Forterra Announces Immediate Availability of its On-Line Interactive Virtual Environment Platform as a Software Development Kit for Customers and Partners

SAN MATEO, Calif.--(EON:Enhanced Online News)--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 11^th 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.

“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.”

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