Mobile Telepresence Services for Virtual Enterprise

The advantages of contemporary communication and information technologies based on virtual reality techniques offer for companies a totally new approach to cooperation. Use of virtual product models can be extended to product development, manufacturing, marketing, customization and selling of products for Internet based virtual enterprises. The presentation addresses how the virtual product models and personal mobile telepresence may be utilized as means of communication between product design, manufacturing, marketing and sales. In this paper we offer an approach to adding aspects of distribution, mobility and augmented reality to telecooperation in virtual enterprise, discuss the technology and potential future product concept vision, the CyPhone, and some user scenarios and potential services. Finally, a survey about relevant telecooperation services is presented. In addition to various telepresence based services also several augmented reality based services has been identified with potential to enhance groupwork in co-located teams. 1 Internet Virtual Enterprise Concept Electronic commerce is expected to reduce coordination costs in the value chain of manufacturing and sales of products and thus holds promise to increase trade volumes. This can already be seen to take place in the Internet markets with relatively simple products. In this paper the prerequisites for electronic commerce for non-bulk, value-added intelligent products, such as electronics and telecommunication products, are analyzed. When compared with bulk products, there are many challenges in electronic commerce for such intelligent products, as product search and evaluation, customer needs and product matching, product configuration, and agile manufacturing of differentiated products based on customer order. Virtual reality technique in product marketing, customization and selling might be used, for instance, in: • Providing an Internet virtual salesroom where potential customers may experiment various product features and ultimately also make product purchases. • Interactive customization of products through Internet before ordering and delivering, e.g., color and shape of products may be selected from a predefined set of alternatives, customer may also pick up options from the list of additional features or even propose new features. • Collecting user preferences in "customer clinics" for guiding development towards products with higher customer appeal and satisfaction. • Presenting and launching leading-edge products prior to physical products being available through manufacturing and sales channels. A scenario of the different ways of utilizing virtual product models in the various phases of product development, manufacturing, marketing and sales is described below (cf. Figure 1 Virtual product models in the context of the value chains of a virtual enterprise.) in the context of the different value chains connected to the virtual enterprise [1]. Virtual prototyping models offer an entirely new perspective for electronic commerce on the Internet since they provide a strong sense of reality and the means to test the model of a product through meaningful interaction. All-digital prototypes resemble their physical counterparts as close as possible in terms of visual three-dimensional images, behavioral, haptic and auditory characteristics. On-line trial of the goods could also be offered, which means that the customers browsing in an Internet salesroom can test operations of a virtual prototype which is simulated like its physical counterpart.