The project names listed in this page are considered past R&D projects because the name is no longer used in our labs. This may be because the content of the project evolved into another one or because we have changed research directions over the years and are no longer pursuing research in that field. We continue to give access to this material as our contribution to the history of computing.

XRCE was the first in the world to explore many important technologies.
In the 1990’s, we were the first to mix paper and computer screens to form a ‘digital desk’ – one of the first steps towards augmented reality. At that time, we created the concept of meta-search engines that harness the power of multiple search engines and even automatically learn to query online databases. We laid the foundations for today’s ubiquitous computing, by exploring how mobile devices could share hyperlinks and how people could retrieve information on the basis of their context. We also created distributed computing systems and web service architectures which are seeing the light today as the underlying structure for how we are doing business in an online world.

Contact: Irene Maxwell, XRCE Communications manager.