BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Southwest Engineers Inc., one of Texas’ leading civil engineering firms, has achieved better-than-ever performance, reliability, and productivity thanks to a new cloud-based infrastructure combining Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream® Remote Desktop Access Platform, and cloud workstations-as-a-service from BOXX Technologies, the companies announced today.
Founded in 1978, Southwest Engineers is focused on the design and execution of civil infrastructure, residential development, and water systems projects for public and private clients across the Lone Star State. Its four locations—Gonzales, Buda, Bastrop, and Round Rock—have helped more than 1,000 clients such as utility districts, municipalities, counties, residential developers, agricultural and commercial enterprises transform terrain into thriving communities with reliable, resilient systems capable of supporting generations of Texans.
When its managed services provider announced it would soon close up shop permanently, Southwest Engineers was challenged to source and adopt almost entirely new IT infrastructure from the ground up—a project many IT pros would envy. Having grown accustomed to outsourced infrastructure, the company evaluated a variety of services and found that BOXX Cloud was ideal, particularly for the needs of its team members using AutoCAD, Civil 3D, and other advanced software.
BOXX built and configured nearly four dozen high-end workstations at its Dallas data center so engineers, designers, project managers, and other employees using specialized applications each have dedicated hardware they access via the Leostream platform. Whether in the office, at home, or in the field, the Southwest Engineers team has secure remote access to their work anywhere there’s an internet connection.
With data-heavy projects like 3D topography and hydrological modeling, Southwest Engineers demand high performance. With BOXX Cloud and Leostream, all processing takes place on premise in Dallas: the only data transmitted to the user’s device is the screen display, and the only data sent back are keyboard and mouse inputs.
“Our performance is great, and reliability is superior to the previous systems,” said David Wiggins, System Administrator at Southwest Engineers. “Our engineers and designers can do CPU-crushing work via their own remote workstations, and it has no impact on the rest of the office like it did in the past. That’s because with BOXX we were able to throw more hardware at the problem, for the same price.”
Wiggins was able to transition data and applications to BOXX Cloud over the company’s holiday break, and with Leostream configured, employees simply returned to the office and logged on. The company’s primary servers are also located within BOXX’s facility.
For workers who only needed basic office applications, BOXX set up standard virtual machines running Windows and Microsoft Remote Desktop connections. While this works as expected, Wiggins appreciated that Leostream fills a gap in Microsoft’s product portfolio for the employees whose high-end cloud workstations run Windows 10 or 11, which are not remote-supported by Microsoft.
“Leostream has the best connection broker option for Windows 10 and 11, and integrates well with Azure and other industry-standard, well maintained, well documented products,” said Wiggins. “It’s ridiculously easy to set up, easy to use and manage, and designed for security. It just works.”
Another advantage Leostream has brought is its ability to broker multiple protocols, including PCoIP and Remote Desktop Protocol, and a single pane of glass to manage both. With Leostream enabling remote access, it is possible to select the best option for a particular environment. “This wouldn’t be possible without Leostream, or if it were possible, it would be a lot more difficult,” he said.
“As a vendor, there’s nothing we like hearing more than ‘it just works,’” said Karen Gondoly, Leostream CEO. “BOXX offers a very compelling, affordable, robust cloud platform that uniquely marries managed services and high-density hardware, while the Leostream platform serves up a consistent experience for end users so they stay connected and productive.”
“Southwest Engineers is a model use case showing that even demanding workflows like architecture, engineering, and construction can easily move to the cloud and still offer the performance and reliability of on-prem hardware,” said Tim Lawrence, Vice President of Operations and Engineering at BOXX Technologies, LLC. “Partnering with Leostream for user access management is part of what enables BOXX Cloud to deliver full workstation power for AEC environments from any connected device.”
The Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform for hosted desktops and workstations offers a comprehensive solution for remote access to maintain productivity, control costs, and ensure security with strict authentication and authorization built on zero-trust concepts. Its connection management system eliminates clunky corporate VPNs with an ultra-efficient gateway that gives users access to only the specific resources they have permission to use, automatically, regardless of their location or device. The Leostream Platform shines even in environments that rely on complex, specialty applications like science and engineering; large files such as media and entertainment; real-time performance like financial services; and bulletproof network security like government and defense.
BOXX Cloud provides ultimate performance for architecture, engineering, and construction workflows with cloud-hosted, performance-tuned, remote workstations purpose-built to optimize CAD applications. BOXX Cloud workstation as-a-service frees users from their desktops, enabling secure, remote work from home or office. Individual BOXX workstations are high-density form factor compute nodes that deliver the same power and performance of a bare metal, desk side workstation.
About BOXX Technologies
BOXX is the leading innovator of high-performance computer workstations, rendering systems, and servers for engineering, product design, architecture, visual effects, animation, deep learning, and more. For 28 years, BOXX has combined record-setting performance, speed, and reliability with unparalleled industry knowledge to become the trusted choice of creative professionals worldwide. For more information, visit www.boxx.com.
About Leostream
The Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform embodies over 20 years of Leostream research and development in supporting customers with hosted desktop environments, including VDI, hybrid cloud, and high-performance display protocols. It provides the world’s most robust desktop connection management and remote access feature set, allowing today’s enterprises to choose the best-of-breed components to satisfy their complex security, cost, and flexibility needs while working with them as they evolve into tomorrow.
Leostream is a registered trademark of Leostream Corporation in the United States. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
