A manager in a manufacturing company is glaring at a senior executive from one of its suppliers across a teleconferencing link. The definition is good enough for each to see the whites of the other’s eyes. The manager leans forward: “You are going to deliver these components on time, aren’t you,” he says, daring his opposite number to come up with an excuse for failing to meet his obligations.

It’s a scenario which, hopefully in less confrontational mode, could become commonplace, as new ways of working based on ubiquitous and universal connectivity – described by communications group Nortel as “hyperconnectivity” – sweep through the business world.