Forterra Announces Immediate Availability of its On-Line Interactive
Virtual Environment Platform as a Software Development Kit for Customers
and Partners
SAN MATEO, Calif. (Business Wire EON/PRWEB ) June 7, 2007 --
Forterra Systems, the market and technology leader in private virtual
worlds, announced today the immediate release and availability of its
On-Line Interactive Virtual Environment - OLIVE™
1.0 platform as a software development kit (SDK). This version of OLIVE
is the 11th release for the architecture going
back to 2004 and the first targeted for use by a wide range of
third-party developers ranging from learning instructional designers and
3D content creators to software developers. With the OLIVE 1.0 release
third parties can now create their own virtual world solutions for
distance learning, group collaboration, and networked communities using
this proven virtual world platform. The SDK enables developers to build
and support persistent virtual worlds where users can collaborate over
networks for the purposes of communications, training, rehearsal,
analysis, experimentation, socialization, and entertainment. The SDK
consists of a set of tightly integrated modules, tools, and
documentation that generates, distributes and operates highly realistic
virtual environments. Over 1000 run-time 3D content assets as buildings,
vehicles, objects, and user-controlled characters known as avatars are
available with the SDK to give customers and developers a large head
start towards creating their own virtual worlds.
OLIVE 1.0 provides many unique capabilities relative to other virtual
world offerings on the market. Forterra has available on its website a
variety of whitepapers
that provide technical explanations of these capabilities.
-- Create Private Secure Worlds
-- Deploy behind, through Firewalls
-- Control deployed content and user access
-- Open & Extensible Architecture
-- Compatible with leading 3D content tools
-- Integration to a variety of real-world data systems
-- Compatible with emerging interoperability standards
-- Reliable & Available
-- Anytime, anywhere availability from LANs to the Internet
-- Tunable performance and scaling
-- Better User Experience
-- Spatialized 3D audio through integrated Voice over IP (VoiP)
-- Engaging, realistic avatars
-- Configurable user interface
-- eLearning, Training & Rehearsal Features
-- Distributed 3D record & review
-- SCORM compliant LMS integration
Over $50M has been invested to date in the OLIVE architecture yielding
one of the most scalable, realistic virtual world environments
available. “This technology will be a
transformative force for our customers. They are already indicating that
they can achieve their business goals more quickly, less expensively,
and with greater reach through creating their own virtual worlds,”
said Dave Rolston, Forterra’s CEO. “Our
customers and partners are already creating an amazing array of
compelling applications around distance training, organizational
exercises & rehearsals, virtual office collaboration, emergency
preparedness, customer service, product/process prototyping, therapy &
rehabilitation, partner communities, town meetings, and retail
operations optimizations.”
Dr. Parvati Dev, Director of Stanford University’s
Medical Media & Information Technologies (SUMMIT) Program, and Dr. W.
LeRoy Heinrichs, SUMMIT’s Associate Director,
are international experts on the application of interactive learning
environments, including simulation and game-based learning, for
medicine. The research studies conducted under their leadership
demonstrate the effectiveness of OLIVE for trainees to practice in a
Virtual Emergency Department, interacting in real time with colleagues
and patient-actors over the Internet. Scenarios of victims exposed to
nerve toxins and radioactive bomb blasts support the learning of
large-scale emergency management and rehearsal of events that cannot be
reproduced safely in the real world. This education technology is less
expensive and logistically more convenient than bringing dozens of
learners and volunteers together in real life. Patient avatars, equipped
with physiology models, enable teams of trainees to diagnose critical
medical conditions and practice coordinated effective treatments. Dr.
Dev commented, “The medical simulations we
created and tested on the OLIVE platform, represent a major breakthrough
for distance learning in medicine. I believe Forterra is releasing a
disruptive technology that will yield dramatic learning benefits across
many industries in addition to what I see in medicine.”
An exciting dimension to Forterra’s growth is
the creation of an ecosystem of 20 leading partners and developers who
add specific knowledge, products and services around the OLIVE platform
to create whole solutions for customers. “We
are thrilled to bring tools and methods than enable SCORM-conformant
experiential learning and performance evaluation to the OLIVE platform,”
indicated John Shaw, CEO of Aptima, Inc., a human-centered engineering
firm. He added, “We see the potential for an
interoperable, scalable solution that addresses both individual- and
group-level learning. OLIVE will increase the effectiveness of
internet-based training and assessment while maximally leveraging an
organization’s prior investments in
SCORM-conformant instructional content.”
The University of Central Florida School of Film & Digital Media is
another Forterra partner. The school's Interactive Performance Lab
Director, Jeff Wirth, selected OLIVE as the virtual world platform from
which to run their latest "Simu-life," blending virtual and real
experiences in their mixed-reality performances. "With the OLIVE
platform we are able to establish relationships of trust between
inter-actors and participants as they seamlessly transition back and
forth between real and virtual environments. We believe that the
business community will soon discover the benefits of this process."
About Forterra Systems
Forterra Systems is a leader in providing online distributed virtual
world technology for the corporate, healthcare, government, and
entertainment industries. Forterra's software and services enable
organizations to build their own virtual worlds to train, plan,
rehearse, and collaborate in ways previously considered impossible or
impractical. Using the OLIVE (On-Line Interactive Virtual Environment)
platform and industry standard PC hardware, customers can rapidly
generate realistic, collaborative, 3D Internet solutions that easily
scale from single user applications to large scale simulated
environments supporting many thousands of concurrent users. http://www.forterrainc.com
About SUMMIT
Stanford University Medical Media and Information Technology (SUMMIT)
group is dedicated to putting Stanford University at the forefront of
medical and lifesciences education through the innovative use of
information technology. Our group creates new technologies that help
faculty, students and researchers develop innovative, interactive
teaching software, and researches methods of making these technologies
easy and effective for authors as well as students. Images and video
underlie much of the didactic component of medical learning. SUMMIT
conducts research in next generation education technologies and in their
assessment. Current projects include: integrating high bandwidth medical
education applications––stereo
images of anatomy, for example--into the curriculum, assessing the role
of haptics in surgical education, and collaborative learning with the
interactive simulated patient. http://summit.stanford.edu
About Aptima
Aptima is a leader in the field of human-centered engineering, solving
the problems of human performance in today’s
complex sociotechnical systems. Recognized by The Boston Business
Journal as one of the Fastest-Growing Private Companies in Massachusetts
(2003-2006), Aptima’s unique approach couples
social science principles with quantitative, computational methods. The
company provides products and services focused on the design of
organizations, user-centered technology, and training systems. Aptima is
headquartered in Woburn, MA, with offices in Washington, DC. http://www.aptima.com
About UCF School of Film and Digital Media
Digital Media at UCF offers individuals the education and tools
necessary to bring classic media like art, writing, and music into the
digital arena. The Film division focuses on developing a student's
creative voice and stresses entrepreneurial filmmaking and the use of
new technology in the production and distribution of their work. http://www.sfdm.ucf.edu
MULTIMEDIA GALLERY http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=5417583
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