BGE accelerates multi-office CAD and GIS workflows with LucidLink

Meet BGE

BGE, Inc. is a consulting firm that provides a comprehensive range of engineering, environmental, surveying, construction management and planning and landscape architecture services for public and private clients. 

Founded in 1975, and with over 1,000 employees in 22 offices, BGE is positioned to partner with public and private clients across the U.S.

Introduction 

Every day, 600 BGE designers, GIS analysts and project staff access live project data to keep critical infrastructure projects moving.

But with terabytes of massive CAD and GIS files, and a hybrid workforce spread across 22 offices, performance was dragging.

The existing set up of Panzura NAS, on-prem servers and VDI for remote staff kept projects moving. But the price was sluggish file access, six-figure annual VDI expenses and mounting operational complexity. 

Then BGE switched to LucidLink. Today, Civil 3D, ArcGIS and Bentley tools open files from the cloud as if they’re stored locally. VDI and VPN headaches are history, replaced by a unified workspace that’s faster, simpler and more secure.

“We thought it almost seemed too good to be true,” says Jeremy Gaskins, Director of Technology Solutions. “Performance is as good as VDI, without the cost.”

The challenge: VPN bottlenecks & VDI cost overruns

BGE’s teams constantly exchange massive Civil 3D and ArcGIS project packages across multiple locations. Their old workflow bred hold ups and unnecessary costs:

• Slow access outside the LAN: “opening large Civil 3D models over VPN could take minutes,” says Raul Hernandez, Manager of Technology Solutions.

• High cost and complexity: “VDI licenses and hardware were a six-figure annual expense,” adds Jeremy.

• Fragmented workflows: multiple file copies and complex permission models increased security risk.

• Persistent reliance on VDI: even back in the office, many users clung to VDI for speed, driving up costs and complexity.

The solution: an on-demand cloud workspace 

After a year-long pilot with the GIS team, BGE migrated every active project to LucidLink in a single weekend, retiring Panzura completely.

For users, the workflows stayed the same — only now, everything moves faster:

• LucidLink mounts as a drive on every workstation, so Civil 3D, ArcGIS Pro and other tools work as before. “Remote people are the ones who see the biggest impact,” says Raul. “LucidLink just opens Civil 3D like it’s local.”

• Streaming files from the cloud delivers on-demand access and local-drive performance, even over home broadband.

• Custom middleware grants write access per project and revokes it nightly for ransomware protection.

The results: faster access, major cost savings

Results at a glance:

• Performance parity with local disk: large, linked Civil 3D projects open in seconds

• VDI costs erased: six-figure annual savings, Panzura retired

• Unified experience: same workflow in-office or remote, dissolving change resistance

• Security & governance: nightly permission resets, no uncontrolled file copies

Why it matters: AEC collaboration at scale

For BGE, LucidLink is the scalable foundation for faster project collaboration, whether its CAD, GIS, traffic modeling or proposal files.

• Teams work from anywhere with the speed and responsiveness of local disk, no matter the size of the file

• IT has simplified operations, eliminated VDI complexity and strengthened security

• Six-figure annual savings from VDI and hardware go straight into innovation projects

“LucidLink gives us VDI-level speed without VDI,” says Jeremy. “Engineers forget it’s in the background — and that’s exactly what we wanted.”

Looking ahead, BGE plans to refine workflows for ArcGIS Pro and add richer audit trails. But one thing is clear: LucidLink has already delivered a future-proof foundation for growth.