Title:	The Innovative Researcher Testbed
Authors:  Leskiw, Donald M., Harris, Stewart, Cheng, Gang

The Innovative Research Testbed implements the concept of a 
"collaboratory" -- a term coined by W. A. Wulf to combine the functions 
of collaboration and laboratory.  Tools consisting of software modules 
and building blocks are being developed that will provide researchers 
with concurrent application interoperability, network communications, and 
video conferencing among distributed PCs and workstations.  These tools 
are inherently Dual-Use; the challenge of enabling remote or distributed 
interaction among instruments, colleagues, and data is common to both 
scientific research and military C3I/battle management.  To ensure the 
widest possible portabilty, the Microsoft family of Windows-based 
operating systems was selected as the testbed environment: Windows, 
Windows for Workgroups, and Windows/NT.  The testbed has already been 
used to provide researchers access to special analog neural computers at the
NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  An instance of its use is being planned 
between the Northeast Parallel Architectures Center of Syracuse University 
and Beijing, China.