Sarah is sitting on her sofa at home, working on the year-end accounts with help from her colleague Alan. Alan is at the head office today but she can see him perfectly through one half of her Virtual window, which sits alongside her mantlepiece, while the other half shows their shared spreadsheet.

Alan appears lifesize on the large screen. Having him there means that team working is just as easy as if Sarah had driven the 40 minutes to work to be there in person.

She wonders what Tom is up to. He's also helping to get the accounts together but Sarah's not sure where he's working today. No matter, she just asks the virtual window to find him, and a desk in a telehub in Berkshire, near where he lives, appears in front of her.

He's not at his desk but she can see he's been making good progress. So she decides to break for lunch, switches the virtual window off and it reverts to a mirror inset into the wall of her living room.

She likes going into the office on occasion to meet up with colleagues, especially when there are drinks planned after work, but often it just feels like a waste of time. By working at home, or working from her local telehub, she can see more of the kids and has time in the evening to teach water polo at the pool or do the gardening.

She certainly doesn't miss the commute, and can save the road for pleasure-driving. The electric car awaits, charging in the garage.

She's looking forward to a long holiday. It's all planned out: Airstream to Montreal and then three weeks walking in Quebec.

The office suites and virtual windows on board mean that she can carry on working as normal throughout, while the kids are playing or catching up on study. The difference is that when she knocks off she can go and sip a cocktail on deck and watch the sun go down over the ocean.