EXTRANETS
When the splashy $3 billion Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino opened in Las Vegas last year, dazzled visitors had no idea they were looking at a revolution in construction as well: An extranet allowed architects, engineers, and contractors to stay connected during all phases of construction. The extranet was built by Cephren (as in the builder of pyramids), a Palo Alto, California, outfit that's bringing online efficiency to brick-and-mortar jobs.
ProjectNet, Cephren's Internet-based project management service, lets construction team members view a building's latest blueprints, review updated schedules, and hold online conferences. All documents - even complex CAD drawings - can be viewed with a standard Web browser, edited on the spot, and zapped back to the sender for approval.
Bringing the construction industry online reduces the need for paperwork, traditionally a major bottleneck. In some cases, a single day's delay can mean $10 million in additional costs.
"We can take something that used to take two or three weeks and do it in a day," says Cephren president and CEO Robert Majteles.
Cephren (formerly Blueline Online) now manages $40 billion worth of construction projects and has completed - on time - high-profile structures for Bechtel Group (now an investor), Sun Microsystems, and Four Seasons Hotels. The company in January acquired construction supplier eBricks.com and closed a $41 million round of funding, with a look to going public by midyear.
Rivals such as Bidcom and BuildNet (which recently closed a $104 million round of funding) are jockeying for a piece of the world's $3.2 trillion construction business. But ProjectNet currently hosts 150-plus major projects globally - more than any of its competitors.
The good news for Cephren is that the construction industry is ripe for change. Says David Weisberg, editor of A-E-C Automation Newsletter in Englewood, Colorado: "I can't envision any project manager using technology like this and going back to the way he did things before."
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