Business travelers keep their feet on the ground Videoconferencing, telecommuti

>From USA Today:

A semi-grounded future will:

* Replace travel with technologies. ''Reluctance to travel could be the
tipping point where people say, 'Let's try that videoconferencing,' '' says
Elliott Masie, president of the Masie Center, a technology think tank in
Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

''Videoconferencing has been around several dozens of years, but at most
companies, the videoconference equipment is in the boardroom. You have to
make an appointment to use it, test the links and so on. In my company, we
have videoconferencing set up near the coffee pot,'' Masie says. ''We can
have an Internet videoconference on our laptops using $60 cameras.''

Internet video and audio presentations ''have been growing, and after this
(Sept. 11) event, everybody in the company is saying, 'How do I get it? When
do I get trained?' '' says Lori DeFurio of Seneca Falls, N.Y., who works for
Adobe Systems, the No. 2 software firm. ''There's fear (of flying), of
course, but it's also access to flights. The airlines don't know from day to
day what flights are canceled. The air system might not be unsafe, but it's
unstable,'' DeFurio says.

The full story is at:

 http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20010926/3483034s.htm


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