Forterra
Systems’s OLIVE™ virtual worlds software platform,
along with IBM’s new chipmaking process and Sprint’s
Xohm high-speed wireless broadband data network, are
just three of the five projects identified by the editors of
IEEE Spectrum as ‘winners’ in the fifth annual issue
highlighting the best and worst of global technology.
“With the signs of life becoming stronger every day in
the technology sector, it’s time to take stock of some key
initiatives that have the potential to transform major
industries or that are likely to squander huge amounts of
money, time and resources,” said Glenn Zorpette,
executive editor, IEEE Spectrum. “IEEE Spectrum
editors considered well over 100 technology
projects, representing work on every continent. We
picked five outstanding ones, along with six that seem
destined for obscurity.”
“To pick the winning and losing projects, we considered the feasibility of the goals described by the
project leaders themselves,” Mr Zorpette added. “We analyzed these goals in light of technical and
technology-related factors: regulation, competition, relevant technology and market trends, and more.
Forterra should be very pleased with this endorsement of their transformative technology by our editors.”
For the report, the magazine’s editors considered six mainstay categories in technology: communications,
semiconductors, transportation, power, biomedical and computers. To come up with their final lists of
winners and losers, the staff relied heavily on the global resources of the IEEE. The professional
organization has nearly 400,000 engineers, computer experts and technologists who will also be asked
for their input on the success or failure of all the reported technologies in ‘You Tell Us’, a web-based
opinion poll that should engage the entire IEEE membership.
“As a lifelong admirer of the IEEE organization this selection is an incredible honor given the wide field of
technologies considered,” said Dr David Rolston, CEO of Forterra Systems. “However, we agree 2008
will be an inflection point in our industry as more proof points are published about enterprise business
processes being transformed by 3D applications. We will be making exciting announcements this year
about customers using virtual applications for new forms of training and collaboration. Fundamentally, we
are addressing how enterprises and their extended ecosystems can work more productively and
effectively by operating virtually. Within three to five years we envision the typical business worker spending
large portions of their day in immersive 3D environments.”
The January issue of IEEE Spectrum is available by subscription, on many news stands throughout the
north-eastern United States and online.
Forterra’s OLIVE software platform enables end-users and
partners to create realistic, collaborative 3D Internet solutions. Applications developed using OLIVE allow
users to sit at their PCs with a network connection, log on and appear in an interactive, virtual
environment represented as a fully animated avatar (3D character controlled by the user). Through a
keyboard and mouse users are able to navigate through realistic environments, share and present
documents, access and deploy equipment, drive/fly vehicles, don personal protective equipment and
communicate with one another. As a scenario is executed, the results are captured by a built-in session
replay system that supports debrief so users can learn from what they practised.