During fiscal 2000, Frankel's group plans five roof replacement projects and six heating and air-conditioning projects. Depending on the budget, he hopes to add several electrical and underground utility projects. The Ames plant engineering branch uses desktop computers with mostly 450-MHz Pentium II or Pentium III processors and running Microsoft Windows 98, Frankel said. The second-generation version of ReviewIt used by Frankel's branch was launched in the fall of last year, said Azhar Khan, president and chief executive officer of Cubus. The company optimized the collaborative software for architecture, engineering and construction.
Licensees can view drawings and make comments from their client machines.
He said he wanted to start out small by licensing ReviewIt only for two design engineers and one CAD user. ReviewIt has intuitive controls that make the system feel like an ordinary Web browser, and its transaction tracking ability transfers comments almost instantaneously, Frankel said. Branching out Eventually, Frankel wants Ames to buy more ReviewIt licenses for other Ames divisions with which he works, such as the center's code compliance office. He said he appreciates having a way for workers to pass around paperless drawings without overloading the e-mail system. With ReviewIt, you're really looking at it on the server.