Case Study: Hydro-Québec achieves concurrent engineering and LAN-like CATIA performance with Riverbed Steelhead WAN optimization

Concurrent Engineering is Possible over a WAN, with Riverbed

Hydro‑Québec, Québec’s major electricity generator with more than 23,000 employees, needed to enable concurrent engineering across a huge province where collaborators and EPC partners often sit hundreds to over 1,000 km from Montreal. Large CATIA digital‑mockup files (up to 600 MB) and a SmarTeam parts catalog caused extreme WAN latency—small files took minutes to download and remote engineers experienced 30–60 second delays between mouse clicks—making real‑time collaboration impossible and other options either too costly or inadequate.

Hydro‑Québec deployed Riverbed WAN‑optimization (15 SteelHead appliances plus SteelHead Mobile and Proxy File System caching) to accelerate CATIA, SmarTeam and other apps. Results included nearly 90% faster CATIA downloads (e.g., 17 MB went from 1:25 to 8 seconds), LAN‑like performance over long distances, 10–25× faster office apps, about 90% average data reduction, concurrent engineering implemented at roughly half the cost of alternative approaches, and an estimated $1.5M in avoided IT costs—leading to fewer engineering errors and a faster project cycle.

Hydro Quebec

Daniel Brisebois

IT Advisor and 3D Technical Team Leader