The promise of the cloud has always been twofold—web-enabled storage and computing on demand. Later this summer, Gehry Technologies (GT) plans to release an interactive, web-based collaboration platform called GTeam. It will be the company’s first off-the-shelf product incorporating both storage and computing, and it marks a shift in GT’s strategy from developing stand-alone software to offering cloud-based services.

Designed for architecture, engineering, and construction professionals and owners, the new platform offers its users a collaborative design environment and project management service with some intriguing 3D functionality that Frank Gehry has described as “Google Docs for 3D models.” The 3D aspect of GTeam however, is much more than that. Andrew Witt, GT’s director of research, described GTeam as a way to “leverage” the capabilities of a diverse set of software applications by automatically translating 3D files from AutoCAD, Revit, Digital Project, Rhino, and SketchUp, among others, to a common format. Project team members can access, edit, and extract BIM data from a single digital model created by multiple users and applications.

Its developers envision GTeam as a way of securely managing the extensive project development and documentation process accommodating images, spreadsheets, drawings, and models created from design to construction. In its visual-based environment, users can organize, share, sync, search, and audit files through a project’s life cycle. Over 100 firms, including HOK, Greg Lynn Form, and Zahner, are beta testing GTeam.

Full access to a free trial version will be available through September at www.gteam.com. Subscription pricing will be announced in October.