Open Source Platform

for interconnected virtual worlds

Press release 29th of September GMT 10:00

Open source virtual world realXtend gets industry support

Finland Once Again Spearheading a Revolution in Information Technology

Virtual reality is a revolutionary application of information technology. The City of Oulu, Nokia and Mr. Juha Hulkko are supporters of the realXtend project aiming to develop the world's best virtual world platform on an open source -basis. Two companies based in Oulu, LudoCraft Ltd and Admino Technologies Ltd, are the key developers of realXtend. The objective is to develop a global, standardized 3D-web of virtual worlds by making cutting edge, virtual world technologies available to everyone, free of charge.

"The City of Oulu will use realXtend to fulfil the future technological needs of the city. We take part in the Innovative Schools -program (School of the Future -project), and consider realXtend an excellent tool for developing the educational system of our city. We are proud that in our city, known for exceling in technological expertise, such an innovative virtual environment as realXtend has been created. Our strategy in Oulu is to support companies that combine technological expertise with cultural and artistic skills. Interactive content and creative industries are a part of our future mission. The City of Oulu already provides free wireless Internet access to citizens and visitors - with realXtend our region steps in the lead of virtual worlds," says Matti Pennanen, Mayor, City of Oulu, Finland.

"Nokia supports realXtend project efforts to create an open platform and interoperability for virtual worlds. The project has gained remarkable co-operation and adoption with other virtual world developers and solution providers, it has all the ingredients to spearhead virtual worlds for everyone," says Jari Alvinen, Director, Compatibility and Industry Collaboration of Nokia.

Applying virtual reality technology is limited only by one's imagination. At the moment, the most approachable use is probably virtual conferencing, which enables companies to cut travel costs and decrease pollution whilst not compromising on communication. The fact that realXtend is developed on an open source -basis, like Linux, makes it possible for anyone to participate in creating individually tailored applications. The first public release of realXtend was in February 2008, and the new virtual world has already created vast international interest.

"The realXtend team has made excellent progress in advancing the platform's graphics capabilities, which is an important requirement for the next generation of Immersive Education. I'm looking forward to sharing realXtend with members of the Immersive Education Initiative by making realXtend available on the Education Grid," says Aaron E. Walsh, Director of the Grid Institute.

"The Openlife Grid (3DX) is proud to have recently joined the realXtend effort in full force. realXtend is a platform of first choice, implementing industry standard 3D object display based on OGRE.MESH. For content creators this is a big win, enabling common 3D model imports to be introduced in world as mesh objects. This creates possibilities for rich visuals that have rarely been seen in a virtual world platform before. The RealXtend platform further makes use of industry standard 3D modelling to enable highly customisable avatars we like to call "Avatar 2.0". We are pleased to be collaborating with RealXtend and believe our user base of 30,000 and growing will receive the direct benefits of the exciting experience RealXtend features have to offer," says Steve Sima, President, Openlifegrid.com (3DX)

"We feel enthusiastic about application possibilities discussed. One of the problems we want to correct is the complexity of maintaining multiple, disconnected online identities. UCI already has an identification and authentication service for its 50,000+ students, faculty and staff, and we want our OpenSim grid to take advantage of that. We are pleased to see that realXtend´s OpenSim extensions already do what we want" says Crista Lopes, Professor, University of California Irvine's Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, USA

"CubiCasa Ltd creates interactive visualization tools for real estate and construction industry. CubiCasa believes strongly in virtual and inter connected worlds as a concept that will conquer Internet as we know it. We want to be among the first ones to take RealXtend as our business platform and we are keen to invest our own know-how and effort in it," says Harri Pesola, CEO, CubiCasa Ltd.

"3Di, inc. has done various production demos and Introductions by using the realXtend viewer. During demos and introductions 3Di, inc. got a lot of positive feedback from Japanese companies regarding the realXtend viewer, especially about its beautiful visuals. 3Di, inc. Japan ships the realXtend viewer to Japanese enterprise companies with "3Di OpenSim," says Dr. Johan Berntsson, Technical Lead, 3Di inc. Japan

"For our work developing AI in virtual worlds, realXtend is the most exciting option out there. Only realXtend combines the flexibility of open-source with polished, professional, game-engine-quality graphics. No one knows for sure what direction virtual world technology is going to take during the next few years, but our best guess is that realXtend will remain at the forefront," says Ben Goertzel, CEO, Novamente

realXtend has also been noted in media around the world:

"New 3DX Teams, maker of the Openlife Grid, announced a partnership today with RealXtend to collaborate on RealXtend's server and viewer technologies. RealXtend joined the OpenSim project in February, and Openlife Grid is built on OpenSim source code with the addition of some of its own features. The public beta, opening this weekend, will include features like Python scripting, avatar to avatar Skype calling, and support for in spatial audio and voice." Virtual Worlds News 12.9.2008

"Our Open Source Second Life just got a whole lot more complicated, thanks to realXtend. It's too early to call them our heroes, but it probably won't be long." Massively.com 17.2.2008

Check also articles about realXtend from http://www.ugotrade.com

The realXtend virtual reality platform is developed as a non-profit project administered by Oulu Innovation. The key developers are Ludocraft Ltd, a dynamic games studio, and Admino Technologies Ltd, specialized in scalable server technologies.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Program Manager Jani Pirkola realXtend +358451248795,
jani.pirkola@realxtend.org

CEO Tony Manninen LudoCraft Ltd. +358407157495,
tony.manninen@ludocraft.com

CEO Hannu Hollström ADMINO Technologies +358505742200,
hannu.hollstrom@adminotech.com

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PICTURES AND SCREENSHOTS
http://www.realxtend.org