As travel budgets are squeezed and slashed in the recession, companies are increasingly seeking innovative ways of bringing employees together for conferences and meetings remotely.

Virtual community Second Life is seeking to tap into that market by creating a new tool that allows businesses to have virtual meetings on their own computer networks.

The company’s Enterprise tool will let employees’ avatars — animated alter egos — meet in virtual worlds from the privacy of a company’s own network, rather than the public networks used in standard Second Life. That extra security could encourage more companies to take up the technology.

The ability to collaborate effectively using virtual tools may now become an increasingly important skill as technology offers more options than, say, video conferencing.

According to Linden Lab, creators of Second Life, more than 1,400 organizations — including large companies, educational institutions, government agencies and even the U.S. military — use Second Life to hold meetings, conduct training and prototype new technologies more efficiently.

eOffice runs it’s own Business Package for businesses looking to get into Second Life, saving the time and cost otherwise neccessary for entry level startups – for just £99 a month and a £499 setup fee you could see your business showcased in Second Life alongside others. For more details on the benefits of this package and to discover eOffice’s own Virtual Reality Conferencing and Meeting facilities visit myeOffice.net and browse through the Tour and Business sections.

Linden Lab says 14 companies are currently using Enterprise in its beta phase. One of those companies is IBM, which is an old hand when it comes to Second Life.

Rashik Parmar, IBM’s chief technology officer for Europe, told CNN that last year about 350 of its technical leaders from around the world met for 72 hours via Second Life to brainstorm about new technologies.

“We had a whole range of environments, from auditoriums and collaboration pods to social areas where the avatars could pick up a beer around a log fire, or walk around a sculpture park and talk,” Parmar told CNN.

IBM sells its own virtual meeting tool, Sametime 3D, which allows businesses to share ideas and collaborate in a 3D world, and the company is currently testing a more advanced version of the product.

Parmar told CNN that he recently held a meeting with 12 technical leaders from across Europe and Asia. While that would typically involve flying everyone to a central location, he said the meeting was held using the new Sametime 3D.

“Not only did we save travel time, but because the environment was so engaging, a lot more ideas came through,” he said.

But virtual collaboration doesn’t only involve virtual worlds. Tools like “Dropbox” allow online file storage and sharing, while “Basecamp” lets users to collaborate on projects online.

“Google Wave” was announced in May, but is currently only available by invitation. It’s a real-time communication tool that allows, among other things, multi-user conversations and file sharing, and it could become a staple of virtual collaboration.

But if companies are to make the most of virtual collaboration, employees will have to learn that what works a bricks-and-mortar workplace may not be right for the virtual world.

Surinder Kahai is associate professor at Binghamton University School of Management, New York. He told CNN, “I’ve seen people mess up completely because they think that what works in a face-to-face environment also works in a virtual environment.”

He says one problem is that virtual teams may not share national and organizational cultures, and that virtual workers should make a conscious effort to see things from their colleagues’ point of view. Share your stories from Second Life

Another issue is that virtual teams can’t take advantage of the kind of impromptu “water cooler” conversations that occur in a real workplace, where colleagues can share information they may have forgotten to communicate in meetings.

Kahai says that lack of human contact can also lead to feelings of isolation, but adds that virtual worlds such as Second Life can help by recreating the water-cooler experience.

“Many companies are using virtual worlds, and these can give a sense of place,” Kahai told CNN. “You can hang out, run into someone, and have ad-hoc conversations with people.” Getting employed in Second Life

Even in this era of remote collaboration, it seems that we still need human interaction — even if it’s completely virtual.

[ Article Source: CNN ]

CyberWalk has developed an omni-directional treadmill, which allows humans to walk in any direction yet stay centered on the treadmill. The user should be able to walk seemingly endlessly in any direction without leaving a small room. Underneath the walking surface is many densely packed small balls which let the friction of the user’s shoes do the moving. This technology is potentially going to be used for virtual reality gaming, therapy and training. Used in conjunction with screens, it can give the user the fully immersed feeling of being in a virtual world. Watch the video!

[ Article Source: LikeCool ]

Avantoure.com have just published their latest action packed edition of their acclaimed digital interactive magazine. Check out the special eOffice feature on page 100 covering our latest reality enhancing technology for distance conferencing.

You can find out more about our exciting new system as it evolves in it’s Beta stage at myeOffice.net

View the latest issue here

I’m delighted to share with you the launch of the first ever real world conferencing service enhanced and complimented by a virtual world arm. The system allows businesses to reach new audiences from both real and virtual world sources, providing a solution to global SME collaboration and interoperability. eOffice will be the first company worldwide to offer facilities of this nature to their clients, a move in touch with their forward thinking mentality.

The system consolidates real and virtual world resources in a way which not only enhances the reality of both, but creates a more engaging experience for participants. They can share video, stream webcam, audio, VOIP, images, URLs and collaborate on Documents, synchronised in real-time within an attractive virtual environment. It makes the powerful multimedia and communications potential of virtual worlds far more accessible to the masses, over a combination of platforms.

About Second Life

Second Life is the leading platform for 3D Virtual Reality worlds and a key player in the blossoming of the next era of the internet, with some 15 million residents.

Here, surfing becomes an immersive multimedia experience, interacting with sound, pictures, PowerPoint, video, other people and tangible objects as you walk, fly or teleport through a virtual universe.

Second Life opens the flood gates to a new level of collaboration, sharing and networking. Enabling real-time communication and dynamics between the real world and the virtual world, Second Life allows your virtual actions to have real consequences, unleashing endless possibilities to businesses with a virtual presence.

All this takes place within a real economy, across some 800 million sq meters of virtual land, with $1.5 million being spent on virtual goods every day.

The only limit in this environment is the imagination. Realism is a choice, not a prerequisite. Second Life is what you want it be.

Second Life Business Network
Second Life Tour

About the Designer

Mark Alexander set up his own business – Uproar Design – in 2007, as a Second Life Architect and Web 2.0 Specialist. He is currently reading a double Law degree at King’s College University London and Université Paris 1 – Panthéon Sorbonne. After winning a scholarship to study at Rugby School, he went on to spend a year working on pervasive messaging technologies at IBM and was selected to join their team at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships. Mark’s work with virtual reality at IBM was shortlisted for the Computing Awards for Excellence 2007.

By building bridges between real and virtual worlds he seeks to encourage a new model of interaction and communication as awareness of virtual worlds and their positive impact on real world business grows.

Mark Alexander
0044 (0)7896 825506
Facebook | LinkedIn | Uproar Design

Official Second Life Solutions Provider
Computing Awards for Excellence 2007 Shortlisted

Revolutionising digital input, the Emotiv wireless headset detects brain waves to enable true mind-control for intuitive and expressive software and gaming use. The potential is staggering. Prototypes allow facial expressions, body language, and movement to have direct control over computer functions and processes.

This technology has particular reference in Virtual Worlds where more natural real world actions can directly effect your virtual experience rather than the traditional and rather clumsy mouse and keyboard system.

“Our mission is to create the ultimate interface for the next-generation of human-machine interaction, by evolving the interaction between humans and electronic devices beyond the limitations of conscious interface. Emotiv has created technologies that allow machines to take both conscious and non-conscious inputs directly from your mind.”

Article – http://www.news.com/8301-13772_3-9874515-52.html

Website – http://emotiv.com/