E TRAINING Most companies with more than 100 employees make use of computer-based training. As the term distance learning describes video-enabled instruction in an academic environment, the term distance training connotes video-enabled instruction in an organizational environment. Global competition and the increasing rate of change combine to make training workforces increasingly difficult for business, Video Communication Applications industry, and government institutions alike. Although traveling-shows can be an efficient way to train employees in remote cities, reaching all cities in this manner takes time. Video communication enables simultaneous, instantaneous, training no matter where people may be. One of the nation's largest freight rail operators, Conrail, uses video communication to train a management team that is dispersed across five states. Training that used to take two days now takes two hours and includes valuable interactive discussion between instructors and employees. Wilson Learning (Eden Prairie, Minnesota) uses video communication equipment to offer its suite of corporate training courses (including sales and sales management, customer service, and supervisory skills) to nearly any point in the world. The World Bank conducts virtual seminars. Through video communication on the Internet, the organization unites individuals who are addressing similar or related issues but are in such geographically separated locations as South Africa, Russia, and Egypt. The World Bank first installed room-based videoconferencing systems, but found desktop video to be less expensive, more convenient, and adaptable, and better suited for communications between small ad hoc groups. PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENTS Many companies use videoconferences to introduce products to their sales forces before the products hit the market. In 1982, Champion Spark Plug used video communication to introduce a new product in what was, at the time, the largest business meeting ever held. Approximately 30,000 automotive parts sales represe