Environmental Planning, Design and Build Firm Innovates for Better Performance, Data Visualization at the Edge

Challenge:

Dudek’s vision for information technology that will take them into the future does not include an on-premises data center. On-prem infrastructure, including physical GPU workstations and a legacy VDI solution, was actually limiting agility and innovation and slowing project delivery. An organization with a strong value system and customer success orientation, Dudek decided to make bold IT changes that would benefit both customers and staff, while underscoring the values of efficiency & excellence.

Working with their business partners, the IT team examined a key use case that was presenting serious challenges. Dudek uses Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS; drones plus a ground control system) to collect data for land development and infrastructure projects. Processing this data, depending on the acreage of the flight, could take up to 5 full days before it could be put to use. The team evaluated Workspot Workstation Cloud, along with new clustering software, and data processing time for a similarly sized job dropped to just 6 hours! Even better, engineers are now able to visualize this data at the edge, using any device, and put it to work for the project in real-time. The IT team then turned their attention to a second use case: Survey engineers who were suffering from performance issues when using ArcGIS. The IT team solved this pain with cloud workstations as well. Finally, the firm’s legacy VDI solution is being phased out because of cost and performance problems, and soon employees company-wide will enjoy the performance and mobility benefits of Workspot Desktop Cloud.

Solution:

• Workspot Workstation Cloud in Microsoft Azure
• Workspot Desktop Cloud in Microsoft Azure
• Cloud workstations and cloud PCs are placed in the Azure region closest to the user
• Project data is uploaded from drones to a cluster of cloud workstations in Azure
• Project data is processed and engineers can visualize it using any device, anywhere
• Survey engineers use any device to access the ArcGIS app on cloud workstations
• Disaster recovery is built-in to the solution

Benefits:

• Data uploaded from drones is processed in a fraction of the time it took previously
• Data can be visualized in real-time, no matter where the engineer is located
• Survey engineers are delighted with better performance than physical workstations
• Legacy VDI Users can look forward to superior performance & reliability
• The business is able to be more responsive to our customers’ needs
• IT gets simplified infrastructure, fewer management headaches, lower CapEx
• Disaster recovery is vastly improved with work-anywhere capability