[AG-TECH] Is Retreat broadcasted on AG ??

[Satish Devarapalli]

hi all,

I am just wondering to know if this Retreat is broadcasted on AG. ( Infact
the AG is all about attending this conferences virtually from our home place.
)

-Satish

-- Original Message --

>Randy,
>
>These are all good topics to be addressed at the retreat.  We will be
>organizing the retreat around a set of topics and I think we have most
>of these items mapped to one or more of the sessions (we just need folks
>willing to talk about them now :-).. 
>
>On Fri, 4 Jan 2002, Randy Groves wrote:
>
>> Mary's note to submit topics for the retreat has got me thinking.  Some
>
>> views from my knothole (with all the restrictions in view that implies).
>> 
>> There has been a good bit of interest in AG technology internally here
>at 
>> Boeing.
>> 
>> There are some pieces that I haven't heard much about - perhaps I haven't
>
>> been looking in the
>> right places.  But I think that they are important, and maybe necessary,
>
>> for this technology to compete here with our present video conferencing
>
>> setups.  Please excuse any ignorance here - I don't claim to be an expert
>
>> in this.
>> 
>> Is there any work being done on whiteboard facilities for the AG?
>> 
>> Better (or any) integration with (I know - most people don't like it,
>but 
>> it's a given here at Boeing) NetMeeting?  Or with other video conferencing
>
>> packages (Tandberg, Polycom)?
>
>
>A strategy that has is under discussion at ANL about how to do this is
>via one or more network service gateways that would support
>interoperability without requiring the AG to down feature.  I think this
>is a very good topic for discussion.  It is coming up often.  Another
>package in the research community that is used a lot is VRVS which would
>need a similar gateway.  At the same time we would like to keep pushing
>the AG upward in capability so the issue of gateways will become even more
>critical in the future.
>
>> 
>> Is there some sort of SDK being worked on that would allow developers
>to 
>> more easily add new features to the AG set?  For instance, our engineers
>
>> work with Catia - a tool that could 'wrap' Catia in some way would be
>a 
>> definite plus.
>
>Yes.  We (ANL) have starting documenting a set of interfaces and reference
>architectures that would in principle enable groups to add functionality
>to the AG services (Node, Venue, etc.)  This area needs a lot of work and
>we hope to have some white papers to distribute that will help focus the
>discussion along these lines.  Ideally we need to get two or three groups
>working together on this.  Another focus for this type of discussion is
>the Global Grid Forum working group on Advanced Collaboration
>Environments.  I would be very interested in talking to you more about
a
>specific project to wrap Catia as I think it could be used as a model for
>some other high-impact applications tools.  
>
>
>> 
>> While I definitely applaud the effort to keep this in the open source
>realm 
>> - and I think that this should be continued - it seems to me that packages
>
>> like vic and rat are somewhat showing their age.  Is there any effort
>
>> (outside of Microsoft's) to re-do these?  In Java for instance?
>
>Yes. We share your view on this.  One alternative that we are looking at
>seriously is the OpenMASH toolkit.
>
>> 
>> I was talking to Lisa today about Voyager and there were some streams
>from 
>> the recent SCGlobal (VR streams and others) that were not recorded. 
I
>
>> don't understand all the details - but it seems one of the problems is
>one 
>> of identification and/or standard info in the packets.  Is there any
work
>
>> being done to standardize that?
>
>This is an important area to look at.  RTP provides lots of flexibility
>here.
>
>
>> 
>> I know that the AG was initially created, and still is pointed toward
>
>> supporting, large groups in collaboration.  A good bit of the interest
>we 
>> have here internally is toward the other end of the spectrum, even down
>to 
>> the desktop.  Perhaps this is a good area of research for a spin-off

>> working group?  I would definitely like to hear people's experiences
in
>
>> this realm at the retreat (Johnson & Johnson come to mind).
>
>
>We are planning on having an Industry Forum session at the retreat that
>would be perfect for a series of talks on the needs from Boeing, Johnson
>and Johnson etc.
>
>
>> 
>> Usability is another issue that I know people are working on, but it
will
>
>> be one that will come up in internal efforts.  I can see training the
>
>> people to become node ops, but I can't see training an executive as a
>node 
>> op.  The Tandberg or something similar still wins out here.
>
>Amen!
>
>
>> 
>> (I retreat, after having poked the anthill ...)
>> 
>> -randy
>> 
>
>--Rick 
>
>
>> 
>
>