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Conclusions

Multimedia conferencing is currently at a very exciting stage. There is a plethora of activities, and a large number of different approaches. There is an emerging set of Standards - many truly appropriate, many starting to lead to convergence of approaches. The research community has a different environment, and different requirements, from the commercial services being developed by the carriers. MICE represents an important new initiative, based on the best practices of the research community. The project takes maximum advantage of the networks provided by and for that community, setting a framework which could be operated on a pan-European basis. It is taking advantage of the best practices in the US as well, and provides a link between the European and North American activities. Since the technology is used to facilitate collaboration amongst the project partners, MICE will ensure that its final product is well-tested and usable. Since MICE relies on the networks provided for the research community, the project has pushed to improve those networks suffieciently to meet the community's needs. Finally, it should have an important impact on equipment suppliers, service providers, communications carriers and the research community itself. This should be achieved through adopting the following measures:

• to use both specialised and generalised hardware;

• to incorporate both high end facilities but also reduced capabilities;

• to use both the research networks and the ISDN; to use both specialised conference rooms and ubiquitous workstations;

• to start in the more technologically advanced institutions, but to extend to less advanced institutions and less prepared countries with packaged solutions;

• to have as users researchers developing the facilities, but also those from other disciplines and from the funding bodies like JNT, DFN and the CEC itself.

• to start deploying more distributed relay facilities for all the relevant services.

The project is an extremely challenging actiivity - and at the same time highly rewarding one. Since it crosses many institutional and national boundaries, it may well create a precedent in removing such boundaries in individual countries, on both sides of the Atlantic.