IBM and Forterra team up: “Unified Communications”

There were big announcements over the last couple of days that IBM and Forterra are teaming up to create collaboration tools for intelligence agencies. Both companies (IBM on 01/22/07 and Forterra on 06/25/07) have presented at the Virtual World SIG over the past year.

The article on applications for intelligence agencies are here:
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/marketwire/0377901.htm

and here: http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/03/20/

Covered by VirtualWorldsNews.com here: http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/03/ibm-and-forterr.html

That article references another release in which Mike Rhodin of IBM Lotus describes 5 future trends in this direction of “Unified Communications”. That release is linked here: Marketwire IBM press release.

And more discussion about the IBM view of virtual worlds here:
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/marketwire/0377261.htm

This type of news could be an early glimpse of the slope of enlightenment, which would be welcome, as there are indications that this could be a trough of disillusionment period. It’s good to see these virtual world concepts that have been talked about for so long put into some concrete plans. Now let’s just hope that today’s version of the ARPANET is online and their version of “the grid” is up when the red phone rings at 3 am!

-Bob Ketner

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Media for “Virtual Worlds Go Mobile” [UPDATED]

[UPDATE]
Thanks for staying posted, I wish this could have been streamed.  As it happened, the camera was not hooked up to a  laptop so it did not happen.  Apologies.  Normally I do the streaming myself on my own dime, but in this case I had to run the real-world stage announcements etc.  I invite you to our other sig meetings and will post any links I can to the archived video of today.  Thanks and wish this could have happened.  Best, Bob Ketner

Hi,
Bob Ketner here, I’m not running the camera or audio today, but I’m going to try to direct any media here via ustream. I won’t be in SL either due to organizing the RL conference.
You can view the presentations with the embedded viewer. Video will be active during the presentation.
If not working please try: http://ustream.tv/channel/virtual-world-sig

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    Virtual Worlds Go Mobile tomorrow Tue. Feb. 26 Noon-5

    Hello,
    Tomorrow’s the day to be part of the conversation as Virtual Worlds Go Mobile with talks from Nokia, SKT, 4 VC’s, MBlox, Veepers, Gemini mobile, WiFi Army, and Smith Micro.

    This afternoon conference coincides with alongside a flurry of press releases and announcements from virtual world platforms and media companies that are taking virtual worlds to the new platforms of phones and mobile devices. Get the inside forecasts and views on these new developments!

    Register here:
    http://www.sdforum.org/


    Virtual Worlds Go Mobile

    11:45am – 5:00pm February 26, 2008

    Virtual Goes Mobile
    Crossing the Chasm from the Internet

    Event Overview:
    At the speed of light, three dimensional parallel universes and their immersive communities -whether they be virtual worlds of shopping centers, nightclubs or interactive gaming- went from “radical fringe” to mainstream, with multinationals around the world setting up their own islands to be represented in this new part of the internet galaxy. Now the next frontier may be the most complex one to cross yet – mobile platforms. All players in the tech eco-system are setting stakes to offer consumers new options in social interactivity of all forms:

    * Companies already entrenched in virtual worlds and interactive gaming, where mobile devicese the next BIG opportunity
    * Social networking and community enterprises hoping to add a third dimension to their community and/or “go mobile”
    * The enablers and supporters, whether they be investors who fund and help scale these enterprises or technology plays, such as payment systems, operating systems and platforms…

    This conference is the first of its kind to listen to all the voices in the eco-system as they discuss what opportunities will be available and what the challenges are to realize this goal, when communities are able to connect, communicate and share content on these mobile devices, how the location-specific abilities and information be integrated, where should we look for emerging markets for web content when it becomes accessible to billions of cell-phone users.

    Agenda:
    11:45am-12:30pm Registration and Networking Lunch
    12:30pm-12:45pm Welcome Remarks
    12:45pm-1:15pm

    Opening Keynote Speaker:
    Anders Nancke-Krogh, Nokia
    1:15pm-2:30pm

    Panel Discussion: “The Venture Landscape”
    Baris Karadogan, Velocity Interactive Group
    Nate Redmond, Rustic Canyon
    Sharon Wienbar, Scale Venture
    Richard Wong, Accel

    Moderator: Mike Doran, Fish & Richardson
    2:30pm-3:00pm

    “The Global Perspective”
    Keynote Speaker: Joe Jasin, SKT
    3:00pm-3:15pm

    Entrepreneur Profile, Virtual Perspective
    Martin Dunsby, Vollee
    3:15-3:30pm Afternoon Break
    3:30-3:45pm

    Entrepreneur Profile, Monetizing the mobile Experience:
    Steve Livingston, MBlox
    3:45pm-5:00pm

    Panel Discussion: “Paths for the Future: Success Stories and Learned Lessons”

    Paul Anderson, Veepers
    Rob Osborn, Gemini Mobile Technologies
    Tomasz Wojtowicz, WiFi Army
    Mandar Shinde, Smith Micro
    Moderator: Ewan MacLeod, SMS Text News

    5:00pm-5:15pm Closing Remarks

    Price:
    Platinum Pass: $25
    Members: $65
    Non-members: $85

    Location:
    Tech Mart Center, Fremont Room,
    5201 Great America Parkway
    Santa Clara, CA 95054
    Directions

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