Educational institutions have been familiar with person-to-person (P2P) file-sharing applications ever since the advent of Napster.  Because student usage of such applications has largely focused on downloading MP3 files, P2P has grown to have a negative connotation, and has really become synonymous with bandwidth utilization.

However, P2P applications encompass more than just music downloading applications.  Moreover, they have a striking characteristic: they need no server.  Ray Ozzie, creator of the popular Lotus Notes groupware, saw an opportunity here and founded Groove Networks, Inc.  Shortly thereafter, Groove launched its product "Virtual Office," a collaborative business software package using P2P technology.  With Virtual Office, members of a team can work together - either online or offline - without the need of a server, and without needing to be present in the same physical location.  Virtual Office handles the process of synchronizing documents among team members such that they are all working with the latest copy.

Does this mark the beginning of useful P2P applications?  Does it herald the end of the traditional file server as we know it?  Only time will tell.

Groove Networks can be found online at:
http://www.groove.net/