DATELINE–Munich

Imagine sitting down to work at your computer and exchanging pleasant comments with a co-worker who is sitting beside you. Then, you both begin working on the same task while using the same computer through two different keyboards and separate mouse-like input devices. As the hours pass, the two of you more than double your team’s productivity while decreasing the health risks associated with discrete single-user computing.

This idyllic scene was painted for nearly 200 business executives and members of the press by CompVivere S.p.A., an industrial design firm based in Milan, Italy, at a recent trade expo in Munich. The product, Hands3, is a revolutionary computer and operating system that allows up to three people to literally share the same computer.

In the past, networking software and hardware has permitted groups of users to share the same files and, sometimes, even collaborate in real-time on a single task. But what sets CompVivere’s Hands3 machine apart from previous attempts at tackling collaboration in the digital workplace is its focus on the physical shape and form of the computer interface.

Designed by CompVivere’s chief engineer Paolo Feieraben in collaboration with system architects at IBM, the Hands3 computer consists of a circular CPU tower that drives up to four monitors and three keyboards at the same time. The Loom, Hands3’s input device, is equally cutting edge. It combines a laser pointer and hand-held mouse unit and can be adjoined with two additional units to create a device that can be held and used by two people simultaneously.

“It’s like a two-man saw only it cuts through paperwork,” quips Feieraben. “There was no sense in making a multi-user keyboard when we can just multiply their number…The real innovation came with the Hands3 Loom.”

While the Loom was undeniably the showstopper at the Munich expo, the possibility that a new type of computer is on the horizon has the high-tech industry abuzz. Despite its European design pedigree, the Hands3 project is not another gimmicky facelift intended to reinvigorate the flagging sales of a moribund brand. In fact, the origins of the Hands3 can be traced back to an even earlier – then revolutionary – paradigm shift in computing as mainframes gave way to personal computers.

It was in the mid-1980’s that CompVivere began working on the Hands3 project as a response to complaints from the manufacturing and industrial engineering sectors. Frederico Rogrezzi, co-founder and CFO of CompVivere, recalls those early years of frustration among programmers who had a difficult time making the transition.

“The first 30 years of programming,” explains Rogrezzi, “meant groups of engineers working together in the same room, sometimes at the same console, arguing about the same problem. As terminals replaced these single consoles and finally PC’s replaced terminals, all of those group dynamics were lost.”

Feieraben’s team of designers worked closely with industrial psychologists and anthropologists to study the interactions that take place between co-workers in the office. The eight-year investigation found scientific evidence that confirmed their clients’ aversion to the PC.

“While some tasks were better executed by individual workers at isolated workstations, other tasks – indeed, many – could only be completed after a series of errors were made and misunderstandings resolved,” says Feieraben. “Finally, it took up to 10 times as long to figure out certain problems when team members were divided at separate stations even if they all shared the same office space.”

But even if the Hands3 computer system is a hit with specialized computer users like students, artists, and scientists, there’s little guarantee that it will be able to usurp the dominant market position of the personal computer.

Indeed, the first generation of Hands3 computers were already being tested in the early 90’s, although this version was little more than a network of two computers physically fused together. But at the time computer manufacturers had no interest in developing a single computing system that could tolerate two users pulling at it from opposite ends.

Srini Kumar, a senior analyst with Robertson Stephens & Co., believes it’s remarkable that the Hands3 project may enter the marketplace at all. “From the ’80’s on, it’s been a highly competitive climate for computer makers with strong emphasis on unit sales,” avers Kumar. “The idea has always been to sell two computers to every one person, not one computer for two people.”

A beaming Rogrezzi is more optimistic. After nearly 20 years of research and development, his firm may be on the verge of making computing history. The Hands3 is slated to ship in the fall of 1999 and is counting on an already favorable response from industrial and academic users to insure a strong debut.

“We’re very satisfied with the Hands3,” says Rogrezzi, “At the very least, there’s going to be a few less stranded computer users in the world.”