TOOLS INTRODUCED INTO ERDC MSRC -- C/C

Tango Interactive

Tango Interactive is a Java-baed web collaboratory developed by NPAC
at Syracuse University (with initial funding from AF Rome Lab).  It is
implemented with standard Internet technologies and protocols, and
runs inside an ordinary Netscape or Internet Explorer (in testing)
browser window.  Tango delivers real-time multimedia content in an
authentic two-way interactive format.  Tango was originally designed
to suppport collaborative workgroups, though synchronous distance
education and training, which can be thought of as a highly structured
kind of collaboration, had become one of the key application areas of
the system.

The primary Tango window is called the Control Application (CA).  From
the CA, participants have access to many tools, including:

o SharedBrowser, a special-purpose web browser window that "pushes"
web documents onto remote client workstations.

o Whiteboard, for interactive text and graphics display.

o Several different kinds of chat tools.

o BuenaVista, for two-way audio/video conferencing.

Tango has been deployed for some time at the ERDC MSRC and at Jackson
State University for use in joint Syracuse-Jackson State distance
education work begun in Year 2.  More recently, Tango Interactive has
been used to deliver PET trainings, through installations at all four
of the MSRCs and other sites as well.

During Year 4, a substantial investment has been made in the Tango
Interactive system to improve its user interface, increase security,
and expand functionality towards a "virtual community" model.  These
efforts resulted in the release of Tango Interactive 2.0 in January
2000, with additional improvements in version 2.1 at the end of Year
4.