3Di, Inc., announced today that it had developed its own OpenSim-based server software and would begin selling the product under the name “3Di OpenSim” Standard. 3Di has been a proponent of the open-source alternative to Second Life for some time: a year ago it announced its own open-source platform, and last month the company announced development of an open-source browser-based interface for Second Life and OpenSim-based world.
There's already been significant development on OpenSim, on both a consumer level and, as in IBM's integration with Lotus Sametime, for business. OpenSim itself is available as server software, so I'm interested to see what 3Di's model is to set its own software apart. Either way, I look at the commercialization of OpenSim as a pretty big step towards adoption.
It seems like 3Di's target audience is "corporations and academic institutions" looking to create their own virtual worlds. Possible use cases cited include real estate showrooms, education, and offices for collaboration. All of that would be much simpler with the browser-based interface 3Di is developing, but, as a feature, that's shared with all OpenSim worlds and, eventually, other platforms as well. It's not unique, but the upside of that is that it should help build an install base.
As for other features, unfortunately, the website is mostly in Japanese. The press release, though, mentions letting users create their own worlds and servers, expressing their own interpretations, promoting OpenSim technology as a standard, and, what I think must be the unique proposition, that the server "Provides the ability to acquire and analyze user patterns and marketing data within their virtual worlds."
I imagine the model may also come with support and future additions as a selling point. It seems like an effort that ngi group, inc., the parent company of 3Di, Inc., is behind as well.
"We have identified the 3D Internet business as a key area of next generation of Internet applications and we seek to quickly establish a leading position within this market segment. Therefore we will take aggressive steps to help support 3Di in its development of new applications of '3Di OpenSim' and other various services, in addition to providing support to help grow its sales," explains the company in a statement. "Furthermore both the ngi group and 3Di will actively develop various solutions and products designed to increase the diffusion of Interverse applications and allow users to easily use and visit various virtual world applications."
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