Availl Solution Accelerates Shared CAD File Performance for Remote CAD Teams

By DE Editors

Availl Inc.(Andover, MA) has begun shipping a new version of its WAFS softwarethat accelerates remote sharing of CAD and other files across wide areanetworks (WAN). Design engineering teams use Availl to provideremote-site teams with a data management solution that saves bandwidthby 95 percent or more. File performance at each office is at LAN speed,regardless of distance between offices, size of CAD files, or how oftenthe files are modified.

Availl reports that its software has been used to share SolidWorks,AutoCAD, MicroStation, Microsoft Office, and other types of files.

Inaddition, Availl shipped a new version of its Availl CDP remotecontinuous data protection software that allows IT staffs toconsolidate real-time server backup for both hot databases andunlimited files into one unified architecture. By allowing serverbackup consolidation over any distance with technologies optimized forboth databases and files, Availl is said to assure that all files receive truecontinuous protection. Availl’s automated temp-file elimination,together with byte-level delta technology and compression, allows trueCDP even over global distances.

Traditionally CAD organizationsused Product Data Management (PDM) packages to control sharing amonglocal team members. PDM packages integrate with PLM/CAD applications toact as the project manager.

According to Availl, PDM packageswork best over LANs and are impractical for sharing most designs overWANs. However, CAD teams today work on designs simultaneously, needing24-hour access across the WAN from multiple time zones. As a result,PDM approaches force IT to run nightly synchronizations. This breaksthe PDM rules and allows multiple users at multiple locations tointroduce design changes at the same time.

Availl’s unique WideArea File System (WAFS) technology allows entire teams to benefit fromenhanced efficiency. The software’s enhancements support uniquefunctionality for CAD team productivity. Some of these include filesthat open at local disk speed no matter the distance; scalability tohandle an office with any number of users and any amount of fileactivity on one windows server; real-time file lock coherence;real-time file version coherence; full transparency so files remain intheir existing Windows folders and are fully usable by any number ofusers; files that are fully mirrored at each local server as theychange (files open at LAN speed because all files exist on the localfile server even if the WAN is down).

Availl CDP decreasesnetwork traffic, helps remote real-time consolidation of backups, andincludes other enhancements to benefit IT staffs. Price: $3,995 (firsttwo servers/Availl WAFS for CAD); $995 (per server/Availl ContinuousData Protection—CDP).

For trial downloads and more information, visit availl.com.

Sources: Press materials received from the company.