These remote work centers are found on five continents, in at least twenty countries including the U.S., and in a variety of functional forms. Few of these existing centers are consistent with the emphasis of the RABO project on residential proximity with primary access being via walking, bicycling, transit and neighborhood clean fuel vehicles. Despite these differences, this review still has important lessons for the RABO and other telecommuting center projects.

Our findings suggest that the most persistent of these remote work center forms at this point are the rural telecottage and single-employer satellite office. The multiple-employer telecenter has had mixed success in demonstrations to date, possibly due to the complexity involved in implementing and operating this type of facility.

It was found that early, extensive marketing efforts are crucial to center success, as is close attentiont to the elements of site selection. Critical barriers are to the adoption of multiple-employer telecommuting centers include reluctance of employers to bear the cost of two workspaces per telecommuting employee, and managerial resistance to supervising remote employees, and concern over the security of proprietary information. In general, the concept of a multiple-use center (rather than a "pure" telecommuting center) appears to be a robust model for success in remote work facilities.