Technology in Architectural Practice

If you have found the best deal going on an FTP site that you would like to recommend, I would love to hear about it.  We send PDF's mostly, dwg's occasionally, to our printer, consultants, code officials, owners, etc.  If they don't have their own FTP site (printers and some of our consultants already have them) we just send several emails with stuff attached. Going to a client, that is less than impressive.

What do all of you do for this?

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Darrel Odom AIA, LEED AP
President
Odom Peckham Architecture, Inc.
Little Rock AR
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We use Dropbox.  It's very affordable and has great visualization tools, in case your client are not very computer savvy.  We swear by it.

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Ricardo Ramos Assoc. AIA, LEED® AP, CSI
Arcadia CA
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Darrell,

Third recommendation for Dropbox.  Simple yet sophisticated, inexpensive, secure.  Everything FTP isn't.

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Michael Tardif Assoc. AIA, CSI, Hon. SDA, LEED AP
Senior Partner
BLCI Group, LLC
Kensington MD
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-01-2014 17:28
From: Ricardo Ramos
Subject: Small firm FTP site? Just wondering what others do?

We use Dropbox.  It's very affordable and has great visualization tools, in case your client are not very computer savvy.  We swear by it.

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Ricardo Ramos Assoc. AIA, LEED® AP, CSI
Arcadia CA
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Steven Cox AIA
President
Cox Architecture
Mccomb MS
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Dropbox, Darrel, Dropbox.

It is free for a limited (2GB) amount of file storage capacity, or you can pay for more starting at 10GB (I think). You sign up and the program creates your dropbox folder in the cloud and a synchronized folder on your computer. You can create folders then under the dropbox folder and invite owners, consultants, etc. to share a particular folder. You place the files that you want to share on the folder you have created, invite people and voila, they have access to that folder. When you update a file or add files to a shared folder, it updates everbody's local folder. Very neat.

As other people sign up for Dropbox, you get additional storage capacity at no cost - I now have over 10GB and have not paid a penny. I probably use around 1/3 of that capacity.

There are other solutions out there, I am sure, but Dropbox has served me and my clients well for over a year now.

Depending on what company you host your web site with, you might already have the capability to manage your own simple FTP site. Most budget hosting accounts use "cPanel" or other easy-to-use controls that let you create ftp sites and users, so I'd first check with whatever hosting company you're already giving your business.

If you're looking to switch hosting companies, I've been using JaguarPC for hosting my personal sites for ages for ages, and have always been pleased with their service and price. Inexpensive accounts wouldn't generally provide acceptable speed/bandwidth if you're planning to upload say multi-gigabyte video files or 400 mb Revit monsters, but if you're uploading "big" but not "massive" pdf sets, reasonable Revit, CAD, or video files, you should be fine with a low-dollar host.

Another very reasonable alternative is DropBox. It's not an FTP site persay, but it accomplishes the same job. It might not look quite as "professional" as ftp.yournamehere.com, but it's free, easy, and there's a good chance your clients already have it installed.

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Jonathan Holley, AIA, LEED AP BD+C
Gould Evans Associates
Lawrence, KS
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Darrel

You get free FTP along with the free 'hosting' when you buy ANY domain from GoDaddy ... the hosting (which comes with ads) give you FTP for free - which works even if you don't have the hosting set up to do anything.  So ... for less than 10 bucks a year, you can have many separate FTP accounts.  I set up literally dozens - so that we use more than one for many projects (so we can keep materials separate for shop drawings, project team, bidders, etc).  When the project is done; I clean out the contents using Free Filezilla App, and use it again for the next project.  Filezilla is the best program I've found to upload and download; it has a 'site manager' that allows one click access to all your sites, which can have names that make it clear what it on each.  

The only thing more cost effective that this would be 'free'.  You can put a LOT of data on the many sites before you even get close to the limits of what comes with the 'free hosting' (and no advertisements show up on the FTP sites at all)

I've been doing this for many years; I wonder if anyone else uses this ultra low cost approach?

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Michael Malinowski AIA
AIA Director - California Region
Applied Architecture, Inc.
Sacramento CA
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Bluebeam Studio Projects are the way to go! Now that we're on-board, I can't imagine managing PDFs without them.

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Christopher Baze AIA
Hawaiian Dredging Construction Company
Honolulu HI
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Either Dropbox or Microsoft OneDrive for Business are affordable alternatives.  Instead of attaching a file to an email, you can email links to the files.  Since links are just text, you never run into email size barriers.

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Paul O'Brien Assoc. AIA
Director of Operations
Integration Design Group, PC
Thornton CO
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One word: DropBox. Load up your content, email the link to your recipient. They click on the link, and the download is automatic. For pictures, a slide show is offered. Movies will play automatically. 2GB is free, you pay for more than that. Judicious pruning keeps one below the limit.

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Michael Charek AIA
Principal
Michael Charek Architects
Portland ME
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We switched from an FTP site to Citrix ShareFile four years ago.  It was less expensive, gave us more space, provided a much cleaner web-based interface, and gave us very robust access and security control.  You pay for the number of "employees" you want, but the number of clients is unlimited.  There is a very flexible pricing structure, based on your specific needs, and it is easy to expand as your needs grow.

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Steven Groth AIA
Project Architect, Director of Specifications, Computer Systems Manager
Uihlein-Wilson Architects
Milwaukee WI
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For several years, I used (and loved) something called FireShare (http://www.sharing-file.com/).  At the time, it was free and did everything I needed and more.
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Mike Leinback AIA
Senior Associate
Randall Scott Architects, Inc.
Jacksonville TX
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We used to have an FTP site but after the Dropbox and Similar ones became free and readily available, our FTP server lies unused

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Rohit Jain
Founder Partner/Director
RSMS Architects
New Dhelhi
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We have found ShareFile by Citrix to be a great file sharing website.  We started out small and are now using it for everything.  Cost is low compared to other cloud storage services.  We used to use FTP sites but ShareFile has much better control and tracking capabilities.

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Jason Ross AIA, LEED AP
John Poe Architects
Dayton OH
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Look into Box.net.  It is much more sophisticated than Dropbox, and quite affordable.

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Gustavo Lima AIA
Director Of Construction Administration
Cannon Design
Grand Island NY
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-02-2014 08:31
From: Jason Ross
Subject: Small firm FTP site? Just wondering what others do?

We have found ShareFile by Citrix to be a great file sharing website.  We started out small and are now using it for everything.  Cost is low compared to other cloud storage services.  We used to use FTP sites but ShareFile has much better control and tracking capabilities.

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Jason Ross AIA, LEED AP
John Poe Architects
Dayton OH
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For sending drawing sets to the printers and clients, etc we used to use You send it, which is now Hightail.  https://www.hightail.com/
the link expires after a time, it is intended that the recipient to download the files.  And, its free.


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Mary Jo Kestner AIA
Principal
Campaigne Kestner Architects
Guilford CT
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Dropbox!

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Allan Baer AIA
Principal
Baer Architecture NM
Santa Fe NM
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I would second the ShareFile Citrix http://www.sharefile.com/.  
We have 15 users and 15GB of space using half the space.  At one point we maxed out the 10GB and upgraded to the 15GB.
Everyone we share files with comments how easy it is on there end and want to know about the software for there own companies.
We find the technology to be very intuitive.... you can figure it out in only a couple minutes. 

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Dwayne Van Horn AIA
Architect, Associate
Penza Bailey Architects, Inc.
Baltimore MD
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I too use Dropbox for personal files, but I may be the first person in this forum to say Dropbox is not a "secure" solution for workgroup files. I think several people who posted have noted the wonderful security of Dropbox files. They must be one-person firms. I don't have enough room on this post to list all the reasons Dropbox is inappropriate and insecure for workgroup files. Ask most IT guys to elaborate. Or discuss amongst yourselves: Intellectual property? Document control? Virus/Trojan infection?

You asked about FTP. Our solution is FileVista by GleamTech. It is very inexpensive ($500ish) and with small customizations, can be seamlessly integrated into your website as a team file transfer portal. It has great user administration controls. You host the files with your website server. On the host side, you can drag and drop files (just like with Dropbox). On the client side, as long as you can browse to your website, and have been granted a username and password, you can access the team portal. Individual logins will open specific (or multiple) project folders. Check out a sample of the integrated web interface here. Click on "TEAMLINK" at the bottom of the page.

Best,

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Gordon Rogers AIA
EAS Department Executive
Kitchell CEM, Inc.
Sacramento CA
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If you or some one on your team is familiar with secure networking and you have a good and reliable internet connection, than I suggest getting a Synology Diskstation. The uses are endless.

1. File station - access files via web browser

2. WebDAV - mount the disk volume on your own computer just like it was a hard drive attached

3. Share files just like Dropbox

4. Access and sync files from all devices via Cloudstation

5. FTP - just like the old fashion way

6. More stuff. Just look on their website


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Nguyen Nguyen Assoc. AIA
Designer
Chicago IL
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Original Message:
Sent: 5/29/2014 9:00:13 PM
From: grogers@kitchell.com
Subject: RE: Small firm FTP site? Just wondering what others do?

I too use Dropbox for personal files, but I may be the first person in this forum to say Dropbox is not a "secure" solution for workgroup files. I think several people who posted have noted the wonderful security of Dropbox files. They must be one-person firms. I don't have enough room on this post to list all the reasons Dropbox is inappropriate and insecure for workgroup files. Ask most IT guys to elaborate. Or discuss amongst yourselves: Intellectual property? Document control? Virus/Trojan infection? You asked about FTP. Our solution is FileVista by GleamTech. It is very inexpensive ($500ish) and with small customizations, can be seamlessly integrated into your website as a team file transfer portal. It has great user administration controls. You host the files with your website server. On the host side, you can drag and drop files (just like with Dropbox). On the client side, as long as you can browse to your website, and have been granted a username and password, you can access the team portal. Individual logins will open specific (or multiple) project folders. Check out a sample of the integrated web interface here. Click on "TEAMLINK" at the bottom of the page. Best, ------------------------------------------- Gordon Rogers AIA EAS Department Executive Kitchell CEM, Inc. Sacramento CA -------------------------------------------

I have been using BaseCamp for about 6 years now and it is a fantastic solution to project management for small firms. It can function as an FTP or file share type service, but it does much more to help organize projects. You have plenty of options and it makes organization really easy. It is fairly affordable. I think a basic service starts around $30 per month. It was cheaper when I first started, but now has changed up some. And I have upgraded my plans for more projects, options, etc. It also has mobile apps for your phone or tablet.   All around it is a great way to keep all your team members, clients, contractors and anyone else in the loop for projects. 


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Andrew Hawkins AIA, LEED BD+C
President, Principal Architect
III Hawkins Architecture, Inc.
College Station TX
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We have been using Rumpus and really like it. If you already have a file server environment it's easy to plug in with your IT consultants help. You can brand it as well and the download/upload can be handled online, which is an added bonus for those clients not use to using a third party FTP client to grab files.

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Beth Bailly
Building Conservation Associates, Inc.
New York NY
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