How the RMH Group Modernized Its Remote Access and Disaster Recovery Plan

RMH Group is a mechanical and electrical consulting engineering firm with more than six decades of experience supporting complex projects across the United States. The firm designs critical building systems for public- and private-sector clients, including courthouses, federal facilities, and other highly regulated environments where data integrity, availability, and compliance are essential.

Like many AEC organizations, RMH Group’s business is driven by large volumes of unstructured engineering data. AutoCAD and Revit models, BIM databases, point clouds, specifications, photos, and project documentation form the backbone of daily operations. Engineers must be able to securely access this data whether they are working from the main office, a regional location, or directly from the field.

From an IT perspective, RMH Group manages approximately 30 terabytes of active engineering data across two primary office locations, Denver and Phoenix, as well as a dedicated disaster recovery (DR) environment. With a lean IT team supporting more than 130 endpoints, RMH Group required a data synchronization and disaster recovery solution that was fast, scalable, and, above all, dependable.

RMH Group operates two primary file servers in its Denver headquarters, with additional file servers hosted in a centralized data center. Engineers routinely access shared file systems while working remotely from out-of-state locations or directly from active job sites. This distributed access model places increasing strain on traditional file server architectures and VPN-based workflows by adding delays to open saves and increasing file access latency. These limitations increase the risk of version conflicts in AutoCAD files, where file locking, version control, and near real-time collaboration are essential to avoid rework and data integrity issues.

At the same time, RMH Group needed absolute confidence in its disaster recovery strategy. Engineering data represents thousands of hours of design work and contractual deliverables; any loss or extended downtime would directly impact project schedules, regulatory obligations, and client trust.

The firm also faced growing pressure from federal contracting requirements, insurance providers, and governance frameworks aligned with NIST standards. RMH Group needed to demonstrate that engineering data was protected, replicated, and recoverable, without introducing excessive complexity or cost.

RMH Group deployed Resilio Active Everywhere to securely synchronize engineering data between its production environment and its disaster recovery site. Using the company’s distributed data movement platform, which leverages a peer-to-peer (P2P) architecture, data synchronization occurs continuously and efficiently, without relying on traditional file transfer tools or cloud gateways.

Unlike cloud-based file-sharing tools or public cloud storage platforms, Resilio enables secure synchronization across on-premises environments while maintaining total control over data, permissions, and infrastructure.

Resilio replicates data from two repositories in the main office to two corresponding repositories in the DR environment, ensuring that critical files are continuously protected and verified. The platform preserves native file system permissions and integrates with Active Directory for centralized authentication and access control, ensuring engineers retain consistent file access policies across locations.

The platform delivers:

• High-speed replication of large engineering datasets
• Proven reliability for always-on disaster recovery readiness
• Minimal administrative overhead

Unlike cloud-based file sharing tools or public cloud storage platforms, the Resilio peer-to-peer architecture enables high-performance synchronization while minimizing bandwidth usage and eliminating the fragility of legacy replication tools. Once deployed, the system required very little ongoing administration, an essential advantage for RMH Group’s small IT team.

Many RMH Group users connect from outside Colorado or directly from the field. While primary access remains through mapped network drives, Resilio provides a foundation for extending data closer to users and reducing dependence on always-on VPN connectivity.

This approach improves secure remote access for remote users, reduces reliance on always-on VPN connections, and lays the groundwork for future offline access scenarios in the field.

RMH Group’s engineers regularly work with:

• AutoCAD and Revit models
• Proprietary BIM and modeling databases
• Point cloud data
• Large collections of photos and field documentation
• Microsoft Word and Excel specifications

RMH Group views Resilio as a strategic platform for supporting regional expansion, particularly in its Phoenix office. Rather than fully replicating all engineering data, the firm plans to use Resilio as a caching gateway to accelerate access to only the projects required by that location.

Planned capabilities include using file policies to pin specific projects, deploying a limited number of local desktops to act as caches for users outside the office, and implementing storage tiering jobs to intelligently manage where data is stored. This approach enables RMH Group to improve performance for regional teams while maintaining centralized control and minimizing unnecessary infrastructure investment.

With two physical locations today and the potential for a third in the future, Resilio provides the flexibility to scale as business needs evolve.

Resilio Active Everywhere delivers consistent, high-speed synchronization of RMH Group’s engineering data, significantly strengthening disaster recovery readiness while reducing operational risk. The IT team has confidence that critical files are continuously protected across geographically separated environments—without the need for constant monitoring or manual intervention.

Beyond resiliency, Resilio plays a central role in helping RMH Group meet the compliance and governance expectations common in the AEC industry. By maintaining control of unstructured engineering data within its own environments, the firm can demonstrate adherence to key requirements, including:

• Federal contracting obligations
• NIST-aligned governance and security frameworks
• Insurance-driven cybersecurity and data resiliency standards

This capability not only reduces risk but also enhances RMH Group’s competitive position when pursuing regulated and public-sector projects.

Operationally, the reliability of Resilio Active Everywhere has simplified day-to-day management for RMH Group’s lean IT team. The platform requires minimal oversight, and when questions arise, the company’s customer success team provides fast and knowledgeable support, minimizing disruptions and allowing IT to focus on higher-value initiatives.

While plans to expand inter-office synchronization were temporarily deprioritized due to shifting business needs, RMH Group validated Resilio as a scalable platform capable of supporting future initiatives, including:

• Office-to-office data distribution
• Remote-first engineering workflows
• Expansion into new geographic markets

As the firm evolves, Resilio remains a trusted foundation for extending secure, high-performance access to engineering data.

If RMH Group’s challenges sound familiar—slow access to CAD and BIM files, VPN bottlenecks for remote teams, version conflicts, or uncertainty around disaster recovery and compliance—it may be time for a better approach. Resilio helps AEC firms move beyond legacy file servers and fragile replication tools with a platform purpose-built for large engineering datasets and distributed project teams.

Contact us to see how Resilio Active Everywhere performs in your environment. We’ll assess your current data workflows, identify performance and risk gaps, and demonstrate how secure, real-time synchronization can give your engineers faster, more reliable access to critical project data—without adding operational complexity.