Page 109 - DCAP307_PLANNING_AND_MANAGING_IT_INFRASTRUCTURE

Unit 6: Collaboration Tools

Notes
Example: A collaborator might, “teleport” to another location on a whim, creating an
opportunity for interaction on a neutral playing field or allowing the meeting itself to become
an opportunity for creativity and exploration.

!
Caution The tools need to facilitate collaboration by making communication among
distributed participants as easy and efficient as possible.

Task Make a distinction between synchronous and asynchronous collaboration tools.

Caselet 3DLive: Collaborative Tools get New Dimension

3DLive is an add-on layer to engineering and development tools that allows collaboration
across the enterprise.
An engineer working on a product can search for details on it right from a toolbar on his
desktop. Where previously, data or textual searches would be done, which were not
intuitive and consumed precious time, this is contextual, user-friendly and throws up all
details related to the product along with a 3D diagram of it!
One can also navigate through parts — inspect, rotate, zoom and animate its subsystems
while it slowly swivels on a turntable. It also allows discussions while viewing the product,
using chat mode. With its patented Compass tool, one can see the product in action and
obtain contact information of the designer. Passive participants who want to track the
product development can use instant dashboard feature.
“Intellectual property today resides in different parts of the world. With India increasingly
becoming a hub for technology development, this helps users to connect to their counterparts
in other centres,” added Mr Andy Kalambi, VP & GM – Asia, ENOVIA, Dassault Systemes.
Drawing a parallel to map portals that have sprung up on the Web (such as Google Earth
and Wikimapia), he said that just as netizens can view satellite imagery of their towns and
homes without needing to be a geographical information systems (GIS) expert, 3DLive
would let users without technical knowledge to obtain information of granular level.
“Resources are expensive, and availability of talented engineers is an issue. This product
offers the advantage of being simple and so there is less talent needed to contribute to
product development,” said Mr. Suman Bose, Country Director, Dassault Systemes India.
Ten per cent of Dassault’s few million customers worldwide will choose to be early
adopters of this software. In India, the firm has over 500 customers. The firm has 25 per
cent market share globally.
All other products by the company — such as CATIA for virtual product design, DELMIA
for virtual production and ENOVIA for product lifecycle management — blend into 3DLive.
In the future, it will cut across competitive PLM applications and will cover all formats
used by the 11 verticals, including consumer electronics, retail, apparel, financial services,
etc. By making it available online, Dassault expects SMEs to adopt it. “We have also
lowered the total cost of expenditure by making it an online product,” said Mr Bose.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.in/bline/2007/05/07/stories/2007050701040200.htm

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