As BIM gains ground in transportation infrastructure, with 52% of contractors now deploying it in their projects, BIM is fast becoming a “must-have” – reducing risk and waste, and enabling a more responsible way to design, build, operate and maintain roads, bridges, and more.

But how does that translate to the nuts and bolts of on-the-ground real-life projects? How and where does BIM fit into the lifecycle of a project? And, how can you use BIM to connect each phase for more effective results.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has long been a proponent of Building Information Modeling (BIM). In 2010, VA issued its Building Information Lifecycle Vision or “BIM Guide” stating its commitment to move the organization and its service providers to BIM “as effectively and efficiently as possible”.

It’s clear that smart technologies and the Internet of Things (IoT) are the future of our communities. But, is your agency ready for the billions – soon to be trillions – of sensors and devices connected to one another that will transform our society?

The risks of a breach or attack, particularly to vulnerable network endpoints, are worrying and costly.  Impacts include:

Hybrid clouds are increasingly seen by government agencies as a comfortable solution to both their desire and mandates to move to the cloud. Highly sensitive data can be stored on-premises in a private cloud – using their existing infrastructure – while lower risk data and non-sensitive computing workloads can be placed in the public cloud or where they fit best. Hybrid clouds also let agencies quickly move when situations change.

In our recent webinar, three industry experts dissected the recently revised primary standard for security controls for federal information systems, NIST 800-53 revision 4. As more agencies in the public sector and their partners move to the cloud, security remains a top concern. Thought leaders from DLT, AWS and Evident.io exchanged perspectives on what NIST 800-53 compliance means for government agencies and private organizations alike.

In the ever changing technology landscape, IT companies are constantly perfecting their products to keep up. We’re proud to be a partner of key IT providers to the government who continue to be relevant assets by consistently improving their offerings.

Catch up on a few of the recent product updates from our partners:

If you’re looking for your investment in BIM to pay off even more, the answer may be in the cloud. That’s because several of the biggest challenges for building design teams can be solved through cloud-based collaboration.

Keeping everyone on the same page in the face of multiple documents and files are two of the top concerns that keep AEC professionals awake at night according to Autodesk sources, here are some more:

Is your state or local agency ready for the cloud? Whether you’re thinking of moving to a SaaS email system or migrating data to cloud storage and processing platforms, a cloud readiness assessment might be in order.

Before you make the move to the cloud, risks need to be assessed and technical readiness must be considered. In-house expertise must be aligned and security concerns overcome. Then there’s the matter of data governance. Not forgetting your procurement team who must familiarize themselves with cloud models, contracts, and billing.

“Big data” and the rise in demand for database services puts increasing pressure on IT departments. End users demand access to data at higher speeds and management wants that data delivered and managed at a lower operational cost.

Data stores are expanding at an exponential rate, compromising the performance of servers and applications. This growth also adds to the daily challenges and pains that administrators face – maintaining database health while meeting ever-evolving mission requirements.

From New Mexico DOT to the government of Brazil public sector infrastructure designers and engineers are increasingly using model-based visualizations of municipal projects to solicit input from non-technical stakeholders and the public and better communicate design intent.

Software like Autodesk InfraWorks 360 can help with that.