“The new cloud is based on the software powering the AstroPrint Platform,” BCN3D chief software engineer Daniel Arroyo told Electronics Weekly. “It adds a design library, queueing system and more analytic, and the Teams plan allows larger organisations to distribute resources and assign permissions to different users. It also adds an API for easier integration of 3rd parties and will give us a base to add experiences in the future.” – Arroyo co-founded AstroPrint in 2013 in San Diego, and was CTO.
Other that Teams, there are two other levels of access: Standard and Private.
BCN3D Cloud Standard plan is included for all BCN3D Epsilon Series and Sigma D25 customers, and is intended for additive manufacturing within companies. Its main features are the digital library, queues management, organising and prioritising print jobs and clusters – allowing users to group printers according to their different characteristics or capabilities, and to view statistics for real-time analysis.
Teams allows organisations to administrate a departmental structure with customised roles and permissions for members. It also allows several workflows to be created to manage and control the printing process from design to the final piece. Some users can add files to the workflow while others are responsible for managing the printing process. It has an annual fee.
Private is an on-demand plan “for corporations with very specific privacy and security requirements”, according to BCN3D.
“With increasing printed part volumes, more people, and more machines interacting, the workflow needs to be robust and seamless,” said Arroyo.
BCN3D now focuses on automotive, manufacturing and engineering sectors, which typically produce functional parts, tooling and low volume batches. Its clients include Nissan, BMW, NASA, and MIT.