Distributed collaborative design and manufacture in the cloud-motivation, infrastructure, and education

The Internet, the World Wide Web, and globalization are continuing to induce new paradigms of enterprise business models and product realization processes. One characteristic of a vertically integrated enterprise (VIE) is that most, if not all, aspects of the enterprise are under one roof. The VIE's product families are designed, developed, manufactured, sold, and distributed by assets owned by the enterprise. However, products in many domains have become increasingly complex and technologically sophisticated, in both their design and manufacturing. Consequently, researchers and practitioners from industry are continuously looking for more effective and efficient ways of product design and manufacturing, which can help engineers capture and reuse information and knowledge as well as, help managers ensure the coherence of various engineering and business functions across internal and external organizational collaborations.