Commerce and services on the web are changing our lives. We can buy many things from auctions on the web and we can get a variety of services from the web. When an airbag bursts in a car, the car can inform the police, ambulance services and the car manufacturer of what occurred, and through GPS, the location. Competing companies set up inter-company task forces. Often, startup companies initially consist of a few entrepreneurs and a fluid collection of subcontractors.
Multinational companies require collaboration between groups in different countries.
Increasingly such collaboration includes joint development of complex engineering systems by groups in different countries. Engineers at different sites get together to conduct an experiment and to view results. Virtual organizations and distance collaboration are changing our lives in fundamental ways. The Center will research methods of exploiting communication and computing technologies for this purpose. Closing down a runway in Los Angeles International has ripple effects in the U.S. and even in Japan and Europe.