Sun's Collaborative Environments Overview

Sun is doing some very cool things with Virtual World Technology. The low-down and "Project Overview" - "The Collaborative Environments project is aimed at improving the experience of distributed workers. Since distance between coworkers usually equates to less effective teams and inadequate project outcomes, our goal is to use technology to bridge the distance between people. By providing more effective communication tools, we enable distributed coworkers to develop relationships that are so important to increasing trust, improving worker satisfaction, and solidifying loyalty to the organization. The project was formed in 2003 to experiment with ways to decrease the distance between distributed people by creating software that provides a sense of "virtual co-location." A theme that runs through the prototypes we have created is the use of high-fidelity communication channels. In all cases, people's voices can be transmitted using CD-quality stereo audio. This capability, embodied in our SunTM Labs Voice Bridge, dramatically improves the user experience.here http://research.sun.com/projects/dashboard.php?id=85 Here are some additional details about the prototype I am most interested in "MPK20: Sun's Virtual Workplace" http://research.sun.com/projects/mc/mpk20.html "MPK20 is a 3D virtual environment designed to enhance business collaboration. Like people in the Sun Labs' physical office building, Menlo Park building #16 (a.k.a. "MPK16"), people in the MPK20 virtual world can conduct business, interact with team members, and have chance encounters with colleagues, all using natural voice interaction. Most importantly, real work can be accomplished within MPK20. People can create, edit, and share documents within the virtual world.MPK20:
Sun's Virtual Workplace On any given day, over 50% of Sun's workforce is remote. MPK20 is a virtual 3D environment in which employees can accomplish their real work, share documents, and meet with colleagues using natural voice communication. Just like on Sun's physical Menlo Park campus, known as "MPK," inhabitants of the virtual MPK20 office building can work together in planned meetings, or can talk informally in unplanned encounters. Unlike the physical campus, however, in MPK20, the community can be built and maintained without the constraints of physical location.