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Access Grid is a collection of resources and technologies that enables large format audio and video based collaboration between groups of people in different locations. The Access Grid is an ensemble of resources, including multimedia large-format displays, presentation and interactive environments, and interfaces with grid computing middleware and visualization environments. In simple terms, it is advanced videoconferencing using big displays and with multiple simultaneous camera feeds at each node (site). The technology was invented at Argonne National Laboratory, Chicago.
The "Alliance Chautauqua 99", a series of two-day conferences on computational science organised by the NCSA, was the first large-scale Access Grid event. The Access Grid was later demonstrated at Supercomputing'99 in Portland to an international audience.
As of 2005[update] there are well over 500 nodes around the world that allow for various forms of creative and academic collaborations. Access Grid users tend to use XMPP as their text-based back-end. Indeed, the new version of the Access Grid Toolkit integrates an XMPP client with the Access Grid software.