PW currently holds the files on the local disk. If a dgn is opened using PW, the files are copied to the local drive. This includes reference attachments. This makes the file opening and switching between files much quicker as Mstn (and its verticals) would read the file off the local disk instead of pulling the file over the LAN. This is would also leverage the fast SSD's that are becoming standard for new workstations.
With PW, the locally cached files are visible in the Local Document Organizer (LDO).
It would be great if Mstn could have a simplified LDO set up; independent of PW. This would be on par with what you get out-of-the-box with competitors like Revit, ArchiCAD etc With Revit, the Central file is what each session of Revit would need to check. In Mstn's case, I think that the equivalent would be a list of folders (defined by RFDIR?).
Maybe, something simple like a folder-watching tool or monitor could be used that would snoop on the selected folders and copy the updated files to the local cache... say every ten minutes. This would allow multiple users on the LAN to sequence their folder synchs to avoid overloading the LAN. A L3 switch could also be configured to route the packages directly to the local workstation to minimise contention?
When Mstn loads a file, it first checks to see if the local file is current, and if it is, locks the remote file before opening the cached file on the local disk. If the remote file is newer, then it pulls the file over the LAN as usual. When the user closes the file, the file is copied to the server and overwrites it.Ref attachments would always load from the local cache, when available.
Any attachments not stored on the local disk or in the RFDIR folders would be loaded over the LAN as usual. Out-of-date Ref attachments would be flagged up in the Ref Dialog using the Pencil icon as usual. If the user synchs the Ref attachment, the cached copy would be updated after being loaded into memory, as a background process.
The same procedure should apply when a file is Activated or Exchanged.
No Delta-Transfers as this would probably be too expensive; and not really beneficial for speeding up files on a LAN.
Mstn's federated approach means that a lot of information needs to be pulled across the LAN every time a file is opened. The federated approach is great as it allows models to be broken down into smaller files in much more flexible and scalable way. OTOH, as projects grow, the user needs more and more 'contextual' information in the form of Ref attachments. This means that a typical file that is being worked on will actually have 5-10 times more information loaded as Ref attachments.
Revit and others are based on everything being centralised in as few files as possible, and periodically synch'ing to the Central file. This actually means that the user experience is much more fluid and better when the user switches between drawings views for example. Everything is loaded and there is no waiting on the LAN. Of course there are limitations to this, but Mstn is being held back by its lack of caching... unnecessarily.