Architecture
Managed IT services for architecture firms
Architecture practices put more strain on their IT than almost any other professional services business. A single project model can run to gigabytes. Ten people might need to open it at once, from three locations. The software is unforgiving about latency, the files keep growing, and none of it can be allowed to stall a documentation deadline.
SSDL has supported architecture and design practices in Melbourne for over a decade. That includes Bayleyward, a practice of around 80 staff working across four studios including one international, which we have supported continuously for more than ten years. We manage the infrastructure underneath the design work - the workstations, storage, network, identity and security - so the modelling environment stays fast and the project data stays safe.
Below is how we support each part of the environment - from the modelling software and the workstations it runs on, through to the project data, the network between studios, and the security that protects your intellectual property.
How we support architecture practices
Autodesk, Revit and BIM environments
Most of what slows a Revit user down is not Revit. It is the network path to the central model, the storage the file sits on, the workstation’s memory ceiling, or a synchronisation setup that was never designed for the size the practice has grown to.
We work across three layers, and how far we go depends on what your practice needs. The infrastructure layer covers servers, cloud hosting, storage, networking, workstations, identity and security. The environment layer covers how central models are hosted and accessed, how worksharing and synchronisation are configured, and how remote staff reach the model without the round trip destroying performance. The application layer covers deployment, licensing administration and configuration for the Autodesk products your team uses.
Some practices want their IT provider to stop at the infrastructure boundary and keep BIM strategy in-house or with a dedicated consultant. Others want one number to call. We can work either way - tell us which, and the support agreement reflects it.
Design workstations
A workstation that suits an office administrator will frustrate someone modelling in Revit within a week, and a workstation specified for the wrong bottleneck wastes money without fixing the complaint.
Documentation staff, visualisation staff and directors reviewing models have genuinely different requirements across processor, memory, graphics and storage. Memory is usually where practices under-specify first, because model size grows faster than anyone budgets for.
We treat this as a lifecycle rather than a purchase: assess where each role hits its limit, specify against current model sizes with headroom for growth, standardise on a small number of builds so support and spares stay simple, plan replacement on a predictable cycle, then procure at trade pricing, configure and deploy.
We deliberately do not publish fixed specifications. Hardware moves, and a specification that is right this quarter is misleading by the next. We can also model the comparison between local workstations and cloud-hosted desktops for design workloads, including total cost over a replacement cycle.
Multi-office and hybrid practices
A practice with two studios and staff working from home has three problems at once: getting everyone to the same model quickly, keeping security policy consistent, and making collaboration tools work without staff inventing workarounds.
We handle connectivity between sites, secure remote access, and the question of where project data should actually live - which is rarely wherever it ended up. Microsoft 365 does most of the collaboration work well when it is configured deliberately: Teams for project communication, SharePoint for documents, and clear rules about what belongs there versus what belongs on project storage.
The distinction we spend most time explaining is that SharePoint and OneDrive are excellent for documents and poor for live model files. Practices that do not separate the two end up with sync conflicts and corrupted local copies. Getting that boundary right early prevents a category of problem that is painful to unwind later.
Project files and data growth
Architectural data grows and never really shrinks. Live projects need speed, completed projects need to stay retrievable for years, and consultant files, renders and point clouds accumulate alongside the models.
We size and structure storage around the way your projects actually move through the practice, design backup around how much work you could afford to lose and how fast you would need it back, and test it by performing real restores. Closed projects are archived so they stop consuming primary storage while remaining accessible, and capacity is expanded before it is full rather than during a deadline.
Version and file recovery covers the ordinary case too - someone overwrote something on a Thursday afternoon.
Protecting your work
Architectural practices hold material that is genuinely valuable to other people: competition entries, unreleased designs, tender documentation, client information, and drawings for buildings that carry security implications of their own.
The threats are mundane rather than exotic. Invoice fraud through compromised email during a construction phase. Ransomware arriving through a consultant’s attachment. A departing staff member copying a project folder.
We cover email security and impersonation protection, identity security and multi-factor authentication, endpoint protection, access control so staff reach the projects they work on rather than everything, and offsite immutable backup that survives a ransomware event.
SSDL is ISO 27001 certified for Information Security Management - independently audited, publicly verifiable, and uncommon among providers our size. It means the controls we recommend are ones we are held to ourselves. For practices tendering to government or institutional clients, it is also increasingly something you will be asked about.
When IT stops, billable design stops
An hour of downtime in an architecture practice is not an hour of inconvenience. It is however many design staff you employ, multiplied by an hour, during a week where the documentation deadline does not move.
That is the case for proactive management rather than calling someone when things break. We monitor and maintain continuously, patch on a schedule that does not collide with your deadlines, and hold a documented recovery plan for the failures that actually matter - storage, server, site connectivity and ransomware. Across the environments we manage we maintain 99.9% uptime and an average response time under 15 minutes.
Frequently asked questions
Does SSDL support architecture practices using Revit?
Yes. We manage the infrastructure Revit depends on - workstations, storage, network and secure access to central models - and can also handle Autodesk deployment, licensing administration and configuration where a practice wants that included. We will work alongside your BIM manager or consultant if you would rather keep application strategy separate.
Can SSDL manage IT across multiple architecture offices?
Yes. We handle connectivity between studios, consistent security policy across locations, and access for staff working from home, so a distributed team works from the same project data.
Can you improve performance when working with large design files?
Usually. Slow modelling is normally a storage, network, memory or configuration problem rather than a software one. We diagnose where the actual bottleneck is before recommending spend - replacing workstations does not help if the constraint is the path to the model.
Can SSDL manage Microsoft 365 for an architecture practice?
Yes, including Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, identity, security configuration, and onboarding and offboarding. We can also take over a tenant configured by a previous provider.
How do architecture practices protect project data and intellectual property?
Through layered controls - multi-factor authentication, email and impersonation protection, endpoint protection, access restricted to the projects a person works on, and tested offsite backup that cannot be encrypted in a ransomware event.
Do you only work with large practices?
No. We support practices from small studios upward. The IT problems are similar in shape; the scale differs.
Book a meeting to talk about your IT challenges
SSDL is based in Melbourne and works with practices across Australia. Whether it is model performance, a studio move, ageing workstations or a security question from a client, we will look at what you are running and tell you what we would change.