An application programming interface for collaborative working

Experience gained with the implementation of the IBM person-to-person desk top conferencing product, has led to these proposals for an enabling platform which supports an extensive range of collaborative applications. Four interfaces are proposed: (1) an application programming interface (API); (2) a device driver interface; (3) a resources interface; and (4) a data stream. The author discusses the requirements of the API and an architecture for the API is proposed that satisfies these requirements and allows the development of a network based real-time collaborative platform.<>