Courtesy of Fiatech Matthew May, opening day Keynote speaker at Fiatech 2012. Related Links: Procurement Key Tech Goal for Fiatech in 2012 What are the secrets to innovation? How can the construction industry find new ways of innovating tools for the trade or to improve productivity? Sometimes, the answer is not in the black, but in the white space between the lines. You just have to challenge how you think about innovating.That's the word from Matthew May, a popular motivational speaker on business processes, who also writes a blog and columns for the small business website OpenForum.com. Sometimes, he says
By Tom Sawyer Insight-sharing about advancing the effectiveness of IT in project delivery is non-stop, focused and intense during breaks at Fiatech2012 in Miami, Fla. During formal sessions things really heat up. Related Links: Fiatech: Collaborating to Advance Technology and Innovation By any measure, 2011 was a great year for the construction technology consortium Fiatech, with over 20 active projects that year and 17 deliverables buttressed by industry advancements, says Ray Topping, PE, the director of Fiatech.Speaking at Fiatech's annual technology conference and showcase, held at the famed Doral Hotel Resort in Miami, Topping says 2012 is shaping up to
Courtesy of Balfour Beatty Data-rich information models not only can support exquisite representations of facilities, like this one of the Presidio Parkway in San Francisco, but more importantly, they can be used to study alternatives, and optimize design, construction, operations and maintenance for the lifecycle. Balfour Beatty PLC is stepping up its support of new software and digital tools that underpin full lifecycle use of building information modeling around the globe. A recent deal with Autodesk is a key part of the strategy.Chris Millard, head of systems integration for the 50,000-employee, UK-based infrastructure firm, says the goal is to expand
Rendering courtesy of Apple Lights On Maiden, N.C., data center will draw power from a 20-MW solar farm and 5-MW fuel-cell installation. Related Links: EDITORS' CHOICE & GREEN PROJECT: Facebook Data Center Apple is hoping to get a boost from the sun to power its rapidly growing cloud services.Having completed a $1-billion, 500,000-sq-ft data center in Maiden, N.C., in late 2011, the computing giant recently began construction on a 20-MW solar farm. Along with a new 5-MW fuel-cell installation, the company plans to use the farm to supply all the energy needed to run the facility.The data center, which was
Guest Commentary: There are nearly 70 million smartphones in use in the US (Quora Research), and by some estimates, tablets are set to overtake PC use. The mobile internet is burgeoning, devices and platforms are proliferating, and no businesses are more impacted by this digital revolution than those industry sectors that are inherently mobile. Architects and engineers particularly belong to that cohort of workers who can hardly be categorized as having “desk jobs.” They’re on the go when they’re on the job, often bristling with more than one mobile digital device. Google won’t disclose how many of its searches are mobile,
By Zlatko Batistich Roof-mounted air handling units feed outside air to supply ducts to deliver cooling for a unique data center located on the urban NJ waterfront that is cooled by 100% outside air. The U.S. Green Building Council is drafting its first set of standards for data-center projects as the growing sector has struggled to meet energy-efficiency benchmarks.The U.S. data-center construction market increased to about $15 billion today from about $5 billion in 2000. According to a study commissioned by computer software giant Microsoft, that number is expected to increase to $20 billion by 2020. But the amount of
Photo Courtesy of Sunlink Corp. The 20-ft by 20-ft shake table at PEER is the largest multidirectional shaking table in the U.S. For the first time, a solar racking manufacturer tested its ballast-only roof-mounted racking system on U.C. Berkeley's Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER) shaking table in Richmond, Calif., and it appears to have passed with flying colors.The March 5 test "provided us with information on how our roof mounting system acted [when] not connected to a roof," said Mike Williams, senior vice president-engineering for SunLink, San Rafael, Calif. The product "acted like we thought it would," he added.SunLink
Photo courtesy of columbia university SENSING GREATNESS Cable mock-up under tension is encased within a custom-made corrosion chamber. Positive results from field tests of a corrosion detection and remote monitoring technology for suspension bridge cables have raised researchers' hopes the tools could be used for testing the health of bridges worldwide.The test confirmed that "we have the tools to reliably assess and quantify the level of corrosion on a suspension bridge for damage assessments," says Raimondo Betti, a civil engineering professor at Columbia University and lead project engineer on the $1.8-million collaborative research study. Before, the process involved subjective judgment
Related Links: Readers Recommend Wish List: What Readers Want the Most in Infotech What Readers Like About Their Infotech Today The information technology satisfaction index among ENR readers is high, but if past is prologue, users' bullish expectations for the future may be too optimistic, particularly with respect to their greatest desire: true interoperability of all their software and systems.That's the conclusion after studying 445 responses to a survey conducted in late February by ENR. We asked readers to tell us about the best new tech tools they use now as well as the tech tools they would like to
Related Links: Internet of Things' Is Changing Our World Shawn Pressley, PSP, is a civil engineer with 13 years of experience in project management systems and development. As vice president of information technology for construction manager Hill International, Inc., he oversees technology decisions in addition to his other duties with the Marleton, N.J.-based firm. His expertise includes design, planning, implementation and execution of project management software. He also specializes in implementation of financial accounting, CRM, employee relationship management and partner management systems.Although he's a fan of tablets and their potential to transform construction, Pressley has become wary of jobsites adopting
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