Microsoft Office Real-Time Communications Server 2003
Posted by Tom Warren on 27 May 2003 - 13:19 · 2 comments & 750 views
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Full name: Tom Warren
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Full name: Tom Warren
Forum name: creamhackered
Contact: via forum PM
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#1 Posted by ronaldinho2003 on 27 May 2003 - 13:26
- This is "greenwich" isn't it??? So I'm in Office 2003 system beta program... Now that this RTC server has the "office" tag.... Why didn't I got accepted to the betaprogram of greenwich????? strange..... And Why it wasn't included in the office 2003 beta 2 kit??
Microsoft Corp. today announced its Microsoft® Real-Time Communications Server (RTC Server) 2003 Standard Edition will add "Office" to its name, clearly identifying it as a member of the company's highly anticipated Microsoft Office System of programs, servers and services to be released later this year. The Microsoft Office Real-Time Communications Server is a manageable and extensible instant messaging (IM) server that enables people to communicate in real time across enterprises in a manageable and more secure way than is possible with consumer-oriented services. An extensible platform as well as an IM solution, the RTC Server will allow developers to build real-time communications capabilities into their own applications. The RTC Server is a natural fit in the Microsoft Office System, which is designed to better connect people with each other, information and business processes across an organization to transform information for business impact.
"People are rapidly adopting text instant messaging for day-to-day business use, but are currently limited to discrete consumer-oriented services," said Anoop Gupta, corporate vice president of the Real-Time Collaboration Business Unit at Microsoft. "With RTC Server deployed with other Microsoft Office System products, such as Outlook® 2003 or SharePoint (TM) Portal Server 2003, information workers will be able to send instant messages to colleagues from within the productivity applications they use every day. Collaboration in context delivers greater relevance. Collaboration in real time allows for faster resolution of issues and shorter time to decisions. It's a powerful combination we believe information workers will embrace."
HP may have picked a good time to announce the robot. Fear of flying after Sept. 11, 2001, has led to a rash of interest in videoconferencing. And the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak has put a further crimp on already sluggish business travel.
The promise of such technology is that a remote co-worker can hear the formal part of a meeting as well as participate in the chitchat within the room. Using a joystick, the distant participant can pick up on a sound in one part of a room and join in that conversation. However, those present at a meeting should be forewarned that the microphone on the robot is sensitive; hushed conversation in a corner might not be so private.
But for all its potential, the current model is still very much a work in progress. HP still has no commercial plans for the robot, which was built using a number of Windows-based PCs. Although the robot allows people to see the face of a co-worker in near-real time,there is about a one-second delay before the remotely connected colleague can be heard. And although an earlier version of the robot was designed to travel around the office via a joystick controlled by the person, HP has made the latest version static while it tries to work out some of the kinks.
HP is not unique in pursuing robots as a replacement for travel. For example, Los Angeles-based InTouch Health sees robots as a way to allow expert doctors and health care providers to be virtually at the bedside of patients that are hundreds or thousands of miles away.
But HP's lead researcher says that the company is far ahead of other such projects.
"So far the best things that have been done--they still kind of look spooky," said HP Labs researcher Norm Jouppi.
To be fair, HP's first attempt was rather off-putting in its own right--resembling a slightly bulkier version of No. 5 from the '80s movie "Short Circuit."
Mechanical engineer Stan Thomas said that when he joined the team, he noticed that people spent more time looking at the robot's shiny metal parts than at the video screen that's displaying their co-worker. Thomas helped redesign the device to have a more human-looking (and less jarring) form--the current blue, plastic model resembles a giant Lego.
People seem to like the fact that the new model doesn't have arms, Jouppi said. Although the arms on the first version allowed the robot to perform simple tasks such as pushing an elevator button, researchers say people were put off by the fact that the robot could touch things.
"They'd seen too many movies" with robots crushing things, Jouppi said.
HP wouldn't say how much such a robot could cost--though it is certain to be more than the price of a few plane tickets. The current setup for the distant co-worker uses five PCs, five cameras and a surround-sound system, creating a virtual environment. The in-office robot is made up of two PCs, a number of cameras, four directional microphones and several speakers. A high-speed 802.11a wireless network is needed at the meeting site to transmit the information back to the remote colleague.
Jouppi wishes that his pet project was already a reality.
"I'd like to have something like this," he says. "I have to go on a business trip next week for a two-hour meeting."