The World Wide Consortium for the Grid (W2COG) -- a government development program -- in collaboration with the W2COG Institute -- a not-for-profit international, collaborative association devoted to developing and delivering practical tools that advance and support netcentric operations (NCO) for global security and commerce --  announced activity in three project themes focused on improving communications and collaboration within government agencies, private industry, academia and non-government organizations.

W2COG projects are focused on quickly integrating cutting edge information processing tools from multiple vendors and government labs in order to improve delivery of Valuable Information at the Right Time (VIRT) to operational units. W2COG, working with the W2COG Institute, will then offer the successfully demonstrated tools as "shrink wrapped" Value Off the Shelf (VOTS) solutions via convenient government procurement schedules that allow others to achieve the same improvement in similar applications.

The projects' themes are:

• Rich Semantic Track -- W2COG is facilitating an industry/government partnership working to productize emerging technology that enhances machine-to-machine communications (i.e. "semantic Web" technology). As a defense application, the idea is to allow sensors that monitor the tracks of various objects of interest -- such as missiles, ships, or individual terrorists -- to automatically "talk to" command and control and weapons systems when critical events are observed. The same VOTS software that enables this military example of VIRT can be used for peaceful VIRT applications such as enabling a medical monitoring system that tracks an elderly person's respiratory system to "talk to" an automated paramedic dispatch system in an emergency.

• Private Coalition Communications -- Compelling emergencies often force disparate organizations to work together, albeit uncomfortably. Natural disasters compel various local, national, and international government and non-government groups to deal with each other under stressful circumstances. Civil and military coalition forces are working together fighting insurgents in Iraq. In this type of situation, establishing effective communications is always an issue. W2COG has established a public/private partnership to integrate appropriate technologies to create VIRT and VOTS in these circumstances: e.g. technologies that extend internet connectivity into remote, disaster or combat areas; Web-enabled collaborative tools; and cyber security technology that allow participants to selectively keep some data private, while sharing other data.

• Network-enabled Business Process -- Business decisions are based fundamentally on issues of supply, demand, time, and money. Some domains, such as the financial sector, have implemented impressive systems that continuously monitor relevant data sources, apply business rules and provide alarms that immediately alert traders to emerging opportunities. Meanwhile, other domains, particularly within the government, continue to use laborious manual process to query the same data sources for the same information again and again and recombine it into different budget exhibits. W2COG is facilitating transferring lessons learned about network-enabled business process from early adapters in the private sector into government process.

Projects in all three themes are underway now.

"The ultimate goal of netcentric operations is to ensure that the right people get the right information at the right time," explains Rick Hayes-Roth, a W2COG founding member. "Development of this capability will be a significant step in improving the effectiveness of the coalition forces' in their counter-terrorism, peacekeeping and disaster recovery operations."

"The success of W2COG efforts in military support for humanitarian relief efforts has raised the public awareness of the critical role of the armed forces in providing not only infrastructure support, but fundamental technologies in such areas as distance learning to populations under distress," said Aaron Budgor, managing director of the W2COG Institute. "Our role in VIRT-VOTS is now providing distance learning tutoring support to students in K-12 displaced from their schools in the Gulf States of Louisiana and Mississippi."

"W2COG understands the sense of urgency surrounding the need for innovations such as VIRT," explained Geoffrey Brown, senior director of Emerging and Advanced Technologies at Oracle Corp. and a W2COG board member. "Oracle is committed to significantly advancing technology innovation. VIRT and the supporting W2COG eco-system are examples of what leveraged collaboration can deliver."

"In implementing these projects, W2COG is fulfilling its mission to create solutions-based technologies for real needs," said Chris Gunderson, director of the DoD research initiative that spawned W2COG. "When the projects are completed, we will be better able to more efficiently communicate with our active military forces, increasing safety and the probability of mission success."