Architects and professional modelers, good news if you use Box: Thanks to a partnership with Autodesk, AutoCAD is now integrated with the former’s cloud storage plans. Box today took the wraps off of Box for AutoCAD, a self-descriptive plugin that allows designers to save and open DWG projects — files encoded in a proprietary binary used for storing two- and three-dimensional design data and metadata — directly to and in Box.
It’s available starting today.
“Today’s fast-paced workforce demands the flexibility to get work done anytime, anywhere,” said senior vice president of design and creation at Autodesk Amy Bunszel. “The new Box and AutoCAD integration offers a simple solution to Box customers so that no matter where they are — whether it’s a job site or a client’s office — they can work without disruption with the AutoCAD web app.”
AutoCAD, for the uninitiated, is a commercial computer-aided design and drafting app with millions of customers around the world. Since its debut in 1982, it’s been used to create drawings for blueprints, product designs, maps, and more in domains such as engineering, manufacturing, transportation, and construction.
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Box for AutoCAD, as you might expect, enables users to quickly access project files and Box’s content layer management layer across desktop, web, and mobile platforms. DWG files can be modified within Box using AutoCAD or the AutoCAD web app, and edits sync instantly, obviating the need to toggle between apps. Moreover, project files benefit from Box’s governance and compliance capabilities, which ensure that they’re stored securely and kept away from prying eyes.
“Together, Box and Autodesk are dedicated to continuously bringing our customers innovative solutions that help them work smarter and faster than ever before,” Box wrote in a blog post. “The release of this integration today marks the first step in our partnership, with many more exciting updates to come.”
Today’s announcement follows on the heels of Box Skills, a suite of third-party apps that add features and functionality to uploaded files, and the Box Skills Kit, a set of APIs, developer tools, and documentation for designing custom Box Skills on platforms like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, IBM’s Watson, and Microsoft Azure. IBM’s Watson Natural Language Understanding Skill, for example, automatically tags documents in Box with relevant keywords and concepts, making them easier to find, and Microsoft’s Azure Computer Vision Skill extracts text contained within images.
In December, Redwood City, California-based Box announced the general availability of the Box Skills Kit and unveiled a new program — Box Skills Verified Partners — for enterprise Box Skills providers like IBM and Codelitt. Late last year also marked the debut of AI-related offerings from Box Consulting, Box’s white-glove program that makes available a team of long-term, in-house cloud content management experts to customers, along with services such as ideation workshops, proof-of-concept development, and solution architecture reviews.
Those launches came after Box made G Suite integration generally available for all users after a months-long public beta, which enables Google Docs users to create, edit, and save documents from inside Box without having to use Google Drive.
