Well, 64 bit computers and 64 bit BIM programs are here and they are faster, can access more memory, and build even bigger BIMs.

So why am I miserable?  Well, because I am the one who owns the IT budget and the planning task of buying all these new and very expensive 64 bit computers!  Do I have to? Possibly not. In talking this over with our IT expert he listened to my problem and while his work is more in corporate IT than BIM and engineering software, he did some investigation and came up with the following recommendations which you may want to consider.

1. Do not replace good, relatively new 32 bit laptops.

2. For 64 bit tasks install a desktop machine in each office that can handle these tasks.

3. Build the machine, you can save a lot of money and the assembly is not complex (your IT team should easily be able to do it). We built several killer 64 bit machine with fast quad-core processors, an excellent graphics card with extra memory, and a several terabytes of disk including a SSD drive for the C: drive to provide fast booting and opening of really large files for about $1,800.

4. Use a viewing product to give you remote access to this machine when you are with a client or traveling. One product we are using and considering standardization on is Team Viewer, a product from a German software company.

5. Look more at your network than at the individual machines for speed. A fast network is probably more important since data and projects are likely kept on servers.

Caption: Vico Office can be installed as either a 32-bit or 64-bit application.

We have already done some of this at Vico and are very happy with the results (I don’t have the BLUES). If you have a question or you’d like to talk to our IT consultant just drop me a line.