The successes of the NMIS project illustrate the potential of cooperative efforts in end to end concurrent research and development. The structure of the project resulted in a dynamic tension between the needs and experiences of the people creating and delivering the services, on one hand, and those of the people developing the technologies upon which the services depended on the other. The requirements of the prototype services were the engine which motivated further NMIS research in production and delivery technologies, as well as infrastructure improvements such as networking protocol modifications required to deliver networked video. The successful operation of the prototype services and underlying technologies served as a basis for examining the policy implications of developing an open distribution infrastructure for networked multimedia.

The success of the concurrent and cooperative approach has been most clearly manifested by the way that the majority of the individual components of the NMIS Project have generally led to significant and well recognized outcomes. In this sense, not only did NMIS address the issues that needed to be addressed, but it also fostered a broader suite of initiatives which together further the NMIS goals.

The participation of a variety of partners also proved to be a strength for the NMIS Project. A cooperative approach to the concurrent development of services and technologies accelerated the emergence of networked multimedia information services sharing of information across traditional academic and industrial boundaries as well as engaging less traditional participants, such as health care workers and educators, in the NII's creation.