Smashing the Cubicles

The quick expansion of social and mobile technologies is creating a widely distributed workforce. To better suit employees who come into offices more sporadically, some companies and design firms are testing radically new?and more efficient?configurations for physical offices, and betting that improved technology will make the experiment more successful than similar ones in the 1990s.

A project at the headquarters of Cisco Systems in San Jose, California, for example, overthrows decades-old conventions about office space. Called Connected Workplace, it replaces individual cubicles with open clusters of wheeled desks that belong to groups, not individuals; personal belongings are largely confined to lockers.

There are no PCs at the desks, because the employees who use the space use mobile technologies, including the Cius tablet, which Cisco recently began selling to businesses. Rick Hutley, a Cisco vice president, chooses his desk according to which colleagues are present and what's on the day's agenda. Then he docks his Cius to a port on the desk that includes a phone handset.  The tablet handles voice and video calls whether it's docked or mobile, and it can be used to share documents at meetings.

It can also be plugged into a monitor and keyboard to be used like a full PC. "You can walk around with your entire world with you in this device," Hutley says. "My laptop would often stay on my desk, but the tablet never does." If he needs to make a private voice or video call, he can step into one of the rooms at the edges of the cluster.

Employees can also participate in the company's corporate social network, Quad, which is accessible on the Web or through the iPhone, iPad, or Cius. People can post meeting requests, give status updates on projects, and quickly get in touch via instant messages, voice calls, or e-mail.

Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed | Amazon Plugin | Settlement Statement | WordPress Tutorials

Source: http://feeds.technologyreview.com/click.phdo?i=c7775e51901aa0c233bdd6e373f1f76f

lasso of truth terrence j most popular thanksgiving side dish the game bet lights out nyc school closings scelestious stephanie seymour and son david nelson the chipmunks