SLim to Bring Thing Client to Second Life; Avatars Also to Get Phone Numbers

Earlier this week we noted that Linden Lab had trademarked SLim to cover instant messaging and voice communication. At a Gronstedt Group Train for Success meeting, Linden VP of Platform and Technology Development Joe Miller shared some details on upcoming additions to make it easier for users to stay in touch even when they can't log in to Second Life proper. For starters,  avatars and groups will be able to sign up for a phone number that outside users can dial to join in for private or conference calls. Users can also sign up for voice mail services tied to their avatars. And then there's SLim, a separate, lightweight IM app.

SLim will be an IM client for computers that are prevented from accessing Second Life, either  by old hardware or IT departments and firewalls.

“We’ll be launching a beta First Look, something we call ‘SLim,’ which is a very thin client that is designed for you to stay in both voice and text contact with your friends list," Miller said. "If you want to participate in a meeting but can’t actually run the SL app to do it, you’ll be able to do that with our thin voice communication client. It will be in First Look in a couple of weeks."

Although both services offer plenty of benefits for individual users, I can't help but think that it's a push toward making the Second Life Grid better suited for organizations and collaboration.

When Mark Kingdon took over as Linden Lab's CEO, he noted that collaboration could well be the killer app for Second Life. But while there's been movement toward making the virtual world more acceptable for business use, like IBM taking sections behind its own firewall, some users aren't convinced that Second Life is enterprise ready.

While SLim and phone services won't fix stability issues or completely solve the firewall problem, they could make it significantly easier to let team members in a position to take advantage of Second Life for collaboration still work with those that aren't. When combined with solutions like Rivers Run Red's Immersive Workspaces Platform, which currently emphasizes connecting the Second Life Grid to the Web, the virtual world is looking increasingly flexible.

[Check out SLNN for complete coverage of Miller's Train for Success address.]