From a user's point of view, CVW provides a persistent virtual space within which applications, documents and people are directly accessible in rooms, floors and buildings. From a technical point of view, it is a framework for integrating diverse collaborative capabilities. To a user, a CVW is a building that is divided into floors and rooms, where each room provides a context for communication and document sharing. If users choose to communicate through audio, video or text, then the communication session is established automatically for them.
Users can also lock rooms and communicate privately within and between rooms.
Rooms are also the basis for document sharing. Persistence is supported because the rooms exist even when no one is in them. Consequently, the document remains in the room for future visitors to see until some authorized user moves or deletes it. It also tracks information about who has edited a document and when, and allows each editor to summarize changes upon saving. Each room provides context for collaborations within it.