old CEO Michael Jansen are working to take building information modeling out of the confines of the workstation. "We are experts at sharing work remotely," says Jansen, who has built a thriving outsourcing practice in India that extends the resources of high-profile design firms around the globe. Photo: Satellier New system combines telepresencing and customized work-flow software. Related Links: Tool To Create Interoperability Standards Expected by Year-End Modeling Pathfinders Impatient To Have A Much Fuller Digital Toolbox Digital Box Satellier is implementing a new system that combines telepresencing using iRooms (a kind of video conferencing