Software interoperability makes strides, but hurdles still remain
By Deborah Snoonian, P.E.

Last May, outside Washington, D.C., the International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI), an organization of member companies involved in design and construction, hosted its first-ever “Industry Day” to educate practitioners about its vision for a common data-exchange standard. At the same time, it announced a major update of the standard developed by the membership: the Industry Foundation Classes, or IFCs. The newest version is called IFC2x2. [Note: Record Publisher McGraw-Hill is an active member of the IAI].

Patrick MacLeamy, C.E.O. of HOK and chair of IAI’s International Council, gave the keynote speech at the Industry Day, which attracted nearly 200 people.

Since the dawn of CAD, the AEC community has sought the uber-intelligent building model—a single database that contains geometric information about a building’s physical form, data on its components and their behavior, as well as cost, erection schedules, and other nondesign information. Makers of 3D design software offer many of these capabilities, but each does so in a slightly different digital format—and because of these differences, 3D models cannot always be used intact as projects move forward. The IAI’s goal in creating the IFCs is to slash the time and effort required to construct buildings by allowing project data to be shared seamlessly as a project moves from concept to completion. Software makers can allow their files to be saved in IFC format to be used for other purposes—a 3D building model, for instance, could be imported into estimating software to determine its construction cost.

Overcoming obstacles

So far, response from the industry has been mixed. A handful of leading software companies, such as Graphisoft and Bentley Systems, have committed to making their tools IFC-compliant; others are taking a wait-and-see approach, knowing how quickly technology evolves. Some software executives are skeptical that creating a single data-exchange standard is really the solution to faster, cheaper construction. “What question are we trying to answer with software interoperability?” one asked. “The heart of the IAI is in the right place, but they are demanding a sophisticated technological response for which there are a very limited number of customers,” because few companies truly need to use design information in the way envisioned by the group.

Photographs: Courtesy National Institute of Building Sciences

Even if software companies agree to build IFC compliance into their offerings, practitioners must be willing to use the standard in their project work. To date, anecdotal evidence suggests that most in the AEC world don’t know IFCs exist. (In an informal poll conducted when researching this article, 10 architecture firms were phoned at random, and only one was aware of the IFCs). It’s likely that architects and engineers will resist learning a way of doing business that’s based on a technology not yet widely accepted—finding early adopters has always been a challenge in the design and construction industry.

Still, the IAI remains undaunted in its vision. “The promise of interoperability is value,” noted Industry Day’s keynote speaker, Patrick MacLeamy, the C.E.O. of HOK. IFC2X2 represents significant progress, says the group, incorporating more types of design information than in previous versions. And IAI will continue to host demonstrations that show different types of software passing project information back and forth with ease, in hopes of converting doubters.

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