IBM Partners with HiPiHi for Technology and Interoperability

When Intel partnered with HiPiHi in November, it was rumored that IBM would be entering a relationship similar to the one it created with Linden Lab. Yes, Virginia, rumors do come true: Yesterday IBM and HiPiHi announced the partnership aimed at "the optimization of the HiPiHi™ World technology platform, promotion of virtual-world interoperability and innovation of virtual world business models." IBM’s Digital Convergence department and IBM China Research Labs, the latter of which also recently partnered with UOneNet for similar goals, will work on technology optimization and take up residence in HiPiHi.

"We are all at the cusp of a new internet era,"  HiPiHi’s founder and CEO Xu Hui said in a statement. "HiPiHi is not only fighting at the leading edge to take the 2D text-based Web into the era of 3D virtual worlds; we are also strongly focused on resolving the practical issues of growth and innovation of 3D Internet applications. We strive to create a virtual world where people could make their dreams come true and we also want to create positive contributions to people’s daily lives. It is our pleasure and honor to work with industry leaders like IBM to cultivate the virtual world industry in China and around the globe, to advance R&D in virtual world related technology, and to set industry standards.”

As far as those standards go, HiPiHi will be joining IBM's interoperability research. With UOneNet, that meant integrating uWorld into existing platforms, and HiPiHi says it will also be connecting to "IBM's inter-operability platform and co-developing business operating models for platform operators, corporate residents, startups and individuals."

"IBM’s commitment to virtual worlds is based upon a futuristic outlook on the state of the Internet," added Dr. Lee Shi Gong from IBM’s China Research Centre. "The development of the industry ecosystem will certainly yield richer and more diverse user applications and spur broader adoption. We believe that the changes on our daily lives will be profound and impactful. The progressive development of the virtual world economy in the form of commercial applications (v-business) will drive the inter-operability need of virtual world platforms. This is also an important criterion for the integration of both our real and virtual societies, and real-world and virtual-world economics. China’s rapid economic development and its large internet user market validate the importance of China’s virtual worlds in the global industry. As the Research Lab of IBM China, we are very glad to work with local partners and promote the strengthening of the virtual world industry ecosystem through an inter-operability standard that brings Chinese culture to the world and further connect the Chinese economy to the world."