According to the Massachusetts-based firm, Drive’s upgrade endows the package with features commonly found on LAN-shared drives. One of the update’s most important improvements is its ability to “lock” a document when it’s in use. Similar to the way local vault systems behave, Drive can now ensure that only one user has “write access” to a document at a time (though others with access to a file can view it in real time). In addition to its ability to lock a document, Drive also makes it clear to others who is working on a project so that communication during initial modeling or revisions can occur fluidly.
Beyond Drive’s new “work-safety” features, the package now offers the ability to browse through a file’s version history, making it easy to embed historical context within a project.
Why might that matter?
Well, having access to version histories can be useful when trying to understand previous design decisions after long-weekends, weeks-long vacations and even revisiting a project years after its initial release.
To round out its release, Kenesto has also added the ability for users to work on files offline.
Back in March, we covered Kenesto Drive, noting that the company’s core focus has been producing a cloud-based storage system aimed at engineering firms, first and foremost. With its newest upgrade, Kenesto is delivering technology that’s absolutely critical for teams working on products with even the slightest bit of assembly or design complexity. Ensuring that only one author has access to a file eliminates redundant modeling, saving time, money and frustration. Adding embedded versioning should also help bolster the company’s bona fides, with engineering customers proving that Kenesto isn’t just a document repository, it’s also a place to keep the history of your IP safe for generations.
So, does Kenesto Drive have a future in the engineering landscape?
My first impression was that Kenesto was entering a tough marketplace filled with well-heeled competitors offering similar products, although in most cases, all-in-one cloud storage solutions tacked onto a CAD package.
With its newest release, Kenesto seems to be keeping pace with other players in the cloud-based CAD field. Will it be able to maintain that pace?
The jury’s still out on that one. However, now I’m beginning to believe that Kenesto’s file-agnostic format might make it a desirable choice for a number of firms both large and small. That can only bode well for the future of the company (and its users).