Collaborative Internet and tools at Data Base Forum

The Groupware revolution, with its application derived from multimedia, from man-computer interfaces, etc., the theme of the DBF session of April 18th, 9.00 am, at the Ceram in Sophia Antipolis.

The new deal of collaborative work on Internet, "Groupware" tools: this will be the themes of the next Database Forum session, a meeting whivh will take place on May 18th from 9.00 am to 1.00 pm at the Ceram (Ceram 2, Amphi 139) in Sophia Antipolis. Such themes are more and more in the current events, as the "Groupware" and its tools bring a solution to the great mutation we are experiencing today in terms of working habits and organization methods.Communication and information shareIndeed it becomes more and more frequent that members of a working team are dispatched in places far from each others. Situated in different floors of a same building, inside a same country or even scattered all over the world, they do need communication tools and information share.Moreover, activities of the team can be done in real time, synchronically or not (time zone differences…). The collaborative Internet has increased from this fundamental need. There are many tools which meet parts of these needs. Many of them are tackled during this Database Forum session.These collaborative applications are often designated in English by the word "groupware". The "groupware" takes from many disciplines of information technologies and networks: multimedia, Internet, Intranet, local and spread networks, distributed systems, applications, data replication, man-computer interfaces, sociology, psychology, multi-culturality…From the shared agenda to virtual conference roomsThe main and most popular practical uses are: shared agenda, mail, telephony on Internet, chat forums, shared workspaces (with document safety) and "virtual conference rooms".Such tools open numerous new opportunities to private and public companies:- Reduction of expenses linked to trips (time and money)- Tele-training assisted by computer- Interactive forums for customers and suppliers- Reduction of telephony costs (via Internet)- Opened communication environment (traditional telephony, wireless telephony, WAP, PDAs, notebooks, Internet…).- Share of pieces of information and knowledge management- Planning and project monitoringThese subjects will be mentioned by companies and organizations which are pioneers in this industry such as Elseware, Télécommunications INSA Lyon, Fusitsu-Siemens. Moreover, some professionals will be at the roundtable conducted by Pierre Bourgeot, the director of the CERTIAM, a roundtable which will specify approaches, tools and strategies of large and small actors of the market: SUN, Microsoft, Opentext, Pagemed and the finnish company Profium set up since 1999 in Sophia Antipolis (see full program).ContactsRegistrations: Agnes Daems; e-mail: Agnes.Daems@ifi.cc; Tel./Fax: 04 92 94 59 41Free entry, up-dated contributions are required.