úTIúLa Rochelle ╨ France - 3:45 pm: Nicolas Faucherre, historian and author of the úTIúúTIUúCastlesúTIUúúTIú CD-ROM, published by Syrinx, is getting ready for his web-conference about ╥Archaeology and the Middle Ages╙.
Valenciennes, ChambÄry, Quimper, Djibouti, Montreal╔ 3:55 pm GMT: In several French cities, and all around the world, dozens of people are sitting down in front of their computers, inserting their Chateaux forts CD-ROM in their CD-ROM drives, and connecting to the Syrinx web site from their CDs. They enter their logins and passwords, and they are immediately on-line with Nicolas Faucherre. His voice is sent over the Internet, and his audience hears him speaking, live, from their computers' speakers.
╔ Two hundred Internet users participate in the conference. They each see, on their computer screens, the images, sketches, and virtual guided tours as the lecturer leads them through his subject over the Internet.
There is a great deal of interaction between the lecturers and his audience: each user can ask Nicolas Faucherre questions about his subject, and this real-time feedback allows him to expand on the points that his audience is most interested in.
Viroflay ╨ France - 4:00 pm: The Syrinx server is purring along smoothly. The data for this lecture is limited to small commands, of just a few bytes, that are sent between the server and the audience. Response time is as fast as when accessing the CD-ROM on the users' computers. With this type of architecture, the server can handle an unlimited number of simultaneous lectures.
Toufou ╨ 5:30 pm: Victorien, who is very interested in castles, organizes a presentation of his favorite castle (text and images), and sends it to Syrinx. Nicolas Faucherre validates this, and the presentation is immediately added to the on-line data bank. Now, any Internet user using the CD-ROM's Atlas of French Castles can see this castle as well as all the others. This is totally transparent ╨ they access content that could be either on the CD-ROM or the Syrinx web site.
úTIúWhile this application is fictional, it is not exactly science fiction. It exists. It is based on the Syrinx úTBúCarnet Multimedia¬úTBú technology. It can be used by companies wishing to train or share information with their employees, by training companies who wish to manage distance learning projects, and by any type of content provider.
úTUúOn-line and off-line digital content publishing and distributionúTUú
This technology provides an original and unique answer to the many questions raised by on-line and off-line digital content publishing and distribution.
It makes it possible for multimedia applications to be used on hybrid systems (CD, DVD) or on broadband Internet/Intranet networks, remote control over low-bandwidth networks, for applications such as distance learning and webconferencing╔ and real-time content updating.
Based on a set of clearly determined foreseeable scenarios, it provides, among others:
o Tutoring, by a virtual or human tutor, to monitor progress of a group of users as they acquire new skills;
o Reaction feedback and processing, i.e. the adaptation of the system to the user's profile;
o Confidentiality, through the use of a secure access key;
Based on a sophisticated contextual data management system, the Syrinx úTBúCarnet Multimedia¬úTBú technology uses standard software tools: a browser, such as Netscape or Internet Explorer on the client computer, Internet access, and, on the master computer, a multimedia application made with graphical, text and video data in standard formats.
This system can be purchased under license or implemented by Syrinx as part of a service package. The resulting application is accessible on every type of medium, exploiting their specific assets: CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, Internet or Intranet, broadband networks╔
úTUúNet-companiesúTUú
Syrinx úTBúCarnet Multimedia¬úTBú technology provides companies with the means to reinvent their trade and increase their efficiency by:
o opening markets with sales forces that can be quickly operational,
o inventing new forms of one-to-one and one-to-many communication,
