It's a while now, since I spent time on these standards and keeping up with the conference papers. This is one of the approaches that was in development, not so long ago.

It is an alternative method to STEP-File for the exchange of data according to ISO 10303.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_10303-28

The comment that I would like to make in passing, is just that a distinction between 'client' computer and 'server' computer, is really hard to find in this type of world of electronic fabrication. That is why you notice desktop applications running on systems, that really don't conform to your typical requirements for desktop applications. And there has to be a reason for that. It's basically, because these applications used in fabrication and engineering, they're running host to a lot of sub-applications (namely, representations of the objects that your trying to manufacture). And those sub-applications in turn, are running host to an awful lot of communication with other processes, that exist outside of the limits of the physical desktop machine.

So the application that your running on your desktop, ends up being itself a pretty complex database server. It's not a 'client' application, in the normal sense. It's carrying a way more task load, and it's only increasing all of the time. It's not that you're designing something through an interface, you press print and all of the fabrication related data, flows in one way, down to the printer. It's all of the transactions that happen before that, is the really computational intensive part.