Military and civilian applications of virtual co-location and collaborative environments and associated technologies

There is a growing interest and need to establish and deploy virtual co-location and collaborative environments in which individuals and groups can interact with each other remotely and in real-time. Today's desktop videoconferencing technology does not provide all the necessary components and the flexibility needed to design, integrate, and establish multi-point multi-platform, interenterprise collaborative environments in an economic and efficient manner. This paper presents a summary of our efforts and experiences in designing, integrating establishing, and evaluating virtual co-location and collaborative environments using today's existing desktop videoconferencing tools and products from a variety of sources.