An information infrastructure to share product models using STEP standard

Collaboration between multiple organizations and companies becomes an interesting way for design and manufacture of large, complex, industrial systems. Virtual Enterprise is a term often used to describe such collaborations. As a part of the collaboration, the members of a Virtual Enterprise share their expertise, software tools, and product data. The development of an Information Infrastructure is necessary for the Virtual Enterprise to manage efficiently its resources. The objective of this paper is to provide an Information Infrastructure to share product models in a collaborative environment. Firstly, we describe the virtual organisation approach and the problems of sharing data. Then we explain our Information Infrastructure based on STEP standard and the web technology. At last, we conclude and give the perspectives of our work.