Architecture & Engineering IT Success Story
From Huge Files That Crawled
From Huge Files That Crawled
To Seconds, From Anywhere
A 40-person architecture and engineering firm working across eight states, moving gigabyte design files between offices, job sites, and kitchen tables. The waiting was the problem.
IndustryArchitecture & Engineering
Support modelFully managed
TeamForty people, eight states
The challengeHuge design files opened slowly
The Character & The Problem
Designers Should Not Spend Their Day Watching a Progress Bar.
Large design and model files are the firm’s actual work product, and they were crawling across the network to reach the people who needed them. Meanwhile the assets holding all of it had aged into exposure, spread across eight states and every remote worker.
The problem, in three partsThe External Problem
Gigabyte models had to travel to whoever opened them, so every file open was a wait. Aging, exposed assets sat underneath the whole arrangement.
The Internal Problem
The firm is made of architects and engineers, not IT professionals. Time spent managing technology is time taken directly out of billable design work.
What Failure Would Cost
Project work and client intellectual property living on laptops across eight states. A lost device is not an inconvenience in that arrangement, it is an exposure.
Where We Came In
A Partner They Could Actually Hand It To
Since 2007, IntermixIT has helped Pennsylvania businesses replace reactive IT with a managed approach that prevents problems, protects data, and supports growth. Design firms across Harrisburg and Central Pennsylvania come to us because we take ownership of outcomes, not just tickets.
For this firm that meant a structural change rather than faster hardware: the horsepower and the files moved into a secure datacenter, so models never sync down to a laptop, plus modernized security across every office and remote worker. Everyone who supports you is an IntermixIT employee, and technicians dispatch onsite across Central Pennsylvania from our Harrisburg office.
They did not want to become competent at IT. They wanted to hand it to someone and get back to designing. Our technicians dispatch across Harrisburg, Lancaster, York, and Central Pennsylvania.
- Built for Design Workloads: Large models, resource-heavy software, and distributed teams
- 15-Minute Average Response: Issues get worked fast, and most are resolved remotely
- Security Included, Not Upsold: Layered cybersecurity is built into every agreement
- Onsite When It Matters: Technicians dispatch across Central Pennsylvania from our Harrisburg office
- Strategic Guidance: Quarterly reviews, budgeting, and a roadmap across every office
What We Did
What IntermixIT Put in Place
Four moves, in the order they mattered.
1
Stop Moving the Files to the People
The horsepower and the large files moved into a secure datacenter, and the team connects to a fast, protected desktop instead. The model never crawls across the internet.
Azure Virtual Desktop →2
Keep the Work Off the Devices
Gigabyte models stay in the datacenter rather than syncing down to laptops, so they open fast and a lost device stops being a data problem.
Cloud solutions →3
Modernize the Security That Had Aged Out
Multifactor authentication and stronger firewalls replaced aging, exposed assets across every office and every remote worker.
Cybersecurity services →4
Make Response Something They Can Plan Around
Service tickets get addressed within three hours, with a plan and an estimate, so a problem comes with a timeline attached rather than an open question.
Managed IT services →
The Result
What Changed
Same 40 people, same eight states, same enormous files. A different amount of waiting.
Speed
Large files opening in minutes.
Files Open in Seconds
Large design files open fast across every office and every remote worker.
Cost
Higher spend on older infrastructure.
About 35% Lower IT Costs
IT spend cut roughly 35% in the first year, while the infrastructure was modernized.
Response
No promised turnaround on a ticket.
Under Three-Hour Response
Service tickets addressed within three hours, with a plan and an estimate.
Security
Aging, exposed assets.
Security Modernized
Multifactor authentication and stronger firewalls replaced aging, exposed assets.
Case Study · Architecture & Engineering · Pennsylvania
You should rely on your vendors for their expertise so you can focus on your expertise. We’re not IT professionals, so we hired an IT company we can depend on to deliver. IntermixIT meets and exceeds every expectation we had.Chief Financial Officer
What Was At Stake
If Your Team Is Waiting on Files
Design and engineering work produces files big enough to break the assumptions most networks were built on, and the waiting compounds across every office. The difference between this story and the other version of it is whether the files travel to the people or the people connect to the files.
IT Support for Architecture & Engineering
How the same engagement works for design firms across Pennsylvania.
Learn more →Azure Virtual Desktop
The structural fix behind gigabyte models that open in seconds.
Learn more →Cybersecurity Services
Protection for client intellectual property spread across offices and devices.
Learn more →Let’s Talk About Your File Sizes
See how IntermixIT helps design firms make huge files fast, protect client work, and stop managing their own IT.