IAI Boosts Interoperability with New Release
Staff -- Consulting-Specifying Engineer, 12/1/2000
In an industry effort to add value to the building design and construction process, the International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI) has released a new version of software designed to better enable the transfer of information between different building systems, software and products.
"These technical standards facilitate the exchange of information across all platforms and applications that serve the architectural, engineering, construction and facility-management industries, including building-product manufacturers," explains Richard H. Geissler, executive director and CEO of the IAI, based in the greater Washington, D.C. area.
For example, through the application of the IAI software's "industry foundation classes," an object can be created in a computer-aided drafting program and transferred to multiple software programs from different manufacturers, says Geissler.
With this enhanced data-transfer capacity, the updated software is expected to help improve speed and accuracy by helping to control the risk and costs of building projects, he adds.
"The release is outstanding in terms of quality and the opportunity it offers for business benefit," concurs David Gensler, a managing principal for Gensler Architecture, Design & Planning, London, England.
Gensler, IAI's international council chair, adds, "The interoperability that it allows reduces errors and reworking and will give the companies using compliant software a real financial edge."
Geissler highlights another practical application of IAI's software as being a valuable time-saving tool to better enable designers to utilize data-entry-intensive software-such as the U.S. Department of Energy's energy simulation program-which ultimately improves building performance.
