Linden Lab Launches New Program
On November 4 Linden Lab, the creators of Second Life, launched Second Life Enterprise (SL Enterprise). Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon announced the new SL Enterprise at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference in San Francisco.
The conference itself was a demonstration of how the virtual world can be used in business. Two contributors spoke at the conference through Second Life and the conference was broadcast to Second Life and web viewers.
Linden Lab is a company that uses new technology which is changing the way people communicate, interact and learn according to Linden Research, Inc. In 2003, the company launched Second Life, a 3D virtual world. In this virtual world, users are able to interact with people from all over the world through the avatars that they create. SL Enterprise follows this same concept but will be geared toward businesses and organizations who want the advantages of a virtual world workspace.
Every imaginable activity that is done in business is done in the virtual world space, Kingdon said. He said collaboration between co-workers is becoming increasingly expensive. There are high costs associated with traveling in a workforce that is becoming more global, SL Enterprise can help lower these costs, he said.
IBM is one of 14 organizations who are already using SL Enterprise. Neil Katz, an IBM Distinguished Engineer and a member of the IBM Academy for Technology, said IBM held a conference in Second Life that saved the company more than $320,000. “In this day, when it’s just that much harder to get together, we see using this for meetings where it gives a very immersive and interactive experience that you can’t get by other means….” Katz said IBM is running a virtual event every day.
SL Enterprise runs behind the firewall, which means company officials can selectively choose who can access their work spaces. This product is the result of customers, said Kingdon. Employees can now use their real names and administrators can “invite” who they want to have access to their workspace. Businesses can have 800 avatars in their virtual workspace at the same time.
Companies that buy SL Enterprise, buy prepackaged content. There are meeting spaces, conference rooms, 3D collaboration tools for presentations and many more products.
Through SL Enterprise companies can use innovative tools.
Steven Aguiar, an electrical engineer at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC), said the NUWC uses SL Enterprise for scenario simulations as well as classroom learning. Aguiar said vehicles can be replicated in the virtual world and they also use it to simulate tactical missions. “So we’re not replacing all our training content; we’re augmenting it with the Virtual World capacities.”
Not everyone who is introduced to SL Enterprise accepts it right away, said Aguiar. He has given demonstrations of the product multiple times and some people do not understand it. But once people get past that first introduction, they often go from not accepting the technology to being one of its biggest advocates, he said.
Kingdon said, “I think that the virtual world space is incredibly rich, with possibility, because every aspect of a company’s business can be enhanced by the virtual world space, and we’re at the very, very beginning….”
According to a Gartner Study done in May 2008, by 2012 more than 70 percent of organizations will use private Virtual Worlds to support collaboration within their business.
On November 4 Linden Lab, the creators of Second Life, launched Second Life Enterprise (SL Enterprise). Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon announced the new SL Enterprise at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference in San Francisco.
The conference itself was a demonstration of how the virtual world can be used in business. Two contributors spoke at the conference through Second Life and the conference was broadcast to Second Life and web viewers.
Linden Lab is a company that uses new technology which is changing the way people communicate, interact and learn according to Linden Research, Inc. In 2003, the company launched Second Life, a 3D virtual world. In this virtual world, users are able to interact with people from all over the world through the avatars that they create. SL Enterprise follows this same concept but will be geared toward businesses and organizations who want the advantages of a virtual world workspace.
Every imaginable activity that is done in business is done in the virtual world space, Kingdon said. He said collaboration between co-workers is becoming increasingly expensive. There are high costs associated with traveling in a workforce that is becoming more global, SL Enterprise can help lower these costs, he said.
IBM is one of 14 organizations who are already using SL Enterprise. Neil Katz, an IBM Distinguished Engineer and a member of the IBM Academy for Technology, said IBM held a conference in Second Life that saved the company more than $320,000. “In this day, when it’s just that much harder to get together, we see using this for meetings where it gives a very immersive and interactive experience that you can’t get by other means….” Katz said IBM is running a virtual event every day.
SL Enterprise runs behind the firewall, which means company officials can selectively choose who can access their work spaces. This product is the result of customers, said Kingdon. Employees can now use their real names and administrators can “invite” who they want to have access to their workspace. Businesses can have 800 avatars in their virtual workspace at the same time.
Companies that buy SL Enterprise, buy prepackaged content. There are meeting spaces, conference rooms, 3D collaboration tools for presentations and many more products.
Through SL Enterprise companies can use innovative tools.
Steven Aguiar, an electrical engineer at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC), said the NUWC uses SL Enterprise for scenario simulations as well as classroom learning. Aguiar said vehicles can be replicated in the virtual world and they also use it to simulate tactical missions. “So we’re not replacing all our training content; we’re augmenting it with the Virtual World capacities.”
Not everyone who is introduced to SL Enterprise accepts it right away, said Aguiar. He has given demonstrations of the product multiple times and some people do not understand it. But once people get past that first introduction, they often go from not accepting the technology to being one of its biggest advocates, he said.
Kingdon said, “I think that the virtual world space is incredibly rich, with possibility, because every aspect of a company’s business can be enhanced by the virtual world space, and we’re at the very, very beginning….”
According to a Gartner Study done in May 2008, by 2012 more than 70 percent of organizations will use private Virtual Worlds to support collaboration within their business.
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