Faster Cloud

Several previous articles have discussed SaaS (Software As A Service) and the prospects for cloud computing. Today we’re going to look a step further at PaaS (Platform As A Service) as it is being utilized by RevUp Render.

Glossary of Computer Terms You Need To Know:

The Cloud – Just another way to say the Internet. The distinction would be that the Internet is a method of connecting a whole bunch of computers so they can talk to each other. The Cloud expands the use of those computers to store data, to serve as the host for software and now even to provide a platform for software to work on. EX: Google Apps gives you several software programs such as word processing and lots of storage space on their servers. You don’t need a server in your office. The server is owned, managed, protected by Google. You access it via your Internet browser. You pay an annual or monthly fee to Google for access to their servers.

SaaS – Software that is totally hosted on the Internet. It is not downloaded to your computer. You use your browser to go to the service provider and to access the software. EX: Salesforce, Google Apps, Zoho. Some software manufacturers offer both downloadable software and SaaS to choose from. EX: QuickBooks, Microsoft Office.

PaaS – A server in the cloud that you can use with your software and a browser.  EX: Chermayeff & Poole tried to process a Revit file of a 42,900 square meter multi-use project. Their powerful in house computers locked up after hours of working. RevUp Render was able to complete the processing in 10 minutes.

CPU – Central Processing Unit which most of us have in our offices. The typical single chip processer that is in your laptop or that box that is your desktop computer. The Intel Pentium III had 9 million transistors.

GPU – Graphics Processing Unit. A supercomputer used for computing 3D functions. The first GPU was developed by NVidia.  The GeForce 256 has over 22 million transistors and can process 10 million polygons per second. (These are a tad bit expensive and usually out of the budget of an architectural firm.)

Platform – The hardware that is used to run the software. The CPU or GPU is my platform for running my software. My IBM Commodore CPU is too old and slow as a platform to run my new Windows 7 software.

You download Revit, 3DS Max or Google SketchUp on your CPU. You design a great model of your project. Then you wait hours or days for your CPU to process the information to print out a page of data. Or you do all kinds of contortions to have your client, engineer and other team members view the model with you online to make final edits.

RevUp Render simplifies that whole exercise. You create your model, you use the RevUp Render to process it. You can now edit the model very quickly as needed. Then you email a link to your colleagues and everyone joins you online for an editing session in real time.

To see demos and learn more details about RevUp Render, visit their web site at RevUpRender.com

Even if you are not an architect, it is worth your time to view a demo or two. Get a glimpse of our future with cloud computing.

You do not have the option of being computer literate. It is our future. Every day more and more of our lives are being organized, managed or directed by computers.  You just get to decide on your attitude and how difficult you are going to make the transition on yourself. Age is not an excuse. Your title is not an excuse. If you are a serious professional and/or business owner, you have to have basic computer skills and basic computer knowledge.  Anything less is like trying to survive today’s pace while driving a horse and buggy.

Written by:  Pamela Bir, Your Computer Lady

As published in Sources+Design Magazine November 2011 Issue