Computer Graphics World

July 2009 47 Visualization n n n n visualize the output in real time from an inexpensive laptop, as if you were operat- ing a professional workstation equipped with a dual-core processor and a high-end graphics card. Bill Case, senior associate and manager of technical support for the mechanical/ electrical-engineering consultant Peter Basso Associates, was among those who discovered RGS's benefits. "Many times in the past, designers would have to be off- site, traveling, or working at home," Case explains. "ey need to be able to get into [their work environment], but because their setups and configurations are so com- plicated, we can't run them over a standard VPN. We never had a solution for that— until HP's RGS came along." Contrary to the flimsiness suggested by the metaphor, cloud computing might offer some users solid security protocols. Because RGS lets employees of Peter Basso Associates remotely communicate with their workstations by transmitting mouse- clicks, computing commands, and screen images only, the source data—the CAD files—doesn't leave the workstation located in the office. "ere's a lot of proprietary content we've developed over the years that I don't want floating in a laptop some- where," Case notes. Justifying SaaS With Project Showroom and Dragonfly, Autodesk is making considerable strides to- ward the cloud-computing paradigm. But don't expect the company to become a full- service SaaS solutions provider like Sales- force.com, for instance. Brian Mathews, director of Autodesk Labs, remarks, "We're a software company, not an infrastructure company. We're not going to be running data centers." Project Showroom and Dragonfly are both proof of concepts. If either becomes a commercial product, the company will rely on SaaS infrastructure suppliers and tech- nology partners like Citrix, Sun, and IBM to provide many of the data warehousing and connectivity components. Because the same SaaS infrastructure is often shared by many companies, Autodesk and other SaaS merchants should be able to provide the service—be it an online floor-plan ap- plication or rendering program—for a much lower cost than they would if they were selling individual software licenses and seats. "e beautiful thing about cloud [com- puting] is that it's multi-platform," says Mathews. "Historically, our code has been very Windows-centric. But cloud and SaaS allow you to keep the computing platform and the display platform separate. Dragon- fly and Showroom run on Adobe Flash, so the client (the end user or the consumer) can be on Windows or a Mac—the applica- tion will run on anything that runs Flash." At the moment, the cloud is like the prairies of the Wild West: open fields of opportunities. But early settlers have an advantage over latecomers because a good track record gives subscribers confidence. If the software resides on your desktop ma- chine, you have access to it 24/7. When the software lives in the cloud, you need the service provider and its network to re- main up and running 24/7. Ultimately, the reliability of the supplier may be the most tangible asset in the cloud. n Kenneth Wong is a freelance writer who has covered the digital video, computer gaming, and CAD industries. He can be reached at Kennethwongsf@earthlink.net. Data Streams in the Cloud Because the demand for high-quality visuals tends to outpace the horsepower offered by the desktops and laptops available in the market, cloud computing re- cently emerged as one of the possible answers to tackle this challenge. For data warehousing, document management, and project management, the cloud has already proven to be a viable platform. The following companies and their SaaS brands represent a fraction of this market: Arena Solutions www.arenasolutions.com Online manufacturing-related data and document management solutions offered via subscription Adobe LiveCycle ES www.adobe.com/products/livecycle Web-based collaboration and document management platform, built on Adobe PDF and Flash technologies Photoshop.com www.photoshop.com Adobe's popular photo-editing application, delivered SaaS style to subscribers Protectedpdf www.protectedpdf.com Browser-based PDF security tools designed to let you assign read/write privileges in your PDF documents, track them, and monitor them Aligni www.aligni.com Online parts and components management system, delivered as subscription services for as little as $39 a month

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