finitia helps architecture, planning and engineering firms to achieve a virtualisation breakthrough: To this end, finitia developed a virtualisation solution via VMware from 2019 onwards. Boston accompanied its partner from the first briefing onwards to increase planning security and sustainability for architects, planners and engineers in their CAD solution.
Laying of the foundation stone
finitia has been in the architectural industry since it was founded in 2005. The company is proud of its roots in architecture and is committed to helping architecture, planning and engineering firms improve solutions, innovate and make their work easier.
Since the company was founded from an internal department of a renowned architectural office, the finitia team knows the requirements that architects have when designing buildings or urban planning facilities. Architects plan and supervise the execution of the construction and take into account design, technical, economic, ecological as well as social aspects. Depending on the size of the building project, the coordination and combination of these aspects can quickly become very complex and unmanageable. The smallest inaccuracies decide on functionality and usability. In the industry, it is not for nothing that every building project is individual and is always built twice: once virtually on paper and once actually as a building object on site. In order to give architects the opportunity to concentrate fully on their core competences, finitia sees itself as a partner of this target group. In this role, the company develops holistic solutions for central services, from individual areas to comprehensive all-in-one solutions. Ultimately, to also increase sustainability in construction.
Megatrends - from the idea to the solution
The demand for holistic and long-term, stable solutions was born in 2019 with the vision of developing a future-oriented IT infrastructure for architects, planners and engineers. To find solutions, the company oriented itself to the megatrends of the Future Institute. Megatrends are the concentrated result of systematic observations, description and application of new developments in the economy and society. They have such an impact that they reshape entire societies in terms of technological, social and economic transformations. finitia crystallized two megatrends among the 12 existing megatrends that are relevant to the architecture industry: Mobility and Flexibility.
finitia is familiar with the requirements of the industry and knows that the independence of employees from local conditions is indispensable in planning today. Collaborative work by several planners at different locations requires a high degree of exchange in order to simplify decisions and achieve a better project result. Even on their own premises, the project team can easily be grouped together in team boxes to guarantee an optimal exchange. For quieter work, the individual actors withdraw to a place of their choice. Whether in the office, home office or even in a café, the data is quickly and easily available to them - this is how finitia defines mobility.
The computing and graphics power is centralised in the protected Tier V data centre at finitia. This means that new team requirements can be met quickly and directly. The computing and graphics power of individual team members can be increased or activated for other team members quickly and easily - this is how finitia defines flexibility.
How can these megatrends or concrete needs be realised technically and under the concrete requirements of the industry (e.g. CAD programmes)? A solution using data transfer had to be rejected due to the amount of data and the limited performance of the network, just like the use of notebooks for CAD applications. These are only powerful to a limited extent, heavy, relatively expensive to purchase and the problem of data transfer remains unsolved. The idea of virtualising architecture and engineering workstations was born.
At the beginning is the test phase
For a whole 1.5 years, the finitia team experimented, tested and developed suitable solutions within a test phase (PoCs) that were functionally as well as technologically suitable for architects. They dared to take the first virtualisation step, built up new partner networks (e.g. to NVIDIA or VMware), deployed new servers, automated entire processes, tested new software and responded to architects' ideas for further plug-ins, which led to constant new adaptations of the solution.
In order not to overburden their limited own resources and to be able to build up the appropriate know-how for such a new solution, they were looking for a technological partnership that could support them in the development of the "perfect" solution. This is where Boston comes in.
In its partnership with finitia, Boston not only supplied the servers and technologies necessary for the architectural step into virtualisation. Above all, it supported the finitia team in technical consulting and know-how for the creation of a virtual workplace environment that remains flexible through very targeted technology partnerships, is as price-intensive as possible and, above all, can be constantly further developed. This has enabled the finitia team to catapult their own level of knowledge of virtualisation technologically forward and to develop their solution on their own in the future.
CAD software for architects
The result was a flexible CAD-independent solution that is available in its current form. The solution can be obtained with a monthly usage fee and contains high-performance computing power and practical knowledge that meets all the requirements of architects, planners and engineers. finitia already provides various customers with fully virtual workstations for CAD applications. For certain customers, all workstations with CAD applications are managed as virtual workstations. For certain customers, finitia already provides more than 100 virtual workstations.
Through the different profile of users (user categorisation), the complexity of the solution per user could be reduced and thus the system load. In order to meet the high graphic demands of architects and planners, NVIDIA graphics cards were used, which guarantee and stabilise the performance of the solution even under high load. The 2D/3D calculations of the solution, which are indispensable for the target group, run on GPU servers in finitia's data centre.
Overall, the solution consists of several Intel-based GPU servers, based on 2U dual processor (Intel) systems with 6 PCIe GPUs from Supermicro. These are equipped with the corresponding NVIDIA GPUs (T4, RTX 6000, A16 or A40) depending on the requirements. In order to further increase the performance of the system and flexibly expand the number of users, additional Intel-based GPU servers will be deployed in the near future, based on a 4U dual processor (Intel), dual-root GPU system with up to 8 PCI-E GPUs from Supermicro and containing up to 8x NVIDIA GPUs.
For the user and management interface, further Intel-based management servers are in use, which are based on SuperServer from Supermicro (SMC SYS-1019P-WTR). Further GPU servers with the new X13 platform are already being planned.
In addition to Boston, other brands such as Samsung, Micron, Broadcom and VMware were used in the solution in order to optimise the solution as a whole.
Unlike with workstations, the upgrading and installation of updates takes place unnoticed. There is no downtime, no replacement of components. The constant improvement in performance is noticeable by the customers, which they openly communicate to finitia.
From the first briefing to a firm partnership
finitia is highly enthusiastic about the developed CAD solution. In the interview, Micha Bucher, the Head of IT Services at finitia, stated that they were "looking for a collaboration and not just a supplier". "For finitia, it is elementary to find long-term partnerships for individual solutions and where the cooperation is mutually agreeable," said Micha Bucher. "In Boston", Micha Bucher (IT Services, finitia) as well as his colleague Patrick Lischer (IT Services, finitia) agree, "they have found such a partner" and are very grateful for it. Patrick Lischer adds that with Boston, not only could they "significantly increase their own know-how during the project", but "it opened many new doors for them" to be able to further develop the solution independently. Micha Bucher adds with a smile on his face that "without the current delivery problems of some components on the market, we would most likely have been able to implement even more so far, as the solution is in great demand among architects".
Company profile finitia:
finitia was founded in 2005 in Bern/Switzerland and sees itself as a partner company for central services in architecture, engineering and planning. With more than 25 employees today, the company pursues the goal of providing services that define our time. They act in a trustworthy, solution-oriented and visionary manner. As a partner of architecture, planning and engineering firms, finitia develops holistic solutions for central services with passion and an eye for detail. They offer diverse and individual services ranging from IT services to HR management and communication.
