Enhancing a Commercial 3D CAD System by CSCW. Functionality for Enabling Co-operative Modelling via WAN

This paper presents results from a joint project with the aim to introduce advanced Computer Supported Co-operative Work (CSCW) technology to a mid-size supplier for the automotive industry by enhancing the 3D CAD system in use by CSCW functionality and enabling distributed, synchronous, co-operative modelling over a wide area network. Beside the realization of the CSCW extension we present first exprience from practical use and a cost assessment discussing the rentability of our approach.