Argonne, Ill. (Aug. 21, 2006) - A new version of the free and popular Access Grid Toolkit developed at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, is now available for download. The Access Grid Toolkit is software that uses audio, video, data and text to enable distributed researchers to work together as if they were at the same location. The Access Grid Toolkit is now in its third release, with more than 20,000 downloads across 56 countries. The software is deployed in a wide range of applications: from college courses where the students and instructor are in different locations, to engaging worldwide interaction between scientists and experimental facilities working on fusion power, to providing doctors and specialists with the ability to examine patient scans simultaneously at multiple sites, enriching diagnostics and biomedical applications.

The Access Grid Toolkit includes Virtual Venues software and Workspace Docking software to facilitate rich collaborations including people, data, and grid computing resources, and is capable of supporting wall-sized display technology, permitting life-size display of remote collaborators, and visualization of simulations and other digital information in great detail (millions of pixels). This new version includes streamlined user interfaces, robust middleware and low-level services that enable participants to share experiences through digital media. Many of the underlying technologies have been updated or re-engineered to conform to standard Internet technologies and protocols, for a new level of robustness and interoperability.

Thomas Uram, technical lead for the Access Grid effort within the Futures Laboratory at Argonne notes that this release is more stable and more secure, and at the same time increases usability. Uram states that "The emphasis on compliance with standards and insistence on openly licensed technologies in this new version is a key differentiator for the Ac
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Contact: Eleanor Taylor
etaylor@anl.gov
630-252-5565
DOE/Argonne National Laboratory
21-Aug-2006