AECCafe Industry Predictions for 2019 – Part 3

Welcome to the third installment of the AECCafe Industry Predictions for 2019. As we have had great response to our request for predictions, we continue to bring you industry predictions from leading companies in the AEC industry for the month of January. This installment features topics such as metadata, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud as reality, increasing data needs, construction and operation, digitalization, simulation, indoor mapping and much more.

Companies’ viewpoints represented here include Panzura, Vectorworks, PlanGrid, and SimScale – each from a different perspective of the AEC industry. 

Patrick Harr, CEO, Panzura

Patrick Harr, CEO at Panzura

2019 predictions:

• Metadata will necessitate the use of AI and machine learning – AI and machines learning technologies will become a mainstay of data management solutions, in order for companies to intelligently manage and search through skyrocketing levels of both unstructured data and metadata being stored in the cloud.
• Multi-cloud and Hybrid-cloud are no longer hype, they’re reality – While multi- and hybrid-cloud data management solutions have existed for several years, mainstream adoption has been slow due to uncertainty around the need for using multiple clouds rather than a single provider. Different clouds specialize in certain functions – for instance, AWS for data lake building, Azure for developing web apps, etc. – and companies have recently begun to recognize both the cost and efficiency benefits of utilizing multiple clouds for specific applications. The need to runs these applications across multiple clouds, and even transfer data between public and private clouds, will spur widespread adoption of multi- and hybrid-cloud platforms in the next year.
• Data will double every year, making cloud even more essential – For the last several years, we’ve seen data subscribe to a fairly consistent (if rapid) growth model – global data levels have doubled roughly every two years. However, widespread adoption of data-intensive technologies like AI, machine learning and IoT will drive that trend even further, and by the end of 2019 we may see total data levels doubling every year. With that in mind, the shift to cloud for data management and storage will become even more essential, and companies that can help businesses transfer their applications to the cloud will become an invaluable resource.

With more than two decades of industry experience, Patrick Harr joined Panzura after holding positions as vice president and general manager at Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE), vice president at VMWare as well as a go-to-market leader and CEO of multiple start-ups, including cloud storage pioneer Nirvanix which he founded, Preventsys which was acquired by McAfee and storage networking leader Sanera which was acquired by McDATA/Brocade. While at HPE, Harr scaled the Americas cloud business 19X leveraging key GTM partners and generated over $1.5B in revenue in five years. He has extensive startup and Fortune 500 vendor experience across cloud, storage, security and networking. Harr received his MBA from the University of Maryland and a BA from Tulane University in Political Economy and Russian.

Dr. Biplab Sarkar, CEO, Vectorworks

Dr. Biplab Sarkar, CEO at Vectorworks

“I see three influential trends shaping the AEC industry this year,” said Dr. Biplab Sarkar, CEO at Vectorworks, a global design and BIM software solutions provider. “For one, smart buildings and smart cities will become even more prevalent. Further, CAD and BIM developers will increase adoption of AI/machine learning. Lastly, in response to the growing need for BIM authoring tools, products will become smarter and more usable.”

Steve Johnson, Vectorworks

Steve Johnson, Vice President of Product Development, Vectorworks

“The AEC industry is so much about space,” said Steve Johnson, vice president of product development at Vectorworks. “Don’t blink, or you might miss how hot new technologies take root and mature to serve so many that occupy the smart spaces we design and build. Never before have we been able to combine technology that SEES and THINKS about the real world around us. AEC is poised to be on the cutting edge as these technologies advance. Computer vision, indoor location and reality capture, coupled with sensors and machine learning are all well focused on AEC. So many things to look forward to. Don’t blink!”

With 25-plus years of experience developing CAD software and 18 years at Vectorworks, Dr. Sarkar has been the company’s CEO since 2016. As CEO, Sarkar continually seeks out technology innovations and evaluates the competitive landscape to ensure Vectorworks software remains a best-in-class CAD and BIM solution for designers in the architecture, landscape and entertainment industries.

From entry-level software engineer to vice president, Steve has served in a variety of development and management positions in the Research and Development department since he first joined Vectorworks in 1992. With his promotion to vice president of product development in April 2016, his primary responsibility is to lead the team responsible for the continued development of Vectorworks.

Joshua Progar, PlanGrid

Josh Progar, Director of Customer Advocacy, PlanGrid

Over the last few years, the tides have been turning in the construction industry. Not only are project delivery practices shifting towards methods like design-build and lean construction, but technology is also now widely adopted by companies across the industry. We’re streamlining project delivery and moving beyond the technology adoption movement, so we now have to ask ourselves how we can leverage the technology we’ve adopted to do more. Here are a few of our predictions for 2019:

1. We’ll start seeing robotics that will augment the human workforce on jobsites, not necessarily replace it. Drones and robots are beginning to be used for repetitive tasks like brick laying or facade inspections, for example. Leveraging robotics, we can start to automate repetitive work and shift the workforce focus towards more knowledge-based, collaborative and analytic work requiring human interactions.
2. There will be a greater focus on predictive analytics. We’re building databases with information on what problems commonly arise on various types of projects. That information is useful in helping us get ahead of potential issues before they become real issues that need to be addressed using additional time and money.
3. The availability of full project lifecycle data will become a standard expectation. The owners who commission and later maintain building projects, as well as the contractors who do the building work, recognize the importance of having a single record showing what construction work was done, how and when. It’s valuable for both sides – for the monitoring of contractors’ project quality, and for owners’ ongoing building operations; sharing comprehensive project data strengthens the relationships between contractors and owners.

With collaborative project delivery methods becoming commonplace and powerful technology available at our fingertips, the bar for how construction work gets done is now raised. As always, we have to continue to think ahead to what we can do next with the resources available now.

Joshua Progar is the global director of customer advocacy at PlanGrid (www.plangrid.com). He studied architectural engineering, joined the construction industry as an architect, and later became a construction manager. His passion for technology, innovation, and process improvement for the construction industry led him to PlanGrid, where he works with the sales team to ensure clients are using the product to its full potential.

David Heiny, CEO, SimScale

David Heiny, CEO & Co-founder of SimScale 

“Increasing adoption of cloud-based design and simulation
Several trends that propelled the AEC industry forward over the past few years are still present, and will ultimately shape what we’ll see in 2019: The need for making both the construction and operation of buildings more energy efficient is growing with each and every day. As The Economist [1] pointed out, building construction and operation consume 36% of the world’s energy and accounts for 40% of energy-related carbon emissions. Hence, the AEC industry plays a crucial role in meeting the global warming targets pledged for back in 2015.

Equally, the digitalization of the building industry will accelerate: With better and faster indoor mapping technologies, increasing availability of commercial drones, and more parts of the building sending real-time sensor data, the digital version of a building will become more important and easily available for additional value creation.

With Asian countries focusing on building skyscrapers while New York is currently leading a revolution in high-rise design with its super-slender towers, civil engineers will face ever more complex and demanding structural engineering challenges.

These trends require the building design process to become more collaborative, agile and connected. In turn, this will inevitably lead to faster adoption of cloud-based design and simulation tools. Cloud-based design tools enable users to instantly share the latest design in real time with different stakeholders of a building design. Cloud-based simulation tools such as SimScale allow assessing the energy efficiency of a building early in the design process, without the need for extensive physical testing.

[1] https://www.economist.com/international/2019/01/05/efforts-to-make-buildings-greener-are-not-working”

David Heiny is CEO and co-founder at SimScale GmbH. He holds a Bachelors of Science in Mathematics and a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from the Technical University of Munich, as well as a Master’s degree in Computational Science and Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

His expertise includes CFD, Numerical Analysis, Software Development and Applied Mathematics, developed both through his studies and work experience (FZG – TU München, MAN Diesel & Turbo, FluiDyna GmbH,). David also has an Honors Degree in Technology Management from the Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM).

Tags: 3D, 3D cities, AEC, architects, architecture, building, building design, building information modeling, CAD, Cloud, collaboration, construction, design, engineering, engineers, infrastructure, laser scanning, mobile, Panzura, point clouds, printers, reality capture, Vectorworks, visualization

Categories: 2D, 3D, AEC, AECCafe, apps, architecture, BIM, building information modeling, collaboration, construction, convergence, engineering, IES, infrastructure, mobile, point clouds, project management, reality capture, rendering, simulation, sustainable design, Vectorworks, video, virtual reality, visualization, wearable devices

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2019 at 7:32 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.