Flexible working is a major tool to help to ensure sustainable development and social inclusion. ACTS has made a highly significant technological contribution to furthering advanced communications in general and flexible working in particular. IST embraces a much wider remit than ACTS but is nevertheless a technological research programme, the emphasis being more on the integration and application of information and communications technologies in ways that benefit society as a whole. This wider scope enables researchers to tackle issues well outside the confines of their immediate disciplines and will lead to applications and technologies that meet the needs of 21st century users. The book initially sketches visions of new ways of flexible working and the benefits they can bring.
Vision however needs to be translated into engineering.
It goes on to highlight major achievements of various areas of ACTS which have developed and prototyped applications that will support the new generation of flexible working over the next few years. Since the networks are pivotal in supporting communications and mobility the book considers advancements in network technologies and some basic issues that remain to be addressed, in order to realise the vision. It is complementary to other ACTS publications on telework, as it provides a technological perspective and reveals new possibilities.