A Transatlantic Research and Development Environment

Internet has undone what Columbus discovered 500 years ago: It has made the earth flat once again. —Daniel Lynch quoted in The Unpredictable Certainty 1 W hy do we need global virtual environ-ments? Consider: Our world is entering an age where our current understanding of telecommunications and graphics computing is constantly challenged. For instance, the universal advancement of network and graphics technology, new business models, and global infrastructure development are transforming the solitary, platform-centric 3D computing model. With the availability of global information highways, 3D graphical intercontinental collaboration will become a part of our daily work routine. Already, world class auto makers are attempting to reduce car development time to two-year cycles, enlisting global engineering teams. However, this process requires new tools such as shared 3D CAD and distributed product data management systems. 2 Our organizations, the Fraunhofer Center for Research in Computer Graphics (CRCG) in the United States and the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics (IGD) in Germany, are looking ahead into this new age by establishing a transcontinental computer graphics research effort (see Figure 1) and a proposed G-7 testbed. We are studying how 3D computer graphics and virtual environments can aid global collaborative work. We have focused our research efforts on determining how computer networks can transform the distributed workplace into a shared environment, allowing real-time interaction among people and processes without regard to their location. Our research is part of a long-term project—the Transatlantic Research and Development Environment (Trade)—that lets us s identify key research and development topics for global VEs, s define and select experiments that use the benefits of 3D environments and high-speed digital networks, s establish an intercontinental distributed testbed for gaining operational experience and management practice, s deliver input for defining a standard set of services for common and open use, s obtain measurement and performance results and overall system evaluations, and s develop global VEs for research and development, industrial, and commercial applications. Research Much needs to be studied. In the 1995 report, " Virtual Reality: Scientific and Technological Challenges, " 3 the National Research Council surveyed key challenges in VR technology and research. Years of effort on distributed interactive 3D graphics applications have clearly identified networking issues as the critical bottlenecks preventing the creation of large-scale VEs as ubiquitously as home-page space on the Web. Those years have also produced important component technologies such as VRML and Java. We believe …