Today many companies have operations spanning the globe with users working around the clock across multiple time zones. They may have teams in Asia, Europe and America working collaboratively. Users in these locations collaborate daily on thousands of files of various sizes, from smaller Microsoft Office documents to larger JT and CAD files used by NX or Teamcenter Lifecycle Visualization.
Teamcenter File Management System (FMS) provides a separate file access channel from the primary PLM database. This separation enables administrators to put critical files closer to the user, while storing PLM metadata, like objects and their properties, in a central database. FMS provides the capability to centralize data storage volumes on reliable, backup up file servers, while at the same time keeping data close to users in shared data caches. This enables both centralized storage and wide distribution of files to the needed locations within a single FMS system.
As product complexity increases and the volume of files users need to collaborate on increases, it is imperative to ensure that users always have fast and responsive access to files that the need no matter where they are located. This is where FMS Store and Forward comes in.
Store and Forward
Consider a typical deployment with teams in North America and China, where the master file storage (master volume) is located in North America. The master volume is protected against failure by regular backups and house-keeping (archival, maintenance, etc.) activities. So, the final destination of all the files is the master volume located in North America. When a user in China uploads a file, it has to travel over the Internet to the master volume. When many files are being transferred, this could be a very time consuming affair that can significantly impact productivity.
FMS Store and Forward increases the performance of file uploads from clients to destination file storage servers (destination volumes). This is achieved by uploading the file to a local file storage (local volume) without waiting until that file is uploaded to its final destination volume. The files are then transferred to the final destination volume across the Wide Area Network (WAN) without requiring any user or administrator action. FMS Store and Forward also ensures that these files are accessible in the FMS network at all times.