Design and implementation of a Web-based distributed collaborative design environment

This paper reviews work on distributed collaborative virtual design environments and the emerging technology of metacomputing. The paper discusses the design of distributed collaborative design environments using metacomputing, for example Globus, to provide intensive data computing via an asynchronous collection of loosely synchronous components. The essential component, Globus, focuses on defining a toolkit of low-level services for security, communication, resource location, resource allocation, process management, and data access. Based on this approach, the requirements for concept, functionality and performance of the design environments are provided. The key functions in the distributed collaborative design environments such as analysis, visualisation, security and database management, particularly the 3D design storage and visualisation, are also discussed. Finally, further work on implementing Globus-based distributed collaborative design environments is highlighted.