Enterprise Software

Photos: Microsoft's workplace of the future

By // March 12, 2007, 12:01 AM PST // billdetwiler

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  • Tom Gruver, group program manager for the Center for Information Work (CIW), sitting at a workstation with a curved glass StraTech monitor and a wireless keyboard and mouse.

    Daniel Sheehan Photography

  • CIW's DigiDesk workstation (seen with Tom Gruver) is operable by touch screen.

    Daniel Sheehan Photography

  • A dual-monitor workstation with integrated Tablet PC and Smartphone are just some of the multidevice wireless-integration devices that CIW envisions for the future workplace.

    Daniel Sheehan Photography

  • Physical objects like the PDA (personal digital assistant) and Webcam at this workstation will be labeled with RFID (radio frequency identification) tags and other metadata technology for automatic identification and syncing.

    Daniel Sheehan Photography

  • Microsoft's RoundTable, a multivenue video conferencing system due for release in 2007, came from CIW prototypes.

    Daniel Sheehan Photography

  • CIW uses the scenario of a pharmaceutical company dealing with pharmacies, government compliance, manufacturing and other chain links to illustrate new cross-enterprise software capabilities.

    Daniel Sheehan Photography

  • Microsoft sees Tablet PCs as a possible tool for biometric logins--authentications employing things like fingerprints and handwriting--in place of usernames and passwords.

    Daniel Sheehan Photography

  • CIW includes a mock hotel room used to illustrate the possibility of collaboration and communications from remote locations. A pharmaceutical company representative, for example, could participate in a video conference from her Tablet PC.

    Daniel Sheehan Photography

Tom Gruver, group program manager for the Center for Information Work (CIW), sitting at a workstation with a curved glass StraTech monitor and a wireless keyboard and mouse.

Daniel Sheehan Photography

Related Topics:

Enterprise Software CXO Microsoft Google Open Source Software Tech Industry

By Bill Detwiler

Bill Detwiler is Editor in Chief of TechRepublic and Tech Pro Research and the host of Cracking Open, CNET and TechRepublic's popular online show. Prior to joining TechRepublic in 2000, Bill was an IT manager, database administrator, and desktop supp...