Avatars 97 Major Announcements
The Electric Community of the
Future is Now.
Extensibility... Scalability... Certification: Randy
Farmer shows us how it's done, as he demonstrates the long-awaited platform for virtual
community from Electric Communities. EC Habitats
is a foundation and a set of tools for building community, based in secure distributed
objects. Each computer functions as a server, each person, a voice.
The EC Habitats Beta Program will be announced, and the platform demonstrated with an emphasis on content creation capabilities in this new world. Stake out your turf now, secure your persistent identity, and see how creative freedom can change YOUR world.
Black Sun Interactive changes its name and announces its Third Product Generation
blaxxun interactive Presents New Community Platform
San Francisco, October xx, 1997 - By the end of October, blaxxun interactive - formerly known as "Black Sun Interactive" - will release the third generation of its products. The new Community Platform is a modular client-server system which provides the full range of core functions for operating and visiting communities in the WWW. The broad range of possibilities offered by this technology is demonstrated with various 3D worlds which can already be visited on the Web.
The corporate focus on commercial applications was the reason for changing the name into "blaxxun interactive". "One of the key objectives of our direction is to show how customers can take commercial benefit from deployingour technology", said Franz Buchenberger, president and CEO of blaxxun.. The company will soon be releasing the third generation of its technology called Community Platform - comprising Community Server and Community Clients -, which offers the core functions for turning standard 2D websites into virtual, interactive 3D environments. The previous generation is already used by many leading companies, including Intel, Bacardi, CBS Sportsline, Softbank, BMW, and Lycos. With the new product generation, blaxxun can serve the needs of an even larger variety of applications.
The blaxxun Community Server is composed of individual services which the operator of a virtual world can offer in addition to the web server. These community services have a supplementary character and are available on all current server environments. They also include interfaces to various database products and other server systems, e.g. for advertising management or electronic commerce.
The blaxxun Community Clients provide community access for all major hardware platforms. Owners of older systems can get basic level access whereas newer computers provide highly attractive 3D support. All clients have access to the same virtual environments and are differentiated only by the functions available and the mode of representation. Community Clients support all major Internet browsers.
There are four new blaxxun Community Clients. The most advanced is blaxxun CCpro, which offers a wide variety of community features, supports several 3D engines, and leverages the full potential of the blaxxun Community Server. The state-of-the-art VRML 2.0 browser blaxxun CC3D supports also a wide variety of platforms. Completely implemented in Java is blaxxun CCstandard. CClite is based on standard HTML technology only.
The blaxxun Community Server consists currently of six modules. The core service is CSusers, which manages all aspects related to users and places. CSchat handles all chat-related aspects, CS bots are preprogrammed community participants, who can perform a variety of roles and CS3D takes care for all basic aspects of 3D communities. CSobjects manages the distribution of object animations and ensures that all changes are permanent. CSproxy helps users behind firewalls to access the Community Services.
There is also a developer license for the blaxxun Community
Server which permits extension, integration, and customizing of the system .
For further information please contact:
blaxxun interactive, Inc.
14 Juri Street
San Francisco, CA 9411
USA
Tel: (415) 273-7000
Fax: (415) 285-4702
Email: info@blaxxun.com
http://www.blaxxun.com
The blaxxun Community Platform is a flexible and extensible
client/server system which integrates Web-pages with interactive 3D in multimedia virtual
environments. The suite of services that make up the blaxxun Community Server includes
links to internet servers and database systems, chat management with programmable agents
and user security. A family of blaxxun Community Clients integrate with the major Internet
browsers to provide multiple levels of access to the blaxxun Community Services: from
simple text through shared virtual reality. Community Platform applications range from
product promotion and customer care to training and consulting, support for professional
and membership associations, online-shopping, recreational role-playing games and other
online entertainment.
Microsoft is hosting two virtual worlds on the net in 1997, V-Chat (http://vchat1.microsoft.com) and Microsoft Chat (http://www.microsoft.com/ie/chat/).
NTT SOFT LAUNCHES
BREAKTHROUGH MULTI-USER VIRTUAL REALITY PLATFORM FOR THE INTERNET
INTERSPACE VR FIRST TO BRING REAL-TIME AUDIO AND VIDEO COMMUNICATION TO THE INTERNET OVER 28.8 KBPS MODEM
San Francisco, CA NTT SOFT,
a subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, has announced that the
InterSpace VR Browser is available for download, free on the Internet, along with several
3D virtual environments. Communication with real-time facial video image and voice allows
participants to see and hear each other in real-time within InterSpace's 3D worlds. Users
can also communicate via text chat and use a multi-media message board with text, pictures
and voice.
InterSpace VR worlds available on the client download include:
1. @VRTOWER where users can play music videos and purchase audio CDs at
Tower Records;
2. The Gaming Lobby, currently featuring two multi-player games, Pyramids and Spindoors;
3. Virtual Aquarium, a distance learning environment;
4. Japanese-style Tea Room for conferences and chat area; and
5. City Hall where users can explore the town hall rotunda, hold events and
conduct conferences.
About NTT SOFT
NTT Software Corporation was established in 1985. The California branch of NTT SOFT,
formed in 1995, is a United States software development division of NTT SOFT, a subsidiary
of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, the worlds largest telecommunications
company. NTT SOFT is marketing and developing the virtual reality platform InterSpace,
originally created and deployed in 1990 at the NTT Human Interface Laboratory, in
Yokosuka, Japan.
InterSpace is a virtual reality software platform that offers point-to-many audio and
video and interactive 3D communications for multiple users in real-time for electronic
commerce, distance learning and entertainment computer applications.
Avatars! Book to be Launched at Avatars 97
Bruce Damer's long awaited book Avatars! Exploring and Building Virtual Worlds on the Internet (Peachpit Press, 1997) will be launched and on sale at Avatars 97.
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