INDUSTRY

After a period of focused testing, inSORS Integrated Communications and Argonne National Laboratory's Mathematics and Computer Science Division have confirmed the interoperability of AG Toolkit 2.0 and inSORS IG2.0. This development is critical to support the increasing demand for collaborative application tools, supporting group-to-group collaboration across the Grid, and incorporating multimedia large-format displays, presentation and interactive environments and interfaces to Grid middleware and to visualization environments. This technical milestone uniquely addresses the Grid community's interest in the open source framework of the AG Toolkit release, combined with priority commercial features such ease of use, application enhancements, and support packages. The user community stands ready to take advantage of this integration to support diverse collaboration requirements, including distributed meetings, lectures, and training. For example, the Access Grid (AG) is used. Dr. Jonathan C. Silverstein, Director of the Center for Clinical Information at the University of Chicago Hospitals, noted that the "compatibility of the inSORS AG solution with the Argonne open source Access Grid 2.0 software is outstanding news for the biomedical community. [Doctors] now have the benefits of both worlds: open source to expedite enhancements coupled with the turn-key commercial solution enabling the functionality to collaborate. Another group active in the Access Grid community and an inSORS client has already implemented the interoperable package delivered by inSORS. The National Center for Atmospheric Research and the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research use the Access Grid technology as their primary collaboration tool. NCAR/UCAR deployed IG2.0 to several remote sites, including an inSORS custom Virtual Venue and bridging solution. NCAR/UCAR, working with inSORS and IG2.0, is dedicated to taking advantage of the AG Toolkit architecture while maintaining the specialized features provided by the inSORS software. Michael Galich, CEO of inSORS, said, "Confirming the ability to plug the unique inSORS applications and services into AG 2.0 is exciting, and a complete win-win for all concerned." He noted that collaborative software is important to inSORS customers. "The AG 2.0 platform, united with the inSORS added feature set, creates a uniquely capable and scalable collaboration platform to build on for years to come," Galich said. Some of the specialized inSORS features include improved audio and video applications, a data-sharing application-IGPix, an integrated text chat, remote control for cameras, an integrated scheduler, an integrated multicast-unicast bridge, interoperability with H323 devices and a record and playback application. These coupled with the new features of ANL's AG 2.0 release, which include data sharing and a generic framework for application integration, constitute a powerful collaboration suite. Rick Stevens, director of the Mathematics and Computer Science Division at Argonne, said he was delighted that the commercial audience for the Access Grid can easily find the additional support and features they require from inSORS. He said, "Argonne is pleased to report another successful example of technology transferred to the private sector - particularly as the Access Grid represents another triumph for the viability of open source software."