Web style intranet speeds design flow

A new concept is driving many new product development efforts. Internet time, as it is called, denotes the virtually instantaneous turnaround time that customers these days expect on an order. The Web cannot, of course, fully gratify their wish, but it does enable design engineers to operate more efficiently and faster, than ever before. With the Web's aid, product development teams dispersed around the world can collaborate in eight-hour shifts around the clock and with access to the latest information about their design resources on the Web, catalog all manner of information, streamlining the search for parts and software. Engineers need not unwittingly invent the wheel all over again but can find something suitable, and available, on the Web to build on. In particular, instruments can themselves be enabled for communication over the Web, offering both designers and customers heretofore unheard-of access to their operation.